Roaming South America

Huaquillas, Ecuador - A Border town that's not really Interesting

February 21, 2026

Huaquillas, Ecuador, sits on the border with Perú. I wrote a blog about this town on January 17, 2023. This town is nothing special, not all that clean, noisy, and simply not worth a visit. The only redeeming quality I can find is that some of the bakery/coffee shops and dessert shops play soft jazz. Maybe they do that to give people a respite from the noise and congestion of the downtown streets.

If you do visit and think about staying at the Hotel Smir, supposed to be one of the better hotels here, be sure to make reservations; they don't accept walk-ins. I found out when I walked in without reservations and was turned away for just that one reason. They don't look like anything special, but they obviously think they are. So, I went to Hotel Vallejo on the main street. For $16 per night (for me only), it includes a less-than-great breakfast, but it is something - coffee (instant), juice, bread, and premade and cold scrambled eggs, well, probably just one egg. At any rate, for the price, the room is decent, and the one I was in had A/C. Across the street is a dessert/coffee shop and a couple of decent restaurants.

So, this is a town that you can pass on your way to or from Perú. And thankfully, the highway and the border crossing are well away from the city. Oh, that brings up another point - here in Huaquillas, there is a border crossing but there is no immigration office. So, if, like me, you need an exit stamp from Ecuador, you can't cross here; you have to take a bus or taxi to the CEBOF crossing. There are at least 3 bus lines here that will take you to Tumbes, at least three bus lines. You can cross here in town for shopping as far south as Tumbes without an exit stamp. The crossing here is very busy, but there are lots of police in the area on both sides of the border. There are lots of money changers, and there are ATMs as well.