Alausi and the Devil's Nose

The Nariz del Diablo is a section of the Guayaquil to Quito railway where engineers in the early 1900s had to get a line down a near-vertical rock face, and solved it with a zigzag: the train runs forward onto a spur, reverses down the next leg, and switches again, descending some five hundred metres in a few kilometres. It cost many lives to build and became one of the best-known stretches of railway in South America. Alausi, the town above, is a steep street of painted wooden balconies with a large Saint Peter statue on the hill and the station at its foot. Tourist trains down the Nose have run and stopped repeatedly, and the route can also be walked or seen from viewpoints.

What you actually see

• The switchback cut into the cliff - the zigzag descent of the rock face.
• Alausi's balconied main street - the painted wooden town above the station.
• The Saint Peter statue - the hilltop figure over the valley.
• Viewpoints over the line - the route seen without a train.

When to go

June to September for clearer weather. Half a day. Train operation has been repeatedly suspended and restored; verify current status before travelling for it.

Honest expectations

The train service is unreliable and has been out of operation for long stretches; many arrive to find nothing running. The ride is short and the seats are ordinary. Alausi itself takes an hour.

Nearby

Guamote is north; Ingapirca lies south.