Quito, Ecuador
A night at altitude, minutes from the airport, with the Andes close on every side. Shed the flight, eat well, sleep early, and be over the water by mid-morning.
Begin your dream
Begin your dream
Twenty nights of active exploration steeped in legendary waters, with stays in capital cities whose charms range from the colonial to the contemporary.
The occasion: a honeymoon, an anniversary, a birthday that ends in a zero. This is a deep dive for two people who would rather be in the water than beside it. Seven nights under sail in the Galápagos waters, three in the islands above them, then on to Peru: Lima's kitchens, three nights on the Amazon, capped by four in a forgotten coastal fishing getaway that’s having a soft re-opening.
A night at altitude, minutes from the airport, with the Andes close on every side. Shed the flight, eat well, sleep early, and be over the water by mid-morning.
Just you and 10 other guests on a 124-foot expedition yacht, running the eastern islands. Naturalists guide explorations of Pitt Point at dawn, Kicker Rock under sail, Gardner Bay by kayak, Post Office Bay by panga. There’s a full day of diving off Santa Cruz, then Genovesa and the lava field above Prince Philip's Steps. Relax in the hot tub on the top deck, spend your nights in luxury cabins.
Set on the rim of an extinct volcanic cone, with long views and tents on stilts making room for giant tortoises in the grass below, this camp more than earns its safari moniker. Spot all kinds of wildlife, take a private boat to the Marine Reserve, and have a remote beach all to yourselves.
In Lima’s bohemian Barranco neighborhood, luxuriate in a suite in a 1914 Belle Epoque mansion turned Relais & Châteaux hotel, with 300 works of art on the walls and six places to dine. Enjoy a guided walk through the neighborhood's galleries, boutiques, and kitchens – Lima is a world-class food city – and learn to make your own pisco sours.
Board the Explorer at Nauta and slip into five million acres of flooded forest. They call Pacaya Samiria the Forest of Mirrors for what the still water does with the sky. Skiffs at first light with breakfast packed, piranhas on the line, pink dolphins surfacing off the bow, a night river safari under brilliant stars. Fifteen suites, and a river turtle project run alongside the communities who live here.
Peru’s north coast runs dry and mostly empty, with desert cliffs dropping into Pacific waters. Cabo Blanco was known as the marlin capital of the world in the fifties, and Hemingway fished here. The lodge has just 10 rooms now, and your suite has a plunge pool and a fire pit above the sea. Chill with three days of nothing scheduled, which after two weeks of high adventure is quite the point.
“Land stays wild when the people living beside it are better off with the wildlife than without it.”
Adventurous couples celebratingTell us who is coming and when. A travel designer will come back with ideas, options and the logistics for From the Islands to the River and the Old Fishing Coast.
Co-founder · Since 1991
Sandy and our small team of travel designers read every note. One of us will write back, personally.
One of us will write back today.
