359km (223 miles) W of Quito; 299km (186 miles) NW of Guayaquil; 19km (12 miles) N of San Vicente

Canoa is a long, straight stretch of salt-and-pepper-colored sand backed by a few dirt roads, which are packed with budget hotels, cheap restaurants, funky bars, and souvenir shops. Behind the town is a steep wall of low cliffs, with a high bluff on top. Parasailers and hang-gliders often use this bluff as a takeoff point for their flights. Surfers come to Canoa for the kilometers of uncrowded beach breaks.