The valley of Vilcabamba lies at approximately 5,000ft (1500-1600 mts) above sea level, by being on the equatorial divide it maintains a spring like temperature of 65 to 82 degrees Farenheit (18 to 28 degrees Celsius) year round. There are two seasons, the rainy season which lasts from October to May, and the dry season which lasts from June to September. There are strong winds in July and August causing it to get quite dry:

Vilcabamba is a whole valley stretching up through the Podocarpus National Park, the Lake District, and the peaks of the "Cordillera de Los Andes". The lower Vilcabamba is a quilted patchwork of corn and sugar cane fields, fruit orchards and cattle pastures. Higher up scrub forest gives way to premontane forest and, at the upper reaches entering the Podocarpus National Park, to cloud forest, "elfin" forest and highland paramo.

Throughout the valley the Mandango peak predominates the views. From some areas of the valley the top of Mandango appears to be a face looking towards heaven, from other areas it looks like a sleeping man or woman. Mandango is also known as "The Sleeping God".

Icaro another airline which has turbo prop beechcraft planes flies
Quito -Loja 4:00PM tues,wed,thurs,
fri and sun and Loja -Quito the same days at 6:00 PM.Flight takes one
hour
ICARO
in Quito 02 - 245-0928/245-1499
in Loja 07 - 578-416 / 585-955
web site: www.icaro-air.com

The flight lasts one hour.There are airport taxis that can take you directly to Vilcabamba, or you can take a taxi communally to Loja where there is bus and taxi service to the valley. The taxi ride from the airport to Loja takes 30 min. and from there it is another 45 min. to Vilcabamba. There are also buses leaving from Quito and Guayaquil regularly for Loja.

The direct road trip from Quito takes 12-14 hours or you can break up the trip by stopping in places like Baños or Cuenca. The trip from Guayaquil to Loja takes 8 hours. Within Vilcabamba, there are a few pickup trucks that serve as taxis to get people where they want to go.