Montañita
Adorned with murals and color-saturated walls, this uberfriendly hostel is good value, with simple rooms surrounding a small garden courtyard. Bathrooms have hot water, there's a pool table and TV room, mosquito nets, free tea and coffee and guests often make dinner together like a family. Offers great deals on bike tours, surf lessons and nighttime nature walks, too.
Find it on the northern side of the river, a couple of blocks back from the beach. Rooms with air-con run a few dollars more.
21.12 MILES
Preserving isolated beaches, coral formations, two offshore islands, tropical dry forest, coastal cloud forest, archaeological sites and 200 sq km of…
20.24 MILES
A visit to this small indigenous community and its surrounding territory is a chance to escape tar-and-concrete modern Ecuador. You’ll find the turn-off,…
20.25 MILES
Well worth a visit. Spanish-speaking guides explain the significance of the artifacts, including well-preserved ancient tools, ceramics and funeral urns…
29.79 MILES
Run by the passionate Ben Hasse, a pioneer of whale-watching in the area, this small and informative whale museum has several whale skeletons, including…
17.25 MILES
A fascinating collection of more than 245 ceramics pieces is exhibited here. Objects date from 3000 BC to 1500 AD and account the settlements of the…
29.13 MILES
Located a couple of blocks from the main road, on the west side of Santa Elena, this museum sits on an ancient cemetery of the indigenous Sumpa people…
16.82 MILES
Awesome sunset views of Salango, Isla Salango and Río Chico from a wooden observatory jutting out over the sea on a spit of land between Las Tunas and…
19.25 MILES
Fritz the humpback whale washed up dead on the beach 40km south of Puerto López in 2004. His skeleton was recovered with the help of Hosteria Mandala and…
6.43 MILES
Acuario Valdivia is an animal rescue center where you can get an up-close look at some of the marine life of Ecuador (sea turtles, penguins, blue footed…
15.89 MILES
An option for reaching the high forest in and around San Sebastián is to go via El Pital, a community ecotourism project 9km (35 minutes by 4WD) east of…
16.82 MILES
Awesome sunset views of Salango, Isla Salango and Río Chico from a wooden observatory jutting out over the sea on a spit of land between Las Tunas and…
5. Salango Archaeological Museum
17.25 MILES
A fascinating collection of more than 245 ceramics pieces is exhibited here. Objects date from 3000 BC to 1500 AD and account the settlements of the…
19.25 MILES
Fritz the humpback whale washed up dead on the beach 40km south of Puerto López in 2004. His skeleton was recovered with the help of Hosteria Mandala and…
20.24 MILES
A visit to this small indigenous community and its surrounding territory is a chance to escape tar-and-concrete modern Ecuador. You’ll find the turn-off,…
20.25 MILES
Well worth a visit. Spanish-speaking guides explain the significance of the artifacts, including well-preserved ancient tools, ceramics and funeral urns…