The Real Deal Six nights' accommodations, meals, local air transportation, and guided tours from $1250 per person.

When Through Dec. 31, 2007.

Quito, Ecuador (Jeremy Woodhouse/Getty) [enlarge photo]

The Fine Print Airport-hotel transfers in Quito and Coca, hotel taxes, airport taxes and fuel surcharges for flights to and from Coca, daily breakfast in Quito and all meals at La Selva Jungle Lodge, daily guided excursions, and park entrance fees are all included. International airfare is additional. Based on double occupancy; single supplement is $530. Read these guidelines before you book any Real Deal.

Book By No deadline; based on availability.

Contact Marnella Tours, 866/993-0033, marnellatours.com.

Why It's a Deal If booked separately, staying at La Selva Jungle Lodge would cost you just under $700 per person for three nights in a double room. The Yasuni National Park entrance fee is $25, and Quito-Coca round-trip airfare is approximately $120 per person. All this is included in the Marnella Tours package, as well as a three-night stay in Quito and guided tours of the city at discounted contract rates for a total cost of $1,250 per person--a savings of about 5 to 10 percent. Plus, having the convenience of a one-stop shop is a time-saving bonus.

Trip Details The Ecuador Jungle Experience package begins in Quito with a three-night stay in a junior suite at the 142-room Grand Hotel Mercure Alameda, located downtown in the business and shopping district. Your package includes two sightseeing excursions while in Quito. The first is a city tour, which lasts five hours and begins with a drive around the town's colonial center; a visit to Ecuador's House of Congress, the Presidential Palace on Independence Square, the Cathedral, the church of El Sagrario, and a drive up Panecillo Hill--where you'll be treated to panoramic views--are also on the itinerary.

The second tour is an eight-hour trip to Otavalo Indian Market--perhaps the most famous of its kind in South America--where you'll find handmade local treasures, such as bright-colored tapestries, knits, wood carvings, silver jewelry and paintings. On your way to the market you'll stop in Calderon and Cayambe, known for their bread-dough figurines and bizcochos (sponge cakes), respectively. Other highlights: Score bargains on handmade leather goods in Cotacachi and enjoy breathtaking landscapes as you pass through Tabacundo on your way back. This tour includes lunch at a local country inn.

While there's tons to love about Ecuador, one of the most popular things to do when you get to the center of the world--literally!--is jump from one hemisphere to another. You'll have this once-in-a-lifetime experience when you visit the Middle of the World Monument (30 miles outside of Quito) that marks the equatorial line; be sure to bring a camera.

Getting to the base for the second half of the trip is an adventure in its own right. First, you'll board a private Icaro plane for a 25-minute flight to Coca. From there a chiva (open bus) will take you on a 15-minute ride to a private dock. Then, you'll travel down the Napo River by motorized canoe to La Selva Jungle Lodge by Garzacocha Lake, where you'll be staying for the remaining three nights. The two-and-a-half-hour trip downriver includes a freshly prepared box lunch, followed by a cocktail reception at the lodge.

Your time at the lodge, nestled deep in the Amazon jungle, will be filled with daily guided excursions, consisting of two- to five-hour nature walks exploring the wildlife surrounding the Napo River. You can choose from 13 different tours, including a visit to a butterfly farm and one to a 135-foot-tall observation tower. Night tours feature a caiman hunt, a search for owls or frogs, and insect excursions. For an additional $230 per person, you can spend a night camping outside.

At the end of the stay, you'll fly back to Quito, arriving there around noon, to catch your flight back home.

For more tips on what to do in the area, check Ecuador's official tourism website. And before you go, check the weather forecast, the exchange rate, and the local time at BudgetTravel.com.

Getting There: A Sidestep search at press time showed that the lowest round-trip airfares to Quito in early October are $396 from Miami (Copa), $431 from New York City (Copa), $486 from L.A. (Copa), $520 from Chicago (American), and $565 from Houston (American).

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