We (meaning my husband) drove about three and a half hours toward Montañita, a backpacker and surfer enclave. Fishing boats teeming with resting pelicans, bamboo shacks on stilts, shrimp farms, trucks laden with pineapples, and families sharing motorcycles were common sights. About halfway between Guayaquil and Montañita, we passed San Pablo Beach, a fishing village with roadside eating spots whose proprietors, eager for business, flailed at every car that passed by. We drove on, anxious to see the beachfront rental we had booked online.

Rentals in Ecuador can be hit or miss. Even some of the more luxurious places have lumpy mattresses, spotty Internet service, cold showers and nonpotable water. That’s beginning to change in cities like Quito and Cuenca, which have become retirement magnets for United States expats. Renovated one-bedroom apartments with Wi-Fi, washer/dryer and DirecTV can be found for as little as $350 a week. (The U.S. dollar is the currency of Ecuador.) If you’re willing to pay more, you can get housekeeping, airport transfers, prestocked refrigerators and even cooks.

We splurged on a $350-a-night three-bedroom beachfront home that advertised all of the above on the rental website Homeaway.com and were not disappointed. Sliding-glass pocket doors the length of the kitchen and living room opened to a veranda overlooking a hot tub, pool and the deserted beach beyond. Every bedroom had a flat-screen television set, crisp linens and a spalike bathroom. The refrigerator was stocked with the eggs, bread, peanut butter and other items we had requested.

There was high-speed Wi-Fi throughout and a filtration system to ensure that every tap and shower had purified water. The water was a feature we would have killed for on a previous trip with our daughter, then 1; we had to buy gallons of filtered water at the local supermarket and, as the Ingalls family on “Little House on the Prairie,” might have done, heated it on the stove so she could take a warm bath without our having to worry about her drinking tainted water.

Yet, what really set the place apart was the service. The on-site caretakers, Gilson and Kathy, who lived in an adjacent studio apartment with their adorable 3-year-old, greeted us warmly upon arrival. Every morning, Gilson, who spoke basic English, was up first, cleaning the pool and wiping down the lounge chairs. While we were out, the beds were made and the rooms swept clean. When we hinted that we might like shrimp for lunch or chicken for dinner, Gilson went off to the market to pick up the desired items. While we swam in the pool or collected shells, Kathy grilled up a meal and laid out a main dish with traditional platanos (fried green bananas) and rice. If laundry piled up, by the time we returned from sightseeing it would be washed, dried and folded.

The couple offered to help coordinate day trips to nearby attractions, but we were content to explore on our own. And so we set out for La Playa Los Frailes, billed as the most beautiful beach in Ecuador, about 40 miles north of Montañita in the Machalilla National Park. Along the route, which twists through lush hillsides and scrubby forest dotted with cactuses, we stopped at Puerto López, a picturesque fishing village. It was the start of whale-watching season on the Pacific coast of Ecuador, where each year, June to October, humpbacks arrive from the Antarctic to breed. A typical $50 half-day whale-watching and snorkeling excursion from Puerto López includes a visit to Isla de la Plata, where Sir Francis Drake is said to have hidden treasure. The island is also dubbed the Poor Man’s Galápagos for up-close encounters with blue-footed boobies, frigates and other marine birds.