Lowlands furrowed with Rivers Rivers and populated with millenary trees. Cotacachi – Cayapas, your name already gives us an idea of the large number of different altitudinal floors that are contained and protected in this reserve. It constitutes the most important conservation zone in the western Andes of Ecuador to belong to the Chocó region.
This large altitudinal range due to its location and size, and makes Cotacachi Cayapas one of the protected areas that houses more types of ecosystems.
Far up in the mountain range are the Moors and sands of the Cotacachi volcano; Then there are the montane forests of the Pacific slope. The upper part of the Cotacachi-Cayapas reserve comprises, in the eastern area, Imbabura and some towns such as Cuellaje, Piñán, Vacas Galindo and so it is considered the sixth largest protected area in Ecuador.
The main access to the reserve is via Ibarra-Cotacachi, to the Cuicocha Lagoon are about 15 min from Cotacachi.
You can also enter the reserve by the populations of Urcuquí and Piñan.
From Ibarra are about 2 H by car to the comnest of Piñan and from there 1 h 30 m more hike to their lagoons.
Hotel Puertolago Country Inn and Resort Sunday 11 May 2025
Tourism
