• WHERE Cotopaxi, Ecuador
• HOW MUCH From $149 per person per night, including meals
• MORE Read more about Tierra del Volcán

GETTING THERE Drive four hours from Quito on rough roads. Or get out of the car after an hour and a half—when you reach Hacienda El Porvenir in El Pedregal—and hop on a mountain bike or horse for a four- to seven-hour ride through Cotopaxi National Park. Along the way, admire Cotopaxi, one of the world's tallest volcanoes. You can also walk to the hacienda in two days, camping on Ecuador's alpine tundra. At 11,800 feet, you'll reach a cluster of thatched-roof buildings. The largest, built on Incan foundations, is Hacienda El Tambo.

BEST MOMENT Arriving at altitude muddy and cold amid a hailstorm and being treated to steaming sunfo tea by the hacienda's attentive hosts, cowboy Gerardo Cando and his wife, América, who prepared my tummy-easing drink with 18-month-old Ivette strapped to her back.

FAVORITE CHARACTER Maria Jose Andrade is an anthropologist and local guide who learned to ride horses before she could walk. During a half-day mounted tour of the farm, she blew kisses to rambunctious horses; they responded by suddenly behaving like angels.

Hacienda El Tambo is in Cotopaxi, Ecuador, near one of the world's tallest volcanoes. | Map by Peter and Maria Hoey

LOCAL LORE According to legend, an Incan general named Rumiñahui buried gold near the hacienda. A Spanish king got his hands on the treasure map and sent a bishop and a governor to find the gold. During the trip, the bishop mysteriously died. When the governor returned, he claimed that they hadn't found anything, then quit his job and disappeared.

WHAT'S GREEN Hacienda El Tambo's farmhouse is made from local straw and volcanic stone. The off-the-grid property is set in a private 20,000-acre conservation area run by Tierra del Volcán and Fundación Páramo, which protect more than 300,000 acres of delicate wetlands and tundra. The foundation works with locals to reduce slash-and-burn farming and eliminate pesticides and fertilizers. And none of the activities included in your overnight rate—hiking, horseback riding, mountain biking, and more—require an engine.

WHAT'S NOT GREEN Firewood and food (beyond the beef raised here on the land) must be trucked in.

PLANET-SAVING OPPORTUNITIES While here, you can plant trees and maintain trails. Or you can donate to Fundación Páramo's forest ranger program, which protects endangered local species, such as condors, from poachers. El Tambo also contributes $5 per guest toward local conservation efforts.