Las Terrazas de Dana Boutique Lodge & Spa — Hotel in Mindo

Las Terrazas de Dana is incredible. My boyfriend and I had a lovely three-night stay in the Master Suite. We were generously upgraded upon check-in, which was a wonderful surprise. I originally chose this hotel based on all the glowing reviews—and now I’m excited to add my own five-star review!||Food: Everything was fresh, crisp, and healthy. I’m vegan, and the restaurant team went above and beyond to accommodate me with filling and delicious meal options. I chose to eat exclusively at the hotel during my time in Mindo, as I have a sensitive stomach, and I appreciated that they used purified water for cooking. I felt great the entire time. Room service was also a special treat—timely and beautifully presented.||Room: The Master Suite offers an entrancing view of the cloud forest hillside from the balcony window. I loved watching the clouds drift by and listening to the soothing sound of rain—one of my favorite memories from the trip. The bed was comfortable, the shower was great, and we enjoyed the bathroom jacuzzi twice—it was very tranquil. While some insects made their way into the room, it wasn’t an issue at all given the natural surroundings. Bug spray was provided, and I didn’t get any mosquito bites! The walk to the room is uphill, but it’s lined with beautiful plants and worth the short trek.||Staff: The hotel’s website is both beautiful and informative. David was very responsive to all my email inquiries, and once we arrived, Marco took excellent care of us—offering suggestions for activities and calling taxis when needed. This is a truly special hotel, and every staff member was helpful and attentive. I felt so well cared for, and when I returned to my hotel in Quito, I genuinely missed the warmth and hospitality of Las Terrazas.||Activities & Safety: I felt completely safe in Mindo. Local taxis were easy to use, and English was spoken at the main tourist spots when needed. I especially loved the Yumbos chocolate tour, the Mariposario: Mariposas de Mindo, interacting with hummingbirds on Hermit’s Trail, and taking the tarabita and 20 minute walk to the Nambillo cascada. The weather was mild, with a mix of sun and rain each day—it reminded me of paradise, maybe even a little like Hawaii. I wish I had booked a spa treatment—next time for sure!||Transport: Las Terrazas de Dana arranged private transport to and from our airport hotel. Our driver, Byron, was great and I felt very safe with his cautious driving. The road to Mindo is winding and narrow— just one lane going each way—so we went slowly at times, especially behind trucks. The transport vehicle was very comfortable, and I appreciated being able to adjust the A/C in the back seat, which helped with the mild motion nausea I felt at the start. I also loved that Mindo is at a much lower altitude than Quito, which made it a great place to acclimate. We opted for a stop at Mitad del Mundo during our drive back to Quito. Please check out Museo Intiñan it was the best!||Final thoughts: Mindo is such a special place, and Las Terrazas de Dana is an exquisite hotel. I highly, highly recommend staying here. Please visit—you...

