Hacienda Cusin is a restored, 17th-century Andean estate at 8,500ft/2,600m in Ecuador. This very personal hotel and its 38 attentive staff are close to the Equatorial Line and the famous market town of Otavalo. Spanish-colonial Quito and its airports, are available by direct shuttle via a new PanAmerican Highway.

Guest rooms, cottages, suites and salons, furnished with antiques and select Andean craft, have log-burning fireplaces, beamed-ceilings and gardens.

Ancient lakebed soil, a predictable equatorial sun and avid gardeners have created several acres of year-round flowering gardens including cobblestone lanes, fountain patios, belladonna, bougainvillea, agapantha, foxgloves, orchids, palms, which attract over 50 species of birds. Often snow-capped 15,000ft/4,570m Imbabura and Cotacachi mountains are reflected in Lago San Pablo.