The trip runs as a loop out of Quito. After an airport pickup and a free evening in the old city on Day 1, you head north on Day 2 to Lake San Pablo and Otavalo. You get an hour or two at the market, then after lunch you're on fat-tyre mountain bikes riding paved, cobblestone and dirt roads around the lakeshore, through indigenous villages and corn fields, to a countryside inn for dinner.

The next two days are about altitude. On Day 3 you drive up to the Mojanda crater lakes and hike to the summit of Fuya Fuya at 4,300 m, then eat lunch on the rim of Cuicocha crater lake before an 11 km downhill bike ride through villages into Cotacachi. Dinner is back at a hacienda by the fireplace. Day 4 is a 4-5 hour hike through high paramo above Papallacta, around lakes and between volcanoes, where condors, deer and occasionally spectacled bears turn up. The ground can be muddy and the weather changes fast. You spend that night at the Papallacta hot springs.

Day 5 is the big ride: 63 km downhill from the high mountains through the Quijos and Cosanga river gorges into cloud forest, with a noticeable jump in temperature along the way. From Misahualli a motorised canoe takes you down the Napo River to a basic jungle hotel run by Quechua people, with an optional night walk to look for nocturnal animals. Day 6 is a 2.5-hour rainforest hike with a local Quechua guide, a float down the Napo on a wooden raft built by locals, and an afternoon visiting an indigenous family.

Day 7 is whitewater: 28 km on the Jatunyacu, a wide river feeding the Amazon with big standing waves, calm pools and, water level permitting, chances to jump out and swim. You then drive to Baños, a town in a green valley under the Tungurahua volcano. Day 8 starts at the Pastaza River gorge with a hike to Pailon del Diablo waterfall, then 20 km on the bike over rolling roads with views of Tungurahua. Day 9 is horseback riding on a hacienda on the slopes of Cotopaxi, walking and trotting (and cantering where the ground allows) across open volcanic country, before the drive back to Quito. Day 10 is the airport transfer.

What sets this apart from a typical Ecuador tour is how much of the country you cover on your own legs and how close you get to the communities along the route. It's also a trip where the guiding comes up again and again in past travellers' accounts: guests regularly name their guide Jorgen, who has arranged things like a cuy lunch through friends in a nearby town and an after-dinner drive to watch Tungurahua erupting.

BikeHike Adventures, based in Vancouver, has been running trips since 1994 and tests every route before it goes on sale. Departures are guaranteed with just two travellers, and solo guests are paired with a same-gender roommate at no extra cost, or given their own room free if no roommate is found.

What's included

- 9 nights accommodation in hotels, haciendas and a jungle lodge (twin share) - 9 breakfasts, 8 lunches and 5 dinners - 24-speed mountain bike hire - All guided hiking, biking, rafting and horseback riding activities - Rafting safety gear (helmet and lifejacket) - Motorised canoe ride on the Napo River - Hot springs access at Papallacta - Support vehicle on biking days - All internal transportation - Airport arrival and departure transfers - English-speaking guides - No single supplement when sharing (private room free if no roommate found)

What's not included

- International flights - Airport departure taxes - Gratuities - Meals not listed in the itinerary (4 dinners and 1 lunch) - Travel insurance - Private room supplement if you request one for the whole trip - Souvenirs and personal expenses