Baños is one of those places in Ecuador that feels like a natural playground. Surrounded by mountains, waterfalls, and adventure activities, it’s known as one of the most exciting places to visit Baños Ecuador. But at the same time, the town itself is small, walkable, and surprisingly relaxed.
We stayed just a five-minute walk from the central square and quickly fell into a routine of walking everywhere. The town has a great playground near the southern side of the town, plenty of cafés, and easy access to many of the most popular things to do in Baños.
What really stood out to us was how local the experience felt. While Baños Ecuador is definitely a tourist town, most of the visitors we saw were Ecuadorian families visiting for the weekend. During the weekdays, the town felt quiet and easy to explore.
In total, our family travel costs in baños ecuador came to $867.86 for nine nights, and here’s exactly how that broke down.
Our total family travel costs in Baños Ecuador for Nine Nights
In total, we spent $867.86 during our 9 nights in Baños, averaging $96.43 per day for our family of four. All amounts are listed in U.S. dollars.
Like our other travel budget breakdowns, we’ve excluded flights since those will vary depending on where you’re traveling from.
Overall, we found Baños travel to be very affordable. Accommodation was reasonable, groceries were easy to find, and because the town is so small and walkable, transportation costs were almost nonexistent.
Here’s how our Baños travel budget broke down during our time exploring Baños, Ecuador with kids.
Accommodation
We spent $474.16 on accommodation for 9 nights, which comes out to about $52.68 per night.
Our Airbnb was located just southeast of central Baños, about a five-minute walk from the main square. The location worked really well for our family because everything in town was within walking distance.
The apartment had two bedrooms, a kitchen, and laundry, which are things we almost always look for when traveling with kids. Having those amenities made our stay much easier since we could cook meals and do laundry during the week.
Even though the apartment was above a restaurant, it was surprisingly quiet. We were also close to one of the main playgrounds in town, which gave our kids an easy place to run around whenever they needed a break from sightseeing.
Overall, Baños Ecuador is an extremely walkable town, and staying near the center made it easy to access restaurants, grocery stores, and many of the popular things to do in Baños.
Eating Out
We spent $51.71 eating out during our time in Baños.
Because we had a kitchen in our Airbnb, we cooked most of our meals and only visited a few cafés and restaurants during the week.
Two of our favorite coffee spots were Aromi Café and Honey Coffee and Tea. Both were great stops for coffee and light food while exploring Baños.
We also had dinner one night at South Indian Restaurant, which ended up being a lot of food for the price. It was a nice change of pace from cooking and a good option if you’re craving something different while visiting Baños Ecuador.
Overall, eating out in Baños felt very affordable, especially compared to many tourist towns.
Groceries
We spent $157.96 on groceries during our stay in Baños.
Most of our groceries came from a combination of the local supermarket Mega Bodega and the town’s produce market called Mercado.
The produce market ended up being one of our favorite places to shop. It’s only open a few days a week, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday, but it’s packed with fresh fruits, vegetables, and local products. The quality of the produce was excellent and prices were very reasonable.
Shopping at the market made it easy to keep our Baños travel budget low while still eating really well during our stay.
Because our Airbnb had a kitchen, we cooked most of our breakfasts and lunches, which helped balance out the few times we ate out while visiting Baños Ecuador.
Transportation
We spent $20.53 on transportation during our time in Baños.
The largest portion of that cost was the bus ride to Baños, which included traveling from Quilatoa to Latacunga and then onward to Baños Ecuador. The journey took about five to six hours in total and cost $17 for our family.
Once we arrived, we took a short Uber from the bus station to our Airbnb, which cost just a couple of dollars.
After that, we didn’t need transportation at all. Baños is an incredibly walkable town, and we were able to reach everything we needed on foot. When we left town, we took a quick taxi to the bus station for about a dollar.
Compared to many destinations, transportation costs in Baños travel can be very low simply because of how compact the town is.
Tourist Attractions
We spent $157.50 on attractions and activities during our stay in Baños.
One of the highlights of our trip was taking a full-day Amazon rainforest tour through Turismo 24 Ecuador. This tour took us into the Amazon region where we explored jungle areas, visited local communities, and experienced a completely different side of Ecuador.
For more details on this experience, you can read our full guide here.
We also took the Ruta de las Cascadas tour, which is one of the most popular things to do in Baños. This route follows the river valley and passes several incredible Baños waterfalls, including viewpoints and stops along the way.
You can read more about the full route here.
Another fun activity in town was visiting Termas Antiguas de la Virgen, one of the famous hot springs in Baños Ecuador. These natural pools sit right below a waterfall and offer multiple pools with different temperatures. We liked this location because it felt more local and relaxed rather than resort-style.
What We Learned About Visiting Baños With Kids
One of the best things about Baños Ecuador is how easy the town is to explore.
Everything is walkable, which makes traveling with kids much simpler. From restaurants to markets to playgrounds, we were able to reach everything within just a few minutes of walking.
Baños also felt extremely safe. Even though the town is known for adventure tourism and can feel lively on weekends, during the weekdays it was calm and relaxed.
There are also plenty of adventure activities for visitors. Some of the most popular things to do in Baños include canyoning, whitewater rafting, renting bikes to ride the waterfall route, or exploring the surrounding mountains by ATV. We didn’t do these activities during this visit, but they’re very popular with visitors.
What surprised us most was that while Baños travel is definitely touristy, most of the tourists we saw were actually Ecuadorian families visiting for the weekend. We were often some of the only international travelers in town, which made the experience feel even more local.
Final Thoughts
Overall, we found Baños to be a very affordable destination for families.
Spending $867.86 for nine nights in Baños Ecuador felt like excellent value considering the accommodation, food, and activities available.
Because the town is small and walkable, transportation costs stay low. And by combining grocery shopping with occasional café visits, it’s easy to keep your family travel costs in baños ecuador manageable.
For families looking for nature, adventure, and a laid-back mountain town atmosphere, Baños Ecuador travel offers a lot of experiences without requiring a huge travel budget.
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