Where to stay in Quito: the old town, the north and the airport valley

Overview

Quito is a capital strung along a narrow Andean valley at roughly 2,850 meters, pinned between the slopes of the Pichincha volcano to the west and a drop into warmer valleys to the east. The shape matters more than anything else about it: the city is long and thin, running some forty kilometers north to south, so where you stay decides what you can walk to. The colonial Centro Histórico sits in the middle, one of the first places ever listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and still a working district of churches, markets and government buildings. The modern city, with most of the restaurants, offices and nightlife, stretches north of it. The south is largely residential and lies away from what most visitors come to see.

Two honest warnings before anything else. The altitude is real and hits most people for the first day or two. And many travelers treat Quito as a stop on the way to the Galápagos, the Amazon or the volcanoes, which undersells the old town but is also a fair reflection of how the city works for a short visit.

Where to stay

The decision is between the old town, with the sights and the evenings that go quiet early, and the northern districts, with the food, the bars and the safer-feeling streets after dark. They are a taxi ride or a few metro stops apart. A third option, the valley near the airport, only makes sense around flights.

Centro Histórico

The colonial core: Plaza Grande with the cathedral and the presidential palace, the gold-lined church of La Compañía, the vast plaza and monastery of San Francisco, and the restored street of La Ronda. Stay here if the architecture is why you came and you want to see the plazas early, before the day visitors and the traffic arrive. The quieter, hillier San Marcos corner on its eastern side is the calmest part of it. The trade-off is the night: once offices and shops close, most streets empty out quickly, and away from La Ronda and the main plazas the blocks feel deserted rather than charming. Hills are steep, and at this altitude they count.

La Mariscal

The traditional backpacker district, with Plaza Foch at its center: hostels, travel agencies, bars and the densest nightlife in the city. Stay here if you are on a budget and want company and late nights on your doorstep. The trade-off is that it is noisy, scruffy in places, and has a reputation for street crime at night. Take a taxi home rather than walking even a few blocks late.

La Floresta and Guápulo

Just east of La Mariscal, La Floresta is a residential neighborhood with an independent cinema, cafés and a creative crowd, close enough to walk to the Mariscal’s bars and calm enough to sleep. Below it, down a steep hillside, Guápulo is a village of cobbled lanes around its colonial church, looking out over the eastern valley. Stay here if you want the north’s convenience with more character and less noise. The trade-off: there is little to see on the doorstep, and Guápulo’s climb back up is hard work and awkward for taxis at night.

La Carolina and González Suárez

The modern north, around the long green rectangle of Parque La Carolina, is Quito’s business district: towers, shopping centers, embassies and the larger international hotels. The avenue of González Suárez, on the ridge above Guápulo, adds upscale apartments with views down to the valley. Stay here for comfort, predictability and good access to the metro. The trade-off is atmosphere and distance: it could be the business district of many cities, and the old town is a ride away rather than a walk.

Cumbayá, Tumbaco and the airport valley

The airport is not in Quito proper but out in the eastern valley, past the suburban towns of Cumbayá and Tumbaco, which sit several hundred meters lower and are noticeably warmer. Cumbayá has its own restaurants and a relaxed, well-off suburban feel; the villages right by the airport, such as Tababela and Puembo, are where people sleep before an early flight to the Galápagos or after a late arrival. The trade-off is total: you are an hour or more from the old town in traffic, so this is a base for flights, not for seeing the city.

When to go

Quito sits almost on the equator, so the temperature barely changes through the year: days are mild and frequently sunny in the morning, nights are cold enough for a jacket all year, and daylight runs close to twelve hours in every month. What changes is the rain. June to September is the drier season, with clearer views of the volcanoes and the best conditions for hiking and for the cable car up Pichincha. The rest of the year is wetter, with the typical pattern of a bright morning and a heavy afternoon downpour, so plan outdoor things early in the day whatever the month.

The sun is the thing visitors underestimate. At this altitude it burns quickly even on a cool, cloudy day; a hat and sunscreen matter more here than an umbrella.

