What to pack for the Amazon
Almost every packing list for the jungle tells you to bring more. The useful advice is the opposite: bring less, bring it dry, and leave the rest of your luggage in Quito. The lodge already has the heavy things, the canoe has no room, and everything you carry in is going to get wet at least once.
The short version
- The lodge lends rubber boots — but usually only up to about EU 45 / US 12. Larger feet, bring your own.
- A dry bag is the single most useful thing you can pack. Or a bin liner inside your bag, which costs nothing.
- A head torch. Electricity runs on a generator for a few hours a day.
- Leave your main luggage in Quito. Take a soft bag with four days of clothes.
- Mosquitoes are a twenty-minute problem at sunset, not an all-day one. Long sleeves on at a quarter to six.
What the lodge already has
This is where most people over-pack, so confirm it with your operator and then stop worrying about it.
- Rubber boots for jungle walks — the correct footwear, which you will be glad not to have carried. The caveat matters: stocks generally run to around EU 45 / US 12. If your feet are bigger, bring your own and expect them to come home ruined.
- Life jackets for every canoe excursion.
- Drinking water. Do not drink from taps or the river; the lodge provides potable water. Bring a refillable bottle rather than buying plastic.
- Rain ponchos, at many lodges but not all. This is the one worth asking about specifically.
- Mosquito nets over the beds, as standard.
Leave the rest in Quito
The journey in is a night bus, a two-hour road transfer and then a motorised canoe. The canoe is small, it is loaded by hand, and everything on it is exposed to spray and rain.
Take a soft duffel or backpack with what you need for four or five days. Leave the suitcase, the laptop, the good camera you are not going to use, and the clothes for the rest of your trip in Quito. We store luggage for guests at no charge, and so does every decent hotel in the city — this is normal and expected.
The list
Clothing
- Long-sleeved shirts, lightweight and quick-drying. Two or three. Protection from insects and sun, and cooler than they sound.
- Long trousers, light and quick-drying. Two pairs.
- Shorts and t-shirts for around the lodge in the middle of the day.
- Underwear and socks — bring more than you need. These are the things that never dry, and thick socks make the borrowed boots comfortable.
- One warm layer. Nights can drop to around 15°C and you will be on a river at dawn.
- Swimwear. You will swim in the lagoon at sunset, and it is the memory most people keep.
- Sandals or water shoes for the lodge and the canoe.
- A wide-brimmed hat.
On colours
Muted earth tones — khaki, olive, grey, beige. Two reasons, both practical: bright colours make you more visible to wildlife, which is the opposite of the point, and there is reasonable evidence that mosquitoes are drawn to strong colours more than to neutral ones.
Also: everything you bring will be stained with river water and mud by day two. Beige forgives this. White does not.
The things that actually matter
- A dry bag, or several. For your camera and phone on the canoe, and for keeping one set of clothes reliably dry. If you buy nothing else, buy this.
- A head torch, with spare batteries. Night walks, finding the bathroom, and the hours when the generator is off. A phone torch is not adequate.
- A power bank, charged. Electricity at most lodges runs a few hours in the evening only.
- Insect repellent with DEET or picaridin. One bottle is enough.
- Binoculars. Small ones. You will use them constantly, and the difference between seeing a monkey and seeing a shape in a tree is entirely this.
- Sunscreen. You are on open water for hours.
- A quick-dry towel.
- Ziplock bags — for wet clothes, documents, and anything electronic.
Documents and money
- Your passport. There is a checkpoint at the Cuyabeno bridge and you will need it.
- Cash in small bills. Meals and activities are included, but you will want cash for the community visit, crafts, drinks and tips. There are no cash machines and no card terminals.
- Travel insurance details, and a note of any medical conditions for your guide.
- Any prescription medication, in its original packaging, in a waterproof bag.
Health, honestly
No vaccinations are mandatory for visiting the Cuyabeno. That is not the same as saying none are advisable.
Yellow fever vaccination is commonly recommended for Amazon regions, and hepatitis A, typhoid and tetanus often come up as well. Malaria risk in the Cuyabeno is low compared with other parts of the Amazon basin, but "low" is not "none" and individual circumstances differ enormously.
This is a conversation for a travel health clinic, four to six weeks before you fly, not for a hotel website. We are not going to tell you what to take, and you should be suspicious of any tour operator who does.
One practical point that catches people out: a yellow fever certificate may be required to enter other countries after you have visited Ecuador, depending on your onward route. If you are continuing to Brazil or elsewhere in the region, check the requirements for your whole itinerary rather than just for Ecuador.
The mosquitoes
Less constant than you are imagining. In the Cuyabeno the reliable window is sunset and roughly twenty minutes after — that is when they arrive, and outside it most visitors are pleasantly surprised.
Which makes the advice specific rather than vague: long sleeves and trousers on before the light goes, repellent on exposed skin at the same time, and you have largely solved it. Avoid strongly scented soap, deodorant and perfume for the same reason.
Electronics
Assume power for a few hours in the evening and nothing during the day. Bring a charged power bank, more memory than you think, and something waterproof to keep it all in. Humidity is constant, so a few silica gel sachets in your camera bag are worth their negligible weight.
There is no mobile signal, for the entire trip. Download what you want to read or listen to before the bus leaves Quito, tell someone at home you will be offline for four days, and then enjoy the fact.
What to leave behind
- Hard-shell suitcases. They do not fit the canoe or the lodge.
- Drones. Restricted in protected areas, and a very expensive thing to drop in a river.
- Single-use plastics, including water bottles. Take a refillable one.
- White and brightly coloured clothing.
- Jewellery and anything valuable you would rather not lose in a boat.
- Half of what you have laid out on the bed. Genuinely.
Weather, so you can plan
It is a rainforest, which means it rains in every month. The less wet stretch is roughly December to March. Daytime temperatures sit somewhere between the mid-twenties and mid-thirties Celsius, with humidity that makes the number meaningless, and nights that can drop to around 15°C.
Higher water is not a problem for a Cuyabeno trip — it means better canoe access into the flooded forest, which is where the wildlife is. There is no month you should avoid.
What we do here
We store the luggage you are not taking, free of charge, for as long as you are away. The shuttle to the Cuyabeno leaves from our door at eleven at night, so you can shower, repack and rest here in the afternoon rather than sitting somewhere with a suitcase — that is what our Day Use room is for, and it is available whether or not you are staying with us.
If you are still choosing between reserves, read Cuyabeno or Yasuní. If the Galápagos are also on the trip, note that the two packing lists barely overlap — see what to pack for the islands.
Repack here. Leave the rest with us.
Nine rooms in a restored 1914 house in San Blas, and the departure point for the Cuyabeno. Book direct for our lowest rate, or ask about a Day Use room for the afternoon before the bus.
See the Cuyabeno tripTake the list with you
There is no signal in the Cuyabeno at all. Save it before the bus leaves.
