Toreadora lake
Easy trails.
Delphine Ménard (notafish }<';>) — CC BY-SA 2.0 fr · amalavida.tv from Ecuador — CC BY-SA 2.0 · amalavida.tv from Ecuador — CC BY-SA 2.0 · amalavida.tv from Ecuador — CC BY-SA 2.0
A stunning mountain park west of Cuenca on a high plateau between 3,100 and 4,450 metres, scattered with hundreds of small glacial lakes among grassy, rocky hills, so from above the land looks like a broken mirror. It is a key water source for Cuenca and a protected wetland. You walk clear trails around the lakes, the best known around Toreadora lake by the visitor centre, among spongy «páramo» plants, mosses and tiny flowers. Among its oddest sights are woods of short, twisted Polylepis trees with red, peeling bark, which grow higher than almost any other trees on Earth. The park has many birds, including mountain hummingbirds, and sometimes llamas and deer. Country restaurants along the road serve fresh lake trout. The weather is very changeable: sun, then fog and cold rain within minutes, so bring warm clothes and a rain jacket, and stay on marked trails, as fog easily disorients. Register your name at the entrance.
Easy trails.
Red bark.
Roadside restaurants.
About 30 km west of Cuenca on the road to Guayaquil, an hour by car
The loop around Toreadora lake by the visitor centre, about one to two hours. Bring rain and cold gear, as weather changes fast.