Mashpi Lodge | Mindo Ecuador

As you enter the realm of the rainforests, you will become aware of Life at every step: mushrooms and fungi below, tree trunks festooned with liverworts, lichens and mosses, giant ferns reaching up to the light above, swirling mists and clouds of moisture. And then, from nowhere, comes the sound of rushing water, a waterfall amid this glistening, green world, where you can revive your senses.

 Mashpi lodge is located three hours away, 110 Km (70Milles) from Quito in the western slope of the occidental flank of the Andes. The rapid change in altitude (from 2800 msnm to 1000 msnm) allows you to discover the wanders of the Andean landscape.

The road crosses the valley of Pomasqui dominated by Andean dry forest, and then to the western flank of the Andes through the Cloud Forest and the road ends in Mashpi Lodge at the beginning of the tropical rainforest.

The monument of “La Mitad del Mundo” (“Middle of the World”), mark the place where you cross the equatorial line and the  obelisk commemorates the visit of the geodesic mission in the XVIII century as part of their studies measuring one arc of the meridian and their efforts to proof the elliptical shape of the earth.

Half way to Mashpi Lodge you stop to visit Tulipe archeological museum, a set of ruins that belonged to the Yumbo culture, one of the last cultures that settled in Quito before the arrival of the Incas and the Spanish.

You will enjoy coffee and an Empanada (Turnover) prepared by local citizens of Tulipe and then continue the road for 60 minutes and arrive to Mashpi Lodge .

The sophisticated and strikingly-contemporary lodge is designed as the ideal springboard for exploring the biodiverse world of its reserve.

A hideaway in the clouds only accessible to its guests and located on a high plateau, Mashpi Lodge features views of the forested mountains on one side and the forest right up close on the other through its floor-to-ceiling glass windows.

The Lodge, built with the latest techniques in sustainable building and employing hydroelectric power in the near future, is designed to blend beautifully with its surroundings.

It features contemporary, minimalist decor, mixing warm earth tones, notes of bright colour, clean lines and striking angles and vistas: a luxury cocoon amid the cloudforest with the natural world just beyond, ideal for contemplation and relaxation.

Mashpi Lodge is intimate, accommodating a maximum of 44 guests in 22 understated yet luxurious rooms, including 3 “Yaku” suites and 19 “Wayra” rooms.