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Ecuador: Sightseeing
These are some great sights you can't afford to miss in the capital, Quito, and its surrounding regions
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The links will take you to content on the Quito Visitors' Bureau official travel site.
To learn more about the city’s history, head to the City Museum (Museo de la Ciudad) on García Moreno street, passing by the Carmen Alto church and convent where you can buy products made by the cloistered nuns. The museum has excellent exhibits and a nice café-restaurant for lunch. An inspiring place to visit to learn more about the crafts of the Quito School of Art is the Quito Workshop School , or Escuela Taller Quito 1, at XXXx. At around 5pm, we suggest you take a taxi up to the Itchimbía hillside which is the best place in the city to enjoy the sunset over the Old Town. There is a café-restaurant at this park and cultural centre, a great place for children, too. There are also two restaurants nearby, Mosaico and El Rincon de Cantuña.
In modern, northern Quito , there are a wealth of museums, parks, shops to explore with excellent wining, dining and nightlife thrown in. For culture, the collection of the Central Bank Museum is a must. It’s part of the Casa de la Cultura complex at the corner of 6 de Diciembre and Patria. From there, we suggest you walk to the Mercado Artesanal de la Mariscal , only three blocks away, where there’s a huge array of handicrafts and souvenirs on sale. Continuing north, visit the Mindalae Museum , with its superb displays of Ecuador’s ethno-historical riches. Lunch in the Mariscal district.
For some fresh air after lunch, we recommend you then head to the Botanical Gardens located inside Parque La Carolina , and from there to the hillside of Bellavista and the inspiring collection of the Fundación Guayasamín . A short distance from the museum, you find the Capilla del Hombre (Chapel of Man) which houses this Ecuadorian painter Guayasamín’s largest and most impressive canvasses.
Other things not to miss in Quito include the Teleferiqo cable car . It’s best to visit early in the mornings when the skies are at their clearest and the views of the Andes at their most stunning.
Travelling out of the capital, you have a huge number of choices. Top of many people’s list is the Middle of the World complex (Ciudad Mitad del Mundo) , which marks the spot where the Equator crosses the Andes, a mere 40-minute drive from Quito. It’s a fun and educational complex, and should be visited in conjunction with the nearby Inti-Ñan Museum.
To the west of the Middle of the World, so northwest of Quito, you come to the cloudforests which drape the western cordillera of the Andes as it tumbles down to the Pacific. The area, usually called Mindo (although it encompasses the watersheds of the Tandayapa, Nambillo and Mindo rivers) is a fantastic place for adventures in nature, and a paradise for birdwatchers .
To the north of Quito, many people’s next choice is the market town of Otavalo . This is the largest handicrafts market in South America, with a huge array of crafts on sale, particularly textiles made in the surrounding region. The busiest and largest days are Wednesday and Saturday, but the market takes place every day of the week. There is lovely countryside all around Otavalo, great for exploring by foot, horseback or mountain bike, and a couple of hacienda-hotels , too.
Round to the east of Quito, the eastern cordillera of the Andes rises up before descending to the Amazon basin. The little-explored region of Papallacta, San Isidro and El Cato , is rich in diverse ecosystems, ecotourism opportunities and some delightful hotsprings for relaxation.
Another attraction high on many people’s list is the Cotopaxi Volcano , which soars nearly 6,000 metres (19,000 feet) to the south of Quito. The volcano and its surrounding areas is protected by a national park, the ideal place for adventure sports such as mountain biking, mountain climbing or trekking, or just simple contemplation. One of the highlights of the region is its haciendas, often run by their owners, who offer superb hospitality and some of the best horseback riding on the continent.
.The links will take you to content on the Quito Visitors' Bureau official travel site.
