Quito Old Town is the largest and best preserved historic center in the Americas. Also, in 1978 it became one of the first places on Earth added to the UNESCO World Heritage list. It is not a museum quarter. Instead, people live, shop and go to Mass here, in buildings four centuries old, at 2,850 m above sea level.
Dozens of churches and convents crowd into a handful of blocks, and nobody sees them all in one visit. So this is the short list, in the order that makes sense on foot.
Plaza Grande, the square everything turns around
Start here. The Plaza de la Independencia, which everyone calls Plaza Grande, has been the city’s living room for almost five hundred years. Four buildings frame it: the Carondelet Palace, seat of the presidency, and the Metropolitan Cathedral. Then the Archbishop’s Palace, now a warren of small shops and courtyards. Finally the City Hall, the only modern face on the square.
First, sit on a bench for ten minutes before you photograph anything – shoeshiners, retired men arguