Volcano trekking

1. Get close to Quito's local rumbler

The only capital city threatened by an active volcano, Quito goes about its business despite Volcán Pichincha grumbling on its doorstep. Board the telefériqo, a slick sky tram that glides up the volcano's haunches to 4100m, for spectacular views. The fit and acclimatised can add on the three-hour hike to 4680m Rucu Pichincha, one of the volcano's lofty pinnacles.

2. Climb Cotopaxi

The perfect volcano, ice-cream-cone Cotopaxi is also a challenging (though not technical) ascent. It's breathtakingly high (5897m), very chilly and steep to the point of inducing vertigo, but a successful conquest – on a clear day, at least – reveals the wealth of Ecuador's volcanic bounty in one sweeping panorama. Stay at the refuge at 4800m and set off at midnight to make your bid for the summit. Prior acclimatisation is vital.

3. Visit San Salvador island's lava fields

The landing site of Puerto Egas, on San Salvador in the Galápagos, looks black and hostile, age-old lava crusted into shallow pools, caves and geological swirls. But it's full of life: mounds of marine iguanas bask and snort, their black skin camouflaging with the landscape, while fur seals play in the pools and vivid Sally Lightfoot crabs add a splash of colour.

4. Dip in the hots prings at Baños

Volcán Tungurahua is a bit of pest, regularly spewing and causing trouble for the locals below. But it's also a boon, providing jungle-frontier-town Baños with steaming thermal pools, choc-full of allegedly health-giving minerals, as well as local Bañenos taking their regular dips. Visit one of the cheap public bathhouses for a muscle soothe and a cultural insight.

5. Peer into Quilotoa crater lake

This pea-green pool, tucked away in the deeper reaches of Cotopaxi province, has, say the locals, no bottom – which is easy to believe when you peer down from the lookout. Walk the crater rim trail (six hours) or descend to the lake itself to hire a canoe for a few hours paddling across the mouth of a volcano.

6. Summit active Isabela Island

The largest of the volcanic Galápagos Islands, Isabela isn't short of thermal rumblings. Take the 8km trail from Santo Tomás up the steep sides of gurgling Volcán Sierra Negra to see steaming fumaroles and a few of Darwin's famed finches.

7. Shop in the shadow of Imbabura

The shopping mall of the Andes, Otavalo's traditional Saturday market is the place for retail therapy, all under the watchful eye of looming Volcán Imbabura. Good buys here include ponchos, alpaca-wool rugs and tagua-nut jewellery.

8. Roam the highlands of Santa Cruz

Head up into the leafy interior of Santa Cruz, the main island of the Galápagos, to explore a land of extinct craters dotted with lumbering giant tortoises and vermillion flycatchers, and inch into the eerie darkness of kilometre-long lava tubes.

9. Bike down Chimborazo

At 6310m, Volcán Chimborazo is the highest peak in Ecuador. So don't just climb up it – mountain-bike down it! Drive up to the refuge on its flanks and then freewheel down, looking out for grazing vicuña as you go.

10. Chug through the Avenue of the Volcanoes – maybe...

The appeal of the train ride from Riobamba to Sibambe is two-fold: first, you get to trundle past the many mighty peaks of the Avenue of the Volcanoes; second, you can thrill at the twisty descent down the Devil's Nose, a 765m sheer cliff somehow conquered by a masterstroke of engineering – though this masterstroke closed for repairs in early 2010, hopefully to reopen (for the brave) very soon.