Loja: Getting there and away

By Christopher Minster

Loja is in a remote part of southern Ecuador and the best way to get there, by far, is to fly. There are a few daily flights to and from Quito, which take about 45 minutes and cost roughly $140 (roundtrip). The airport in Loja is located about 40 minutes away from the city: cab fare from the airport to the city will cost you about $10-$15, or you can take the cab to the nearby little town of Catamayo, where you can catch a bus to Loja. They leave regularly, especially when a flight has just come in. If you have heavy bags, it may not be worth it to lug them to Catamayo: you may want to just suck it up and go for the direct taxi.

Note that Loja’s airport has a very small runway and is precariously carved out of the rolling hills in the area. The airport closes regularly for bad weather: they’ll postpone flights in or out indefinitely until they’re sure that conditions are safe. In other words, don’t plan your time very tightly coming into or out of the city, or you may be in for a nerve-wracking day of waiting out a rainstorm.

By bus: Getting to Loja by bus is a long trip. From Quito, it’s a grueling 15 hour trip. Panamericana (Colon y Reina Victoria in the Mariscal, phone 2501585) makes the trip, as do some companies at the Terminal Terrestre in Quito. A bus ticket from Quito to Loja costs about $15-20 depending on operator, quality of bus, if it goes directly, etc.

From Guayaquil, the bus trip is 9-10 hours and costs about $10. Buses tend to leave at night and arrive in the morning.

From Cuenca, buses tend to go more or less hourly all day. It’s a five-hour trip that costs roughly $7.

You can also get from Piura, Peru, on the border, to Loja. It’s an eight-hour trip, costing about $8. Buses leave early in the morning and late at night.

Buses leave every half hour or so from Loja to Catamayo, where you’ll find the La Toma airport (45 minutes).