Best Way to Get to Cuenca from VA?

Your perplexity is not entirely clear, but yes I do have one recommendation:

Avoid Expedia.

Their marketing provides no service you could not accomplish by yourself or with other providers, Expedia only exists to take their skim off your travel spending without providing any actual useful service. And with Expedia if you run into a problem and try to call them up to straighten things out, you are routed to a call center in Manila, Philippines where nobody knows what you're babbling about and which does not exist to solve real problems in real time. Expedia is a ripoff.

For airline tickets, look at Kayak.com.

For room arrangements, look at Booking.com

Most flights from N. America to Ecuador land in Quito in the middle of the night. The new Quito airport is out in the boonies, you may want to get a room nearby for the night before flying on to Cuenca.

Dear Gardener1,
Thx much. That's exactly  the info I need. I always thought if one booked flight + hotel at one site, it'd be a major savings but I can see it's necessary to stay overnight in Quito. Yes, I've experienced the same with Expedia but had good experiences with CheapoAir and Kayak.  Thx for the tip about the airport location as well. Love your kitty avatar!
Regards,
JM

P.S I was thinking of visiting for 7-10 days in mid-August. Would that be a suitable time and sufficient to scope out the area in Cuenca? Thanks again.
Peripatetic Soul in VA

I was there at Dom's QAS: http://airporthotelquito.com/

...the same time as the Haines Family, helping another Expat Family from Cuenca Re-entry via UIO back to NA. It was great to finally meet the Gringos Abroad Team!

I stay at Dom's often it 7km's / 7 mins from the uio front door terminal, he runs a very good hassle free operation to get you in and out based on the various UIO flight schedules.: gringosabroad.com/ecuador/quito-airport-hotel-a-pet-friendly-hotel-in-quito/

All the best on your move down,
journeymanjack.com/

Dear JMJ,
Many thanks for the tip. Yes, I too was following the Haines' family blog and hope all fares well for them. 'Tis a small world.  I'll google the hotel.
Cheers,
PS from VA

Hello,
Just read the Haines family's recent blog about a hotel close to the airport--just 7 minutes away and is pet friendly for those traveling with their beloved critters. Rates are reasonable and provides many services.  Here is the link:
http://airporthotelquito.com/

Regards,
PS

Hi,
I just re-read your post and realized you provided the name of the same hotel I read about and subsequently posted here.  I was googling "Dom's" to no avail. HA

PS

Soory about that,    Dom's as in the owner of Quito Airport Suites (QAS) / AKA: Airport Hotel Quito, is Dom Buonamici, he does a weekly newsletter covering EC Expat Living / covering many issues:)

Dom interviewed me the last time I had guests at his (QAS)-

--The best driving routes, and driving times in Ecuador--
"This week I had the pleasure to interview someone that knows the roads of Ecuador better than ANYONE I know. Jack Abercrombie, an American expat from Atlanta who has lived in Ecuador for over 7 years now, and has a heavy-duty truck he uses to help expats move heavy loads of belongings within Ecuador."
- See more at: ecuadorrealestate.org/driving-times-in-ecuador/#sthash.hO5THOOg.dpuf

So, you CAN get a flight from Richmond right into Cuenca?  organicmom

journeymanjack wrote:

I was there at Dom's QAS: http://airporthotelquito.com/

...the same time as the Haines Family, helping another Expat Family from Cuenca Re-entry via UIO back to NA. It was great to finally meet the Gringos Abroad Team!

I stay at Dom's often it 7km's / 7 mins from the uio front door terminal, he runs a very good hassle free operation to get you in and out based on the various UIO flight schedules.: gringosabroad.com/ecuador/quito-airport-hotel-a-pet-friendly-hotel-in-quito

I'll second the vote on Quito Airport Suites. When I moved here, spent about 4 days there just to hang out and do nothing. Have stayed there 3, or 4 times and every time was just what the doctor ordered :-) His US number (MagicJack) is 406-318-0347.

OrganicMom wrote:

So, you CAN get a flight from Richmond right into Cuenca?  organicmom

When you say, "...a flight..." that indicates one flight. Your trip would probably be more like Richmond-Miami-Quito-Cuenca. There are no direct international flights into Cuenca.

HTH

Thanks, that's what I was wondering, whether you had to stop in Quito or fly right into Cuenca.  By the way, I read somewhere that Cuenca would start receiving international flights at some point, did anyone else hear about that?

We fly from Dulles (IAD) to Guayaquil *and from Guayaquil to Dulles.  COPA has an early flight that gets you into GYE around 17h30.  Avianca also flies from IAD into GYE, but gets you in much later.  We like COPA best.

We also take the buseta (we rent the van for the two of us and our baggage) to get us to Cuenca.  They are better than the buses as they make no stops,  While it is illegal for them to carry passengers, (because the bus companies don"t want any competition - they did try to legalize their business) it is not illegal for them to bring tourists (all gringos are tourists...)  from GYE to Cuenca.

They bring us right to the door of our house.  We use operazuaytur,  There is also an expat that we used at Christmas time who tool our children back to GYE.  He was $90.  He has a pickup truck.  No complaints from the kids and he brought the car seat back.

HTH

How long is the trip from GYE to Cuenca?

suefrankdahl wrote:

How long is the trip from GYE to Cuenca?

by van/car about three and a half hours from airport