Ecuador Entry Requirements

What Do You Need To Enter Ecuador?

A passport valid for at least six months and a return or onward ticket that you may be asked to show. Citizens of the US, UK, Canada and EU countries need no visa for up to 90 days in any 12-month period. No COVID or vaccination documents are required. The Galapagos add their own paperwork.

Since October 20, 2022, Ecuador has had no COVID-19 entry requirements, and no test or vaccination card is needed to enter. The national mask mandate was lifted on 28 April 2022. Ecuador also stopped requiring a yellow fever certificate from travelers arriving from Colombia, Peru, Bolivia and Brazil in August 2025, though vaccination is still a recommendation, and a certificate can be required under international health rules for arrivals from certain countries.

Ecuador's foreign ministry lists the nationalities that do need a visa, and no EU member state appears on it. If you continue to the Galapagos, you need a personal, non-transferable round-trip air ticket between the mainland and the islands, and tourists can stay up to 60 days per year there.

Do You Need A Visa?

For tourism, no. US, UK, Canadian and EU passports enter Ecuador without a visa for stays of up to 90 days in any 12-month period. You can extend once for a further 90 days, applying before the first 90 days end. Carry proof of a return or onward journey, as border officials may ask for it.

Sources: US State Department (14 October 2025), UK FCDO (16 September 2026), Government of Canada (24 September 2026), Ecuador's foreign ministry.

Ecuador's foreign ministry lists the nationalities that need a visa, and no EU member state appears on it. US travelers can request an extension at a provincial migration office. UK passports must be valid at least 6 months after arrival, and Canada requires validity for at least 6 months beyond your planned departure. EU citizens should check their own government's travel advice for passport rules.

The table on this page follows each government's own page, with sources from the US State Department, the UK FCDO, the Government of Canada and Ecuador's foreign ministry. Rules change, so a traveler should confirm the current requirements with their own foreign office before booking flights.

Which Vaccinations Do You Need?

No vaccinations are required for most travelers entering Ecuador. Yellow fever vaccination is recommended for the Amazon and eastern lowlands below 2,300 m, but not for Quito, Guayaquil or the Galapagos. Routine vaccines and hepatitis A are recommended for all travelers, and a travel clinic can advise on your specific plans.

Sources: Ecuador's health ministry (28 August 2025), CDC (9 July 2025), UK TravelHealthPro (October 2026).

The yellow fever entry rule ended on 28 August 2025: Ecuador no longer requires a certificate from travelers arriving from Colombia, Peru, Bolivia or Brazil, and vaccination became a recommendation. Under international health regulations, a certificate can still be asked for from travelers arriving from certain countries. Since 20 October 2022 no COVID-19 test or vaccination card has been needed to enter.

The CDC recommends yellow fever vaccination for travelers aged 9 months and over going to areas below 2,300 m east of the Andes, including provinces such as Napo, Orellana and Pastaza. It is not recommended for travel limited to Quito, Guayaquil or the Galapagos. Routine vaccines and hepatitis A are recommended for unvaccinated travelers, with typhoid to consider for rural areas or a month or more in Ecuador. There is no malaria in Quito, Guayaquil or the Galapagos, but risk exists in lowland provinces below 1,500 m, such as Esmeraldas and Cotopaxi. Ask a travel clinic what applies to your itinerary.

Do You Need Travel Insurance?

For mainland Ecuador, no official source makes travel insurance mandatory for tourists in 2026, though consular pages recommend buying travel and international health coverage. For the Galapagos, Ecuador's tourism ministry says foreign tourists must hold private health insurance before entering the province, so confirm current requirements before you travel.

The mainland situation is straightforward on paper: consular pages recommend buying travel and international health insurance, but nothing found in official sources makes it required for entry in 2026. You can travel without it and follow the recommendation only if you choose to. Costs and coverage levels vary by provider, and none are set by any official source here.

The Galapagos is where you should slow down and check directly. Ecuador's tourism ministry site states that foreign tourists must hold private health insurance before entering the province. The Galapagos park's arrival information page does not list that requirement, and rules for the province are set by the Consejo de Gobierno, known as CGREG. Because those two sources differ, contact CGREG for the current requirements before you buy a policy.

Extra Rules For The Galapagos

Before flying to the Galapagos you need a Transit Control Card, a return ticket, lodging listed in official guidance, and cash for the park fee on arrival. Stay no more than 60 days a year, and expect biosecurity checks of your luggage at both airports.

Get the TCT at the CGREG counter in the Quito or Guayaquil airport before check-in, or register online first. It costs USD 20 per person and children under 2 are exempt. You show your passport and a personal, non-transferable round-trip air ticket. The park fee, USD 200 for foreign adults and children 12 and over and USD 100 for younger children, is paid in cash to park rangers on arrival at Baltra or San Cristóbal.

The biosecurity agency inspects your bags at the mainland airport and again on arrival, and you fill in a sworn declaration of goods, now digital. Prohibited products stay at home. There is also an extra security and biosecurity bag check before you drop your bags. Official CGREG pages list a booking at an authorized hotel, or an invitation letter from a resident, among the entry documents, and the online TCT registration asks you to select your lodging. Health insurance for foreign tourists is listed by Ecuador's tourism ministry, so confirm details with CGREG.

More on this: How To Get To The Galapagos: Flights, Airports And Fees · Galapagos rules

Phones And ESIMs On Arrival

Buy an eSIM before you fly, or get a Claro chip at the Quito airport arrivals hall; both work on the mainland. In the Galapagos, coverage exists only in the towns of the inhabited islands, so expect little to no signal in the highlands or at sea.

Prices from esimdb.com (30 September 2026) and claro.com.ec.

A Claro SIM costs USD 4 plus a package, and staff register it against your passport. Movistar also has a presence at the airport. On Santa Cruz and San Cristóbal, Claro coverage is generally slightly broader, while on Isabela both carriers are patchy, often 3G with dropouts. Airalo lists short plans starting at USD 5 for 1 GB.

We used two options on the mainland: Movistar SIMs with unlimited calls and messages plus 15GB of data, and an Airalo eSIM that gave us 3GB for 30 days at USD 21. On our cruise, even WhatsApp struggled to load and checking email was nearly impossible.

More on this: Using US dollars in the Galapagos