Baños is known as the adventure capital of Ecuador, and canyoning in Banos is a very popular activity. The town is also known as the “Gateway to the Amazon” as it’s the last city in the mountains before entering the jungle. The location makes Baños a great starting point for full Amazon tours and day trips to the jungle. Unfortunately, we only visited for a couple days before our trip to the Galápagos, so we opted for local activities, like canyoning and biking the Ruta de las Cascadas.
Book canyoning in Banos with GeoTours
There are only 16 licensed canyoning guides in all of Ecuador. For this reason, be sure to book your canyoning trip with a reputable agency, like GeoTours. We walked into their shop just the night before. We were able to book for $30 per person including all gear, digital photos and a light lunch in the city afterwards.
GeoTours was also the company we used to book our bikes for the Ruta de las Cascadas.
Canyoning in Banos Ecuador
In the morning we met at the GeoTours office, tried on some gear and drove about 15 minutes to the base of the canyoning site. There, we put on our wetsuits and harnesses and our guide explained the safety procedures. He also demoed rappelling for us. We were just four, so this went rather quickly.
Next, we crossed the street and hiked uphill for about ten minutes. This was by far the hardest part of the day. Despite my fear of heights, the rest was a fun-filled adrenaline rush.
Chamana Canyon, Rio Blanco
Chamana is the canyon we visited. It’s known to be one of the easier ones in the area according to our guide. He also pointed out the older woman sitting by the canyon who just happens to own the mountain the canyon is tucked into. He said there are dozens of canyons along this mountain, but this is the only one open to tourism.
Based on my experience at canyoning in Rio Blanco’s Chamana Canyon, I’d say anyone can do it. Canyoning doesn’t require much physical fitness, just guts. I always felt safe and trusted our guide and the equipment.
On the first waterfall, we rappelled down slowly. Later, we picked up the speed and the height. The whole trip ended with some fun natural slides into the last pool.
We finished by 12 pm, waited for the cars to drive us back to town and were directed to Aromé for a light lunch. It was a croissant sandwiches and our choice of coffee, tea or hot chocolate. Coincidentally, I’d been wanting to visit Aromé for hot chocolate so I opted for that. It unfortunately (or fortunately) tasted just like Swissmiss and the sandwich was very average. Plus, drinking hot chocolate when it’s hot outside is indeed, strange. At Aromé I also bought a variety pack of six mini chocolates to try later, these were worth it.
Overall impression of canyoning in Banos
We were only canyoning for about one hour. I had expected the experience to be longer, but to be fair, we did absolutely no research, just walked into GeoTours the night before and booked. Definitely book with GeoTours, they were very accommodating, friendly, informative and trustworthy.
This was my first canyoning experience. Mike informed me that he didn’t really think it was canyoning, more just rappelling and sliding. While I found the experience fun and loved our guide, I’d definitely suggest booking the Cachaurco Half Day Canyoning Tour if possible. It’s double the price, but also looks like double the fun.
For canyoning, pack bug spray and don’t worry about a camera or GoPro. Your guide will take great photos. You just need to stop by the GeoTours shop afterwards and they email them to you.
