Tarabita Mindo a las Cascadas

Excellent experience.
Gorgeous vegetation & waterfalls.
Worth just going up just for the chair lift & cable car if you are not very mobile, you will see the forest but not the cascades.
There is a small restaurant after the cable car.
It is a challenging walk to the waterfalls, but not a difficult hike. You DO need to be very mobile though. I wouldn't take anyone for this walk if they were out of shape, had balance issues, painful knees or bad hips.
Be prepared for muddy, wet pathways, this is a natural area.

Quick but spectacular. Get there by taxi, don’t pay more than $5. The $5 for the cablecar serve as „park entrance fee“ for the hiking trails in the cloud forest. The cablecar is very basic and motorized by a car engine!

Incredible views from the fast moving cable car. Not ideal if you don't like heights! The journey over the valley is fast though. the views are awesome. The waterfalls on the other side are a great thing to walk around and see. Surprisingly warm too!

About four mile walk like 70+ floors of up and down. It's steep. We had a great local dog walk with us the whole way that was amazing!

Amazing hiking trail. Many waterfalls. You could spend a few hours hiking and dipping in the water—a $ 5 entrance fee.

An absolute must do. Beautiful treks and waterfalls. Make sure you have a few hours to spend there. You can also swim in some waterfalls. Entrance is 5$.

What a wonderful experience.
Trails clearly marked.
Staff are awesome and helpful.
The waterfalls are wonderful.
Just two things.
1. Make sure you wear appropriate footwear, some parts can be difficult with the trail being wet , (it is a rain forest after all), this with the natural clay composition of the soil makes certain spots a little slippery.
2. Rather go early than later.

Overall an absolutely wonderful experience.

A very worthwhile spot to visit. If you don't have a car it's easy to get a taxi from town ($6 one way). Our cab driver also happily agreed to pick us up at an agreed time afterwards, which ended up being very helpful.

We went early on a Sunday (around 9am) which was super as we had the place to ourselves for the first hour or so. It got a lot busier after that.

Some info regarding distances (as the map for the trails only indicates approximate time, which isn't that helpful).

Ruta 3 (with lots of waterfalls) is around 2.3km one-way. The '35 minute' suggested one-way time is very optimistic, especially if stopping at each waterfall. This route is very popular so would recommend doing it first if you arrive early, to avoid crowds. Lots of beautiful swimming spots too.

Ruta 2 (to Cascada Reina) is around 2.6km one-way. The 50 minute suggested one-way time is more realistic, though would still require a reasonable pace.

Total distance for both trails return ends up around 10km. Would recommend allocating at least 4 hours if you want to do both.

Beautiful place to share out in the nature

This is and excellent adventure in Mindo! Kiss the clouds and ride on the tarabita to the most stunning waterfall... we did the closest cascade which was a 20 min trek through the rainforest! Cascade de Nambilla! This was very exciting and tiring!

Cool place to visit. The waterfalls aren’t that impressive but it’s a nice walk.

Quite a pretty place for a hike. Don't miss the cable car ride and check out the car engine and transmission he uses to power the cable car

A beautiful view and incredible experience. It may be a short ride from one end of the cable to the other, but you've got to make sure you take the tarabita at least once on your expedition to the waterfalls. If you're lucky, the local canine guide will hop on with you.

What an awesome experience. We saw so many hummingbirds and taranger birds. Please remember to tip the lady at least 5 dollars. Get a tripod and a camera with high speed shutter speed

Expensive but worth the price if you're a foreign tourist. I can see why Ecuadorian visitors find it expensive. We timed it - it took 15 minutes to go up, you spend however much time at the top, and then let them to know when you want to go down.

Go in the morning to avoid afternoon room. We were the first to arrive at 8:30am. It's an extra $5 if you want to walk to tarabita from the top and do the waterfall hike.

Great place for a hike and views. I am not much of a hiker but was able to get through this with ease. So much to see. There are places where you will get wet shoes so plan for that. Did some wading to cool off as well.

We got there right when it opened on a weekday and it was very quiet and secluded. The maps are clear, the scenery is great, and we saw some wildlife.

Amazing experience riding in the tarabita above all of the trees and then getting to hike to a beautiful waterfall. We only hiked to Cascada Reina. It was a pretty average hike with a lot of ups and downs but in total not a lot of elevation gain. We did cross over at least 4 streams along the way, but because it wasn't steep the trail didn't appear as muddy. Make sure to bring a rain jacket and keep an eye out for lots of critters, big and small.

Luv the waterfalls. Great hiking and swimming.

Short but beautiful ride above the forest and waterfalls