Explore the streets, plazas, churches, shops and bustle of the largest historic centre in the Americas. You could start by taking to the towers of the Basílica del Voto Nacional , which has stunning views down onto the grid of streets below. From there, walk along calle García Moreno, all the way downhill to the Plaza Grande , the heart of the city and its most important square. Here you find the Presidential Palace , Archbishop’s Palace , Municipal building and the monument to Liberty. From there, continue along García Moreno, passed the Centro Cultural Metropolitano to the Compañía de Jesús Church , one of the finest examples of Baroque art in Latin America. The cobbled expanse of San Francisco square lies one block to the west of here, dominated on one side by the San Francisco Church and the Fray Pedro Gocial Museum of religious art and beautiful interior cloisters.
To learn more about the city’s history, head to the City Museum (Museo de la Ciudad) on García Moreno street, passing by the Carmen Alto church and convent where you can buy products made by the cloistered nuns. The museum has excellent exhibits and a nice café-restaurant for lunch. An inspiring place to visit to learn more about the crafts of the Quito School of Art is the Quito Workshop School , or Escuela Taller Quito 1, at XXXx. At around 5pm, we suggest you take a taxi up to the Itchimbía hillside which is the best place in the city to enjoy the sunset over the Old Town. There is a café-restaurant at this park and cultural centre, a great place for children, too. There are also two restaurants nearby, Mosaico and El Rincon de Cantuña.
In modern, northern Quito , there are a wealth of museums, parks, shops to explore with excellent wining, dining and nightlife thrown in. For culture, the collection of the Central Bank Museum is a must. It’s part of the Casa de la Cultura complex at the corner of 6 de Diciembre and Patria. From there, we suggest you walk to the Mercado Artesanal de la Mariscal , only three blocks away, where there’s a huge array of handicrafts and souvenirs on sale. Continuing north, visit the Mindalae Museum , with its superb displays of Ecuador’s ethno-historical riches. Lunch in the Mariscal district.
For some fresh air after lunch, we recommend you then head to the Botanical Gardens located inside Parque La Carolina , and from there to the hillside of Bellavista and the inspiring collection of the Fundación Guayasamín . A short distance from the museum, you find the Capilla del Hombre (Chapel of Man) which houses this Ecuadorian painter Guayasamín’s largest and most impressive canvasses.
Other things not to miss in Quito include the Teleferiqo cable car . It’s best to visit early in the mornings when the skies are at their clearest and the views of the Andes at their most stunning.
Travelling out of the capital, you have a huge number of choices. Top of many people’s list is the Middle of the World complex (Ciudad Mitad del Mundo) , which marks the spot where the Equator crosses the Andes, a mere 40-minute drive from Quito. It’s a fun and educational complex, and should be visited in conjunction with the nearby Inti-Ñan Museum.
To the west of the Middle of the World, so northwest of Quito, you come to the cloudforests which drape the western cordillera of the Andes as it tumbles down to the Pacific. The area, usually called Mindo (although it encompasses the watersheds of the Tandayapa, Nambillo and Mindo rivers) is a fantastic place for adventures in nature, and a paradise for birdwatchers .
To the north of Quito, many people’s next choice is the market town of Otavalo . This is the largest handicrafts market in South America, with a huge array of crafts on sale, particularly textiles made in the surrounding region. The busiest and largest days are Wednesday and Saturday, but the market takes place every day of the week. There is lovely countryside all around Otavalo, great for exploring by foot, horseback or mountain bike, and a couple of hacienda-hotels , too.
Round to the east of Quito, the eastern cordillera of the Andes rises up before descending to the Amazon basin. The little-explored region of Papallacta, San Isidro and El Cato , is rich in diverse ecosystems, ecotourism opportunities and some delightful hotsprings for relaxation.
Another attraction high on many people’s list is the Cotopaxi Volcano , which soars nearly 6,000 metres (19,000 feet) to the south of Quito. The volcano and its surrounding areas is protected by a national park, the ideal place for adventure sports such as mountain biking, mountain climbing or trekking, or just simple contemplation. One of the highlights of the region is its haciendas, often run by their owners, who offer superb hospitality and some of the best horseback riding on the continent.
Latest page update: made by DominicH
, Dec 16 2007, 1:28 AM EST
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Edited by DominicH
861 words added
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view changes
- complete history)
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