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Quito, South America - Things to Do in Quito

Things to Do in Quito

Quito, South America - Complete Travel Guide

Quito lounges at 2,850m, ringed by volcanoes that bruise purple at dusk. The air is thin, cool, laced with eucalyptus drifting off the hills and the faint sizzle of pork fat rising from San Blas grills. Step into the historic center, the least-touched colonial core in Latin America, and your boots clack on blue-agate paving while church bells clang overhead, bronze notes bouncing off ochre walls. One block over on avenida 12 de Octubre you enter a different city: glass towers, traffic snarls, roasted-coffee perfume from third-wave cafés that could be Brooklyn except for the condor murals. Love Quito by pacing yourself. Altitude dulls lungs. Equatorial sun burns fast. Locals stretch naranjilla juice into long afternoons and plan nights around cloudbursts that drum tin roofs like loose change.

Top Things to Do in Quito

TelefériQo cable car to Cruz Loma

The gondola slides above pine slopes until Quito unrolls below, a carpet of red tiles and antennae. At the summit the wind snaps and city noise drops to silence. Clear mornings reveal Cotopaxi's snowy cone exhaling a thin vapor plume.

Booking Tip: Arrive at 7:30 a.m. when the gates open. Clouds usually muscle in by 11 a.m.; after that the summit trail turns cold and muddy. Bring a jacket even if Quito feels warm. Up top it's another season.
Bookable experience PRIVATE City Tour: Quito Colonial, Half the World and Cable Car From $99
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Convento de San Francisco candlelit catacombs

Inside, cedar and melting beeswax perfume the nave. Guides kill the lights so only devotional candles pulse orange and pigeon wings rustle overhead. They lead you down stone stairs into bone-lined passages where the air tastes metallic.

Booking Tip: English tours run twice daily. The 4 p.m. slot catches sunset on the plaza afterward and includes the choir loft, a stop the morning group skips.

La Ronda night walk with canelazo

Amber lamps and open doorways wash the narrow lane in gold. Guitar notes tumble onto cobbles. Vendors ladle warm canelazo, cinnamon-aguardiente punch, into enamel mugs while grilled-chorizo ribbons drift through the night.

Booking Tip: Thursday to Saturday feels safest and liveliest. Police patrol. But keep phones zipped. One mug of canelazo costs less than a city bus fare. Pay with small coins.

Itchimbía sunset picnic

The park's glass-walled cultural center perches on a breezy ridge. From the grass you watch Quito's lights blink on while the sky bruises gold to indigo. Eucalyptus smoke curls from weekend grills. Far below, trolley buses squeal around switchbacks.

Booking Tip: Bring supermarket snacks. There's a Santa Marían on Joaquín Pinto. The lone café shuts early on Sundays. A rideshare up costs less than a Mariscal cocktail, and you'll own the view.

Mercado Iñaquito Saturday fruit raid

Stalls detonate with color: naranjilla frogs, black-skinned tomate de árbol, taxo pods oozing perfumed pulp. Ladies hack pineapples to order. Passion-fruit tang hangs sweet. Coriander bunches bigger than your head smell of earth.

Booking Tip: Show up before 9 a.m. while vendors still hand out samples. By noon it's a commuter scrum. Bring small bills. Vendors scowl at twenty-dollar equivalents. Tote bags fold. Plastic now costs extra.

Getting There

Most travelers land at Mariscal Sucre airport, 18 km east of the center. The bright-green Aeroservicios coach meets every international flight and drops at the old-town terminal in about 45 minutes; it's cheaper than ride-share apps that increase once you exit baggage claim. If you're arriving overland from Colombia, reputable Panamericana buses terminate at Carcelén terminal in the north. Hop on the Metrobus Ecovía feeder for the 40-minute trundle downhill to tourist zones. Taxis from the airport use fixed fares posted on a board. Pay at the kiosk before riding to avoid the haggle.

Getting Around

The three articulated-bus lines, Ecovía, Central, Trole, cost under half a dollar and cover the spine from Quitumbe in the south to Ofelia in the north. Transfers are free within stations, handy for switching to the cable-car or Mitad del Mundo bus. Rideshare apps work reliably in the valley but sometimes vanish on weekend nights when drivers fear traffic police. Keep small cash for yellow cabs that run honest meters. Walking the historic center is doable. But remember the altitude: climbs feel steeper and a six-block stroll can leave you breathless if you rush.

Where to Stay

Old town around Plaza San Francisco. Stone corridors, cloistered patios, church bells at 7 a.m.

La Mariscal, aka Plaza Foch. Backpacker central, late-night bars, steady police presence.

La Floresta. Graffiti-splashed galleries, espresso bars, quiet residential feel ten minutes from the action.

González Suárez. Hilltop embassies, condo towers, sweeping valley views, pricier but cooler air.

Centro Histórico southern fringe. Converted mansions, cheaper than main plazas, still walkable.

Guápulo. Winding lane down the gorge, bohemian chapel, artists' cottages, feels like a village.

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Food & Dining

Quiteño kitchens brag about locro de papas, potato soup topped with avocado and queso fresco. Taste the best at Café de la Vaca in Guápulo. The dairy comes from their own highland herd. In new-town Juancho on Reina Victoria, blood sausage crackles on the grill and pairs with icy pilsner. The place stays open past midnight when most kitchens shut. Mid-range splurge? Quiteño Libre on Pasaje Ulve slow-cooks goat in Andean herbs under Edison bulbs; reserve, the room only seats thirty. Street-level bargains hide around Mercado Central. Ladies dish hornado, whole roast pork, on weekends. A plate with mote and crackling costs less than a craft beer in La Mariscal. Vegetarians score too. El Maple in La Florida folds quinoa tamales that taste of pine nuts and forest floor, proving Quito skips the generic salad cliché.

When to Visit

June through early September brings dry cobalt mornings and postcard views of the surrounding volcanoes, but it's also high-season pricing and tour-bus crowds at Mitad del Mundo. October and April shoulder months see afternoon storms that drum on tile roofs for an hour then vanish, leaving washed-air light that photographers love. Hotel rates dip by a third and you can usually walk into top restaurants without reservations. December and Carnival week pulse with street fiestas - brass bands, purple-hued foam spray, dancing in the plazas - yet prepare for sporadic closures and pricier flights. Pack layers. Equatorial sun at noon can scorch while 3,000 m nights drop to sweater weather within minutes.

Insider Tips

Buy the $15 'Quito Tour' card at the airport. It bundles TelefériQo, hop-on bus, and three museum entries - worth it if you plan two big sights in 48 hours.
Sunday morning the city closes 30 km of roads for Ciclopaseo - borrow a BiciQuito bike and coast downhill from Parque Itchimbía to Cumbayá markets without fighting traffic.
Altitude headache? Skip the pharmacy and head to any juice bar for a taxo-pineapple blend - locals swear by it and it costs less than a painkiller strip.

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Itineraries

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Getting Around

Transport options and tips for Quito

Where to Stay

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Budget Guide

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