Two moments change the city. Holy Week brings the Good Friday procession through the old town, with penitents in purple robes and pointed hoods (cucuruchos), and dense crowds. Early December is the Fiestas de Quito, celebrating the city’s founding, with street parties and a busier, louder few days. Around the Day of the Dead in early November, bakeries and markets sell colada morada, a thick spiced purple-corn drink, with guaguas de pan, bread shaped like swaddled children.

Getting there & around

The airport is out at Tababela in the eastern valley, and the ride in is the longest thing about arriving: roughly an hour to the north of the city by road, more to the old town, and considerably more at rush hour. A taxi is the straightforward choice, especially at night; public buses also run from the airport to the Río Coca terminal in the north of the city and the Quitumbe terminal in the south, cheaper and slower, with a change onto the metro or a taxi after that. No passenger trains run to Quito: overland, you arrive by intercity bus, at Quitumbe from the south or at Carcelén from the north. If you land late and fly onward early, sleeping near the airport is a sensible call rather than a compromise.

Within the city, the Quito Metro is a single line running north to south along the valley, with stations in the old town (San Francisco, under the plaza of the same name), at La Alameda on its northern edge, and up through the modern north at La Carolina and Iñaquito, beside the park. It is the fastest way between the two halves, and a ride costs $0.45. Alongside it run the older bus rapid transit corridors, the Trolebús, the Ecovía and the Metrobús, cheap and extensive but crowded at peak hours and well known for pickpockets. Taxis are plentiful and inexpensive; use registered ones, ask for the meter, and at night have a hotel or restaurant call one rather than flagging one in the street. Don’t rent a car for the city itself: traffic is heavy, parking is hard and the old town’s streets are not built for it. A car becomes useful only for the volcano country to the south.

The TelefériQo cable car climbs the flank of Pichincha to around 4,000 meters from a lower station on the city’s western edge, best reached by taxi; go early before the clouds close in, and not on your first day. The equator monument at Mitad del Mundo lies a little over twenty kilometers north of the center: the better part of an hour by taxi, or a Metrobús to its northern end at La Ofelia and a connecting bus from there. Further out, the indigenous market town of Otavalo is about two hours north by bus from the Carcelén terminal and at its biggest on Saturdays, Cotopaxi National Park lies to the south, and the cloud forest around Mindo is a descent to the northwest. For the Galápagos, flights leave from Quito’s airport, sometimes via Guayaquil, and the islands have their own entry formalities: a transit control card bought online in advance or at the counter in the airport before you check in, and a national park entrance fee paid on arrival. Leave time for both.

Practicalities

Entry to the country runs on more than one track: most Western visitors arrive without a visa, while some nationalities need one arranged in advance, so settle which applies to you before you book flights, and check it again if you are continuing to the Galápagos or a neighboring country.

Altitude is the practical issue of the first two days. Expect breathlessness on stairs, headaches and poor sleep; walk slowly, drink plenty of water, go easy on alcohol, which hits harder up here, and save the cable car and the hikes for later in the trip. Arriving from the Amazon or the coast, the effect is the same.

Quito asks for more care than many South American capitals’ tourist districts. Petty theft is common in crowded buses, markets and around the old town’s plazas; keep phones out of sight on the street. Do not walk up El Panecillo, the hill with the winged Virgin above the old town, by the stairs from below; take a taxi to the top. Large banknotes are often refused in small shops and taxis, so carry small ones.

Food is hearty highland cooking. The dish to know is locro de papa, a thick potato soup with cheese, served with avocado. Pork is everywhere, as fritada (fried in its own fat) and hornado (roast whole, sliced to order in the markets). Empanadas de viento are puffed, fried and dusted with sugar, and canelazo, a hot cinnamon drink usually spiked with sugarcane spirit, suits the cold evenings. The old town’s own classic is the sánduche de pernil, roast leg of pork in a roll, sold by counters that have made it for decades. The Mercado Central in the old town serves a cheap, crowded lunch of locro, among other things, and is best known for its fried corvina, a white fish. Lunch is the main meal, and many places offer an inexpensive set lunch, an almuerzo, of soup, a main and a juice.