Las Terrazas de Dana is incredible. My boyfriend and I had a lovely three-night stay in the Master Suite. We were generously upgraded upon check-in, which was a wonderful surprise. I originally chose this hotel based on all the glowing reviews—and now I’m excited to add my own five-star review!||Food: Everything was fresh, crisp, and healthy. I’m vegan, and the restaurant team went above and beyond to accommodate me with filling and delicious meal options. I chose to eat exclusively at the hotel during my time in Mindo, as I have a sensitive stomach, and I appreciated that they used purified water for cooking. I felt great the entire time. Room service was also a special treat—timely and beautifully presented.||Room: The Master Suite offers an entrancing view of the cloud forest hillside from the balcony window. I loved watching the clouds drift by and listening to the soothing sound of rain—one of my favorite memories from the trip. The bed was comfortable, the shower was great, and we enjoyed the bathroom jacuzzi twice—it was very tranquil. While some insects made their way into the room, it wasn’t an issue at all given the natural surroundings. Bug spray was provided, and I didn’t get any mosquito bites! The walk to the room is uphill, but it’s lined with beautiful plants and worth the short trek.||Staff: The hotel’s website is both beautiful and informative. David was very responsive to all my email inquiries, and once we arrived, Marco took excellent care of us—offering suggestions for activities and calling taxis when needed. This is a truly special hotel, and every staff member was helpful and attentive. I felt so well cared for, and when I returned to my hotel in Quito, I genuinely missed the warmth and hospitality of Las Terrazas.||Activities & Safety: I felt completely safe in Mindo. Local taxis were easy to use, and English was spoken at the main tourist spots when needed. I especially loved the Yumbos chocolate tour, the Mariposario: Mariposas de Mindo, interacting with hummingbirds on Hermit’s Trail, and taking the tarabita and 20 minute walk to the Nambillo cascada. The weather was mild, with a mix of sun and rain each day—it reminded me of paradise, maybe even a little like Hawaii. I wish I had booked a spa treatment—next time for sure!||Transport: Las Terrazas de Dana arranged private transport to and from our airport hotel. Our driver, Byron, was great and I felt very safe with his cautious driving. The road to Mindo is winding and narrow— just one lane going each way—so we went slowly at times, especially behind trucks. The transport vehicle was very comfortable, and I appreciated being able to adjust the A/C in the back seat, which helped with the mild motion nausea I felt at the start. I also loved that Mindo is at a much lower altitude than Quito, which made it a great place to acclimate. We opted for a stop at Mitad del Mundo during our drive back to Quito. Please check out Museo Intiñan it was the best!||Final thoughts: Mindo is such a special place, and Las Terrazas de Dana is an exquisite hotel. I highly, highly recommend staying here. Please visit—you...

Las Terrazas de Dana is the perfect place to end your Ecuador Adventure. We started off with a busy itinerary cruising the Galapagos and then a trip to the amazon. This was a perfect ending to an epic trip, the grounds are beautiful, the staff was amazing and extremely knowledgeable. It’s a family run business and they have the two most adorable puppies that are always there to greet you.

We stayed in a deluxe bungalow (room no. 2) the back wall is a sliding glass door that opens to a balcony where you can spend hours birdwatching with a beautiful view of the cloud forest. The glass is so clear you couldn’t tell the door was open or closed. We are not birders but you couldn’t help trying to photograph all the different species of birds, including hummingbirds and many different songbirds. We were lucky enough to see Toucans from our room on our last morning there.

There is an onsite restaurant open from 7:30AM to 8PM so we had all our meals in the hotel with food preprepared fresh in the kitchen every time – definitely recommend the Tortilla Espanola.

We had issues with the car rented at the Quito Airport but David insisted that we call them if we had any issues returning to Quito. Overall, it was an amazing experience in this super cute hotel. Terrazas de Dana was the perfect way to decompress after an extremely active two weeks in Ecuador.

The nearby town of Mindo is small, but if you want to see hummingbirds, there are three close-by locations. We liked the Hermit Trails and San Tadeo the best. Hermit Trails is at the end of a dirt road, but we were able to (barely) make it in a low clearance rental car, sedan with no four-wheel drive. The road to San Tadeo is paved so there are no major issues getting there. There are other attractions too, like a butterfly sanctuary and an orchid garden but we were so obsessed by the hummingbirds that we did not have a chance to visit the other nearby attractions. A trip to the Tarabita, a fun cable cart that takes you from side to side of a mountain, with optional hikes to waterfalls is a must – the closest waterfall one is not as impressive but it was totally worth the 20-minute hike. We visited first thing in the morning, so we had the place to ourselves. People started arriving as we were leaving around 10AM, so it’s definitely recommended to do this first thing, the place opens at 8AM. If you are interested in swimming at the base of the waterfall, bring your swimsuit. On our way back to Quito, we stopped at Mitad del Mundo, it was a Sunday so the place was jumpin’ jumpin’ with lively cultural performances.

This is not related to the Terrazas de Dana hotel but it is worth mentioning that the only negative in our Mindo trip was the amount of stary dogs in the streets – a common site in the cities we’ve visited in South America throughout the years. The strays appeared somewhat cared for and many restaurants/stores would have water/food bowls outside. We are dog people, so it was a sad...