Building on over seven years of experience in organizing premium motorcycle tours, Ecuador Freedom Bike Rental announced its latest self-guided, off-road excursion called Dirt Deluxe. The new tour combines exclusive, award-winning luxury accommodations with a tantalizing unpaved route that takes riders into the more remote and obscure areas of Ecuador, giving a glimpse into ways of life that have largely disappeared.
The 6-day tour crisscrosses the northern Ecuadorian Andes, a part of the country that still feels enigmatic, subtly inaccessible and not saturated with tourists. It’s an area known for its pristine wildlife refuges, coffee plantations, timeworn colonial buildings and therapeutic hot springs. The recent political settlement in neighboring Colombia allows visitors to safely travel through this exotic region.
Read our review of Ecuador Freedom’s “Andes, Amazon and Pacific Coast” Tour
Now, the company’s off-road capable, adventure-ready motorcycles are the best way to dig deeper into this special region of the country. Customers are provided a pre-programmed Garmin ZUMO GPS unit and a “road book” containing detailed daily routes with genuine points of interest and culinary experiences that are not to be missed along the way. Part of the route–through the Coca-Cayambe Wildlife Reserve–is so pristine and well-protected that it is off-limits to motorized traffic, unless you have a special permit, which the company arranges in advance.
“We believe there is a market out there for people who like traveling on rough dirt roads yet want to enjoy premium lodging after a hard day’s ride,” explained Court Rand, Co-Founder of the Quito-based motorcycle tour operator. “Years of riding these roads has made us intimate with them. Every ride leads us to something new: a glacial lake we never visited before, a traditional artisan we’ve never met or a sparkling waterfall we’ve never swam in. We’re in this business because it moves us and we’re eager to share our experience with other riders.”
Consistent with the route–which traverses several climatic zones, cultures and altitudes–the included luxury hotel accommodations are rich in diversity. The hospitality of each venue has its own unique regional character that is evident in every gesture. The Septimo Paraiso Cloudforest Lodge offers customers a special Pisco Sour cocktail made with homegrown passionfruit. Set in a desert landscape, the Tunas y Cabras Lodge prepares a succulent marmalade from the prickly pear fruit that is cultivated from cactus grown on their farm. The Hacienda Primavera Wilderness Lodge serves a mythical cup of coffee from their plantation.
The new self-guided tour is available from May through February. Customers can depart any day of the week with advanced reservations. The self-guided tour includes an adventure-ready dual-sport motorcycle or 4X4 off-road capable pickup truck, motorcycle saddlebags or luggage, pre-programmed GPS, lunch and dinner each day and a cell phone for 24-hour customer support. Prices start at $1,915. For more information: http://bit.ly/DirtDeluxe
About Ecuador Freedom Bike Rental
Located in the historic capital city of Quito, Ecuador Freedom Bike Rental is the country’s first motorcycle tour operator founded in 2009. Working with local, professional guides they design and outfit tours for adventure enthusiasts who wish to explore Ecuador on two wheels. They are open 7 days a week and provide full-service rentals of mountain bikes, motor scooters and motorcycles at reasonable daily and weekly rates.
For more information: freedombikerental.com
My fears may be totally unfounded but I am afraid of kidnapping & robbery in central & south American countries. Being held for ransom in these countries is not unheard of and often the police are as corrupt as the criminals. Am I wrong?
Dave
At Ecuador Freedom we have had thousands of customers on our self-guided tours over the past 7 years including a solo 70 year old woman and a solo young woman of 22 years. We have never had a single security incident. Ever. Ecuador is far ahead of most south and central American countries in safety,with crime rates lower than many parts of the USA.
Yes Dave I’d say your fears are unfounded. I lived in Ecuador for 13 years and traveled through out it on motorcycles in very remote regions, probably some locations that even Court Rand has not been.
Kidnappings are extremely rare and when they do happen one of the least likely targets would be some guy traveling around on a motorcycle. If they were to hold you for ransom they would want to first establish that you were worth something, and then they would want to pick out a time and place based off of your routine. As a traveling motorcyclist, you have no real routine and they wouldn’t ever have the time to find out if you were worth the effort.
Things to worry about are the 2000 foot vertical drops, crazy bus drivers, rich guys running 90mph in Landcruisers, poor guys in a 40 year old pickup driving 20mph , Donkey Carts and even the odd Drunk lying in the road. Bandido’s not so much.
There is not a more spectacular country in the world for natural beauty, especially in such a small area
Thanks Pat, Obviously you leave the Rolexes at home but nowadays almost any American is considered wealthy when in a third world country. That said, a motorcyclist seems less a target than the typical tourist or ex-pat owner of a lavish hacienda. As a recent retiree with plenty of time and ample money I’d love to take my wife on a two-up once-in-a-lifetime vacation that’s not just another Las Vegas, Key West, or Sandals resort. These Ecuadorean tours look perfect.
The Ecuador freedom dirt tour sounds good.Thanks for posting that one.
MotoLocoPat
I ran back across this article and see I posted on it some years back.
I will add a bit to it. I ran Moto-Loco Adventure Tours for 7 years and covered ALL of Ecuador.
The heart of the tours covered this same northern area and then depending on length of tour we would expand out down to Cuenca with trips to the upper Amazon region and some even over to the coast.
NEVER a single problem with thievery in any of the small towns. People in this region are VERY motorcycle friendly and would come out to gawk at the motorcycles and the big Gringos riding them treating us like Rock Stars. I’ve had Mayors of these little town donate us fuel from his depot as we would have other wise ridden another 30 minutes in the morning down towards the coast and back track back up the Andes. About a 6-8 days to do a good route through the Northern Andes, to hit Cuenca and Amazon add 3 days and a trip to the coast another 3 days. Food is also Excellent in Ecuador, great value on some REALLY COOL places to stay and the Scenery has a HUGE WOW FACTOR to it . . you don’t just say that’s so pretty… your Jaw Drops and you say WOW!
Side Note . . We had to re-jet the carburetors to do the coastal route, return them to stock. If Fuel Injected then not a problem
As for Kidnapping just isn’t going to happen. As part of other work I did I came across some security experts, US Military and I posed the question of kidnapping in relation to my tours. First off it isn’t Colombia, or the Colombia of old as they have largely gotten through that phase. Secondly he stated that the Kidnappers are Highly Organized and that they are going to spot a potential suspect and investigate him, who he works for, would they be likely to pay a ransom, and study his movements then pick a time and a place to do it. They aren’t going to have an opportunity to do any of these things with some guys on Dirt bikes who will be 150 miles away the next day. And the only areas that these types of people operated in at all were along the Colombian border and they typically used Ecuador as a Safe Haven and kept a low profile there.