Ecuador · bucket list
The Quito Bucket List — Trip Planner
Your Quito plan for this trip — when to go, how long you need, and what to prioritise. The once-in-a-lifetime experiences that define a Quito trip — the bucket-list tours and tickets worth planning around.
Powered by GetYourGuide
Top experiences in Quito
Bookable through GetYourGuide. Skip-the-line, verified guides.
What's actually worth your time in Quito
The Basilica del Voto Nacional swaps gargoyles for Galapagos tortoises, iguanas and boobies, and the climb across open roof beams into the clock tower is the genuine thrill, not the nave. La Compania de Jesus is coated in gold leaf and earns its ticket. The TelefériQo lifts you to roughly 4,050 metres on Pichincha. Mitad del Mundo's monument stands a couple of hundred metres off the true equator.
Quito's museums, and which one to pick
Casa del Alabado, in a seventeenth-century house near Plaza San Francisco, arranges pre-Columbian ceramics by cosmology rather than chronology, which makes it an argument instead of a display. The Museo Nacional at the Casa de la Cultura holds the Valdivia figurines and the gold sun mask. Capilla del Hombre in Bellavista sets Oswaldo Guayasamin's paintings on Latin American violence beside the house he lived in.
Quito after dark
La Mariscal, once the backpacker centre around Plaza Foch, has emptied out after years of pressure, and the crowd has moved to La Floresta and Guapulo. La Ronda in the old town revives on Friday and Saturday evenings with canelazo stalls and empanadas de viento, then goes dead on weeknights. Taxi back rather than walk; old-town streets darken early.
What to eat in Quito
Highland Quito eats pork: hornado roasted whole and carved to order, fritada simmered then fried, both arriving with mote, llapingachos and hot aji. The Mercado Central near Plaza del Teatro serves all of it at lunch counters for a few dollars. Coastal encebollado, a tuna and cassava soup, is the recognised hangover cure. Canelazo, hot aguardiente with naranjilla and cinnamon, is drunk against the cold.
Quito with kids, realistically
The Metro's single line, opened in December 2023, runs 22.5 kilometres entirely underground from Quitumbe to El Labrador with lifts at the stations, which is the easiest way to move a pushchair through a city built on slopes. Parque La Carolina holds a botanical garden, a vivarium and paddle boats. The TelefériQo's altitude flattens small children, so keep that one short.
When to go to Quito
| Best months for bucket list | Avg daily high | Rain days |
|---|---|---|
| August | 19°C / 66°F | 10 days |
| July | 17°C / 63°F | 10 days |
| September | 19°C / 66°F | 12 days |
The month to avoid is January — around 17°C (63°F) with roughly 23 rain days. Prices and crowds track the weather here: August is the sweet spot, January the month most people skip.
Pack for peak season: Layers — t-shirts under a light jacket or sweater, Evenings turn genuinely cool — pack a warm layer for after dark, A packable rain shell or compact umbrella earns its space, Comfortable walking shoes — every guide on this site assumes you'll use them.
Where to base yourself in Quito
- Centro Histórico — UNESCO old town — La Compañía gold church, the basilica, Plaza Grande.
- La Mariscal — Backpacker zone — restaurants, hostels, the Plaza Foch nightlife.
- La Floresta — Hip residential side — artisan coffee, indie restaurants, the Ocho y Medio cinema.