Montañita

Montañita is a village in Manglaralto Parish on the south coast of Ecuador. The region is known for its combination of small tourist-friendly villages and towns, magnificent unspoiled beaches, world-class surfing and both island and mountain natural reserves. Over the years, a relaxed and multicultural atmosphere has evolved.

Understand
Ecuador's "Ruta del Sol" ("Route of the Sun") has been renamed "Ruta del Spondylus" and part of Manglaralto Parish in Santa Elena Province.

A hidden treasure that did not even appear on the maps just a few years ago, the combination of perfect waves, golden sand, and tropical vegetation have slowly developed its reputation as a tropical paradise.

Montañita started as a beautiful beach with a few rustic houses of native fishermen and some surfers in tents. Over time it's grown to include vacation homes, hotels, rustic restaurants, bars and open air cafès, created by people seeking to escape the frantic life-style of Guayaquil, Ecuador's largest city and main seaport. Montañita has its share of foreigners who fell in love with the place and settled down. They include Argentinians, Americans, Australians, Canadians, Germans, Jamaicans, Russians and people from all over Europe. This village's colorful variety of street vendors, artisans, activities, and party nightlife provide a multicultural atmosphere that attracts the same variety in its visitors.

The layout of Montañita is a grid of small streets parallel to the north-south main road (E15), or perpendicular to it (east-west, most having beach access). The streets are crowded with shops, restaurants and hostels. North of Montañita's little town is a small mountain often called "the Point" that separates its beach from Olon, Montañita's neighboring town. On this small mountain is a beautiful ocean overlook and the beaches of Olon.

Mosquitoes and other insects can be a nuisance, especially at night. Long clothes, bug spray or "bugger off" bracelets may help.

Get in
The usual way to reach Montañita and the other villages in Manglaralto Parish is overland via the Ruta del Sol, a beautiful coastal highway running along the Ecuadorian coast.

By bus

 * From Guayaquil: Direct lines from Guayaquil to Montañita by CLP, last one leaves at 18:30. If you don’t make it to one of the direct buses, take CLP bus to Santa Elena or Libertad ($3.30, two hours) and transfer to the Citup bus ($1.50, one hour) which will take you to Montañita. CLP buses to Santa Elena and Libertad start operating around 03:00 (maybe even earlier). Once you are at Santa Elena or Libertad, it is extremely easy to transfer, just look for the blue and white bus called Citup that goes to Montañita.
 * From Cuenca, Machala, Loja or other cities in southwestern/southern Ecuador: Take a bus directly to Guayaquil and follow the directions above.
 * From Quito, Esmeraldas or other north/northeastern cities of Ecuador: From Quito take a direct bus to Guayaquil and follow directions above or go to Jipijapa or Portoviejo. From there you can get a bus directly to Montañita, or by changing in Puerto Lopez.
 * From Peru: Cross into Ecuador at the International Bridge over the Zarumilla River, near Huaquillas-Aguas Verdes (customs/immigration control). From Huaquillas you can get a bus to Guayaquil. From there, follow the directions above to Montañita.

By taxi

 * From Guayaquil or Santa Elena, you can take a taxi to Montañita, either for greater comfort or when the buses aren't running (generally after 21:00). The fare is between $80 and $100, as of March 2019.

Get around
Walking is the best way to get around town as Montañita is a very small village and the streets can get too crowded for cars. However, taxis and buses are available and make it possible to consider staying also in the less crowded, more serene and safe villages of Manglaralto and Olon only 5 minutes away, south and north respectively from downtown Montañita.

There is one transportation and taxi company

Surf & bodyboard
From beginners to experienced surfers, Montañita and its surrounding beaches offer an ideal location for surfing and bodyboarding. Many shops in town and on the beach rent out surfboards for about $5 per hour or $15 the whole day. If you want to catch early waves, some of the shops will rent you a board in the evening and you return in when the shop opens.

