Qualla: Alausi

Alausi: Introduction

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Five hours from Quito on the Pan-American Southern highway, or three from Cuenca by bus for six dollars, or two from Riobamba if you broke up the trip with a night in the provincial capital - however you arrive in Alausí, the journey matters. This is a small town in the Ecuadorian Andes that has become a destination for exactly one reason: a 12-kilometer stretch of railway outside the city limits that descends 500 meters through two switchbacks cut into the face of a mountain. The Devil's Nose train, La Nariz del Diablo, is the reason cooperative buses schedule daily connections here. But stay a day and the town itself - small, charming, hemmed in by green mountain walls - rewards the lingering visitor.

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Alausi: Getting Here

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

From Quito's Quitumbe bus station, Express Sucre Cooperativa de Transportes runs buses several times a day on a six-and-a-half-hour route through the Avenue of the Volcanoes. From Cuenca, the same cooperative and Patria provide departures every one to two hours during daylight; e...

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Alausi: The Devil's Nose Train

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The Nariz del Diablo is the steepest descent of any railway track in the world - or rather, it was, and remains the steepest still operating as a tourist attraction. The track zigzags down using two switchbacks, meaning the train reverses direction twice as it descends. Views of ...

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Alausi: The Town Itself

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Walking is the way to get around Alausí - it is small enough that almost nowhere is more than fifteen minutes from anywhere else. The bus station sits on 5 de Junio, the main street, three blocks down from the train station. On a hill above town rises a 21-meter-tall monument to ...

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Alausi: Packing, Eating, Weather

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The altitude in Alausí is about 2,340 meters. The train descends to around 1,400 meters at the bottom of the Devil's Nose. Temperature ranges from 15 to 25 degrees Celsius depending on elevation and time of day, which means layers - bring a jacket for the cold mountain mornings a...

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Alausi: Moving On

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

From the bus station on the main street, or from the highway bus stop, buses to Riobamba and Cuenca depart regularly. If one destination does not have an immediate connection, the other usually does - worth checking both schedules before waiting. For travelers with more time, Gua...

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