After returning from a very successful birding adventure in southern Ecuador, we had one night in Guayaquil before our flight to San Cristobal in the Galapagos.  We both had over $100 in our Orbitz accounts from a summer photo competition so we used some of them to get a night at the Hotel Palace Guayaquil for free.

We arrived shortly after sunset so we didn’t get much time to explore the area.  Guayaquil isn’t the safest part of Ecuador and I was kind of wary about walking around at night.  I would have been ok in the daytime.

The room was a good size and very comfortable and the wifi worked well which was good as I hadn’t been online since Loja.  We were given welcome drink vouchers to use in the bar and the breakfast buffet was included in the rate and had a great selection.  We were very happy with this hotel and apparently we aren’t alone as they got an award on Trip Advisor as one of the Top 25 Hotels in Ecuador!

The hotel is in a shopping area and like I said, I would have been fine to walk around in the daytime.  I am not a night person and do tend to be very cautious in large cities.  There are a few fast food places within a block of the hotel if you want to eat out.  The hotel has its own taxi service and charges the same $5 to the airport as a regular yellow taxi and is safe.