In the last ten years Mindo has become a major destination offering excellent bird watching and fun activities such as tubing, canyoning and canopy zip lines.

There are orchid gardens, butterfly farms, cable crossings, waterfalls, good hiking and several cloud forest reserves both national and private and local guides are available.

Several direct buses a day leave from the Ofelia terminal in Quito or you can take a bus bound for Esmeraldas and get off at the turning. Shared taxis wait at the junction to fill the seats and drive the 7 kilometers down to the village. There is also a direct service to Santo Domingo.

Sightseeing
Visit one of the orchid farms. The flowers are delightful and many of them are rare species.Try to entice tropical butterflies to eat banana from your hands at the Mindo garden butterfly farm.

Travel downriver in an inner tube. This is called a regata and can be arranged in almost any shop. It's best during the rainy season because the rapids are actually rapid then.

Tarabita are metal gondolas supended on steel cables across the valleys taking you at canopy level over the forest. Canopy zip lines are individual harness trips which take you zooming across the valleys on inclined cables.

Getting there
There are bus services from Santo Domingo and Quito.