There is a choice of beaches, both in and near Montañita:


 * The Point known as the End in Montañita is a point break just north (1 km) of the center of Montañita. Waves are fast, strong and some of the more respected waves in Ecuador. If swell of the north, the west hard has the propitious conditions with some or the south and little wind. Waves can reach 3 m with sections of impressive tubes. Appropriate for surfers of intermediate and advanced level. The bottom is rocky but the route ends in sand. If you are going to surf, stay in the north part of town.
 * Between the Point and the center of Montañita, you'll often find fast, beach-break, running waves (both left and right) playing along the sandy bottom. Great for beginners to more experienced surfers, especially when the Point is not working well.
 * Ecuadorian Air Force (FAE — Fuerza Aerea Ecuatoriana). 70km south of Montañita, in (Salinas). This sensible left to nobody swell, is one of the favourites of tablistas Guayaquileños. Special permission used to be necessary to access the beach, as it belongs to the armed forces of Ecuador, but since October 2013, you only need an ID. Waves here are very consistent; with low tide there are almost always good waves (left ones). Only for experienced surfers.
 * Tunas/Ayampe. 25 km north of Montañita, Tunas, and Ayampe (3 km apart) both offer powerful and tubular waves almost every day. With lefts and rights, the waves of Tunas and Ayampe are a good option when the water is calm in Montañita, since they always can give a good wave for you to have fun.

Buy


Local artisans walk around carrying displays of their handmade necklaces, earrings and a variety of other jewelry. Along the streets are tables of vendors selling interesting and beautiful crafts. Tagua, also known as vegetable ivory, is native to the area and is used to make rings, necklaces, and other crafts including animal figurines.

A few vendors from Otatvalo have tables and a small store with crafts, artwork, bags, and clothing found in the mountains. Some of the clothing and bags are woven from alpaca.

There are several surf and rental stores available offering everything you need for the beach. On the main street, one of the neatest and exotic things they have are necklaces made out of strings from hemp that hold neat things like shark tooth. These usually sell for about $3-4.

Also, if you are in the need for marijuana, you can ask any of the surfers or restaurant owners, as they will have some for you. Montañita is the most famous weed-smoking beach town, although the quality is not always good, the amount is plentiful. Because of local tolerance, Montañita is becoming known as South America's Amsterdam. The attention has brought higher qualities of marijuana to the local market.

Eat
Montañita has a well-deserved reputation for culinary variety and surprises. From vegetarian pizzas to delicious spaghetti with shrimp, the lists of restaurants and of special dishes are both long. Like a good coastal pueblito, most restaurants have a fish/seafood menu for reasonable prices. For example, you might find a menu with vegetable soup as the starter, a second course of fish with rice, fried bananas, and salad from $2. Another important point is the fruits. It is practically a religion in Montañita to take a good breakfast with pineapples, bananas, papayas with yogurt and granola here, nutritious food that the restaurants offer from 08:00 to lunchtime.

On the busiest streets, there are small stalls during the evenings and night selling hamburgers and hot dogs for about $1.50. Many restaurants are transformed into bars, and many bars become nightclubs. Tourists come to enjoy the beach, but also because they know that the nightlife is spectacular.



Drink
While as in most of the rest of Ecuador, tap water is not safe to drink, as far as bar drinks, Montañita will not disappoint. The delicious mixture of licores with fruit juices results in tempting daiquiris. The supply of bars is ample and spans a large range of styles.



During busy evenings, the entire street of Calle Tercero (northernmost) has over 20 barlets on carts serving fresh juice cocktails, and seating for 2-4 people at each.

Connect
Most of the accommodations have decent Internet connection with wifi. There are a few Internet cafes and call centres around with similar prices :

Go next
Direct CLP buses from Montañita to Guayaquil depart few times a day. Check the departure times from the small CLP office in Montañita. The bus schedules vary by day of the week, and the information on the company's website (if you can find the schedule at all) may not match reality, so check at the counter the day before if you need a specific time. The price is around $6 and the journey takes between 3 and 4 hours.

More frequent buses go to Santa Elena (Ecuador), where you can catch another bus service to Guayaquil (departs every 15 minutes during daytime).


 * Puerto Lopez is the ideal place from which to explore Machalilla National Park.
 * Salango is a tiny tranquil fishing village has only a couple of streets but is home to an impressive and well-maintained archaeological museum.