Why this ride
A named mountain-road corridor with sustained elevation change and pass scenery. It links naturally to Imbabura lakes and indigenous markets.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Quito Otavalo and Ibarra
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 113 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 1 h 53
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Editorial context
Coordinates are curated start-via-end route seeds. They are not a surveyed centreline or navigation geometry. Run road snapping, topology checks, access checks and a live-status review before publication.
Access context
Do not auto-publish. Snap to a routable road network, verify current closures, legal motorcycle access, surface, permits, border controls and local safety information.
Seasonal context
Jun-Sep
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Quito
Quito sits almost on the equator and almost two miles up, and the two facts together explain a lot. At about 2,850 metres the air is thin, the sun is fierce, and the days are mild whatever the calendar says, so the city lives in a permanent early spring. It stretches for kilometres along a narrow Andean valley, with Pichincha volcano rising on the western side and, on clear mornings, the snow cone of Cotopaxi and other peaks visible to the south and east.
Read the complete Quito write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Quito sits at 0 km, early in the day. Next is Otavalo.
2. Otavalo
Saturday is market day and the whole town changes shape. Otavalo, a town of some thirty thousand people in the northern Ecuadorian Andes, is home to the Otavalo people, an indigenous Kichwa community famous for its weaving, and the Plaza de Ponchos fills with stalls of textiles, hats, hand-knitted jumpers, beads and paintings. The men wear their hair in a long braid and the women dress in embroidered blouses, blue wrap skirts and strings of golden beads, and many of the merchants speak Kichwa among themselves.
Read the complete Otavalo write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Otavalo comes up 36 km in. Next is Ibarra.
3. Ibarra
Ibarra is called the White City, and on a clear morning with the Imbabura volcano standing behind its low roofs you can see why. It lies in a wide northern Andean valley at around 2,200 metres, the capital of Imbabura province and a city of about a hundred and thirty thousand. Its colonial centre was founded in the early seventeenth century and rebuilt after a severe earthquake in 1868, which is why the streets run in neat lines and the squares feel calm and open.
Read the complete Ibarra write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
113 km in you reach Ibarra.