Review We have taken hop-on, hop-off buses in other countries so when we saw the Wanderbus option, we thought it would be an awesome choice for us for our first time in Ecuador. We signed up for the Colibrí Pass. Overall, we have to say we were disappointed. For the price ($400 USD per tour day as you are really only on the tour 3 days out of 5 ~ the other 2 are free days in Baños), it is, in our opinion, not worth it. We were surprised to find out on our pick-up day that we were the only two people on our tour so no bus, but more like a private tour in a car. Part of why we signed up for the Bus experience is that we enjoy meeting fellow travellers. Here’s our feedback; 1. The first day, Monday, was pretty good but be forewarned, it is a lot of driving vs. time enjoying the locations. Breakfast & lunch options were delicious and reasonably priced. Also, for us, walking around the markets at Quilatoa was not that exciting as we’re not big shoppers. 2. The second tour day, Thursday, was the most disappointing day. The market at Guamote was very interesting but it could be made a lot better if there was more tasting provided by the tour. Then, both the lunch opportunities. The Sangay National Park and the hills of Ozogoche were cancelled because the park was closed?? This was not explained to us at the beginning of the day and the substitute activities - an amusement type park-lagoon in Colta we visited for 20 minutes and the Palmita desert - were lame. No information and just boring. We were dropped off at Alusia mid-afternoon and had to find our own spot for lunch. 3. The third tour day, Friday, was good. The train ride was interesting but be aware it is only 40 minutes each way and an hour at the bottom station which is a lot of time. The Ingapirca Ruins were interesting and the lunch there was delicious and plentiful ((we took leftovers). The Turi viewpoint is definitely worth a visit Our guide, Erick, was an excellent driver and we felt safe at all times. He was also pleasant, punctual, responsible and patient with my partner’s issues with the altitude. However, he seemed to prefer just driving and was just going through the motions of guiding and to be honest, we felt like we had more of a driver who just told us the minimum information. He answered our questions but never asked us any about ourselves - didn’t seem interested in getting to know us at all. He was going on holidays after our tour was finished and it seemed obvious that he was more than ready for a break. On the final day, he seemed to want us to say we didn’t care about the Turi viewpoint so he could drop us off early. He told us a few times how he had a long drive back to Quito and that it was hard to get to the viewpoint because of all the traffic. We will say that our guide was an excellent driver and we felt safe all the time. He was also patient with my partner’s issues with the altitude. We feel that because we had a private tour, we could have maybe even had a few more stops as both the Thursday and Friday we were dropped off mid-afternoon since a big group takes longer to wrangle and the car takes less time on the roads. Instead, we felt that our guide was just happy to end the days early. So, yes, overall, we did not feel the tour offered value. We could have done our own trip via public transit MUCH cheaper or just hired a driver for the three days at a much reduced cost. However, if you prefer comfort, security and maybe a private tour…Wanderbus might be for you.

Wanderbus is great! We booked Quito to Banos and back for a late September trip so it was just the two of us and another couple. Our driver was lovely and our guide Jose was AWESOME! He was so friendly and knowledgeable. He really made the trip great. The only downside is that it's expensive -- maybe a little overpriced.