Bahía de Caráquez

Altitude: 11 meters (36 feet)
Population: 52,158
Phone Code: 05

This clean and breezy town, sitting on a slender peninsula reaching into the Río Chone, boasts a quiet atmosphere accompanied by tall white-fronted apartment complexes and broad tree-lined avenues. Locals in San Vicente say the best thing about Bahía is the view from San Vicente. To a certain extent, the city does seem a lot more impressive from afar than up-close. Once a holiday haven for high-heeled Ecuadorians, Bahía was tormented by unrelenting El Niño rains in the late 1990s. Severe flooding, coupled with a double earthquake, destroyed buildings and roads, triggered landslides and pretty much washed out tourism in the area. The city has made a brilliant recovery, and along with with the repaired roads and reconstructed buildings came the growth of a new urban trend: ecotourism.

Navigating the town is relatively easy: the Malecón wraps around the edge of the peninsula, eventually becoming Circunvalación as it approaches the shore. Some of the best and most popular eateries line the riverside, close to the ferry, in an area touted as Malecón 69. Lying within striking distance of tropical dry forests, mangrove islands and remote beaches, Bahía is a good place to get down with nature, or just spend a pleasant afternoon meandering along the Malecón.

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Other places nearby Bahía de Caráquez : Jama , Canoa, Santa Marianita, Manta City, Pedernales and Crucita.