Firmly linked to the natural environment, nature-based activities involve learning, recreation, and adventure in natural surroundings. Ecotourism, a powerful market force, is a low-impact nature tourism, which contributes directly and indirectly to the maintenance of species and habitats. It is based on environmentally responsible behavior, environmentally friendly destination management, and sustainable development of local human populations. The socio-psychological analysis of the tourist experience is crucial to the reassurance and the promotion of eco-friendly ways of tourism affecting the long-term success of both ecotourism products and destinations. Nevertheless, previous research has focused on the effects of tourist satisfaction on favorable outcomes, such as the intention to recommend the destination or revisit intentions, while ecotourism knowledge and attitudes towards ecotourism have been disregarded. Various hypotheses are proposed and tested with structural equation models (Partial Least Squares), which allow the simultaneous study of various relations of dependence, on the basis of the data taken from 520 interviews with visitors to a protected area. The results show that knowledge of ecotourism, to a lesser extent, and that attitudes towards ecotourism, to a greater extent, explained the perceived value of the tourist site which, in turn, predicted almost half of the variance of tourist satisfaction in the context of an ecotourist site. Additionally, satisfaction can promote the return intentions and the willingness of ecotourists to recommend the site to both family and friends. So, a greater degree of ecotourism knowledge held by the visitor will favor a positive perception of the value of the ecotourist site as well as, to an even greater extent, positive attitudes towards ecotourism. These results support the importance of subjective psychological factors in shaping the tourist's experience of protected areas. Cultivating ecotourism knowledge and attitudes towards ecotourism during ecotourist visits would increase the perceived value of protected areas and tourist satisfaction, a key element for the long-term success of ecotourism products and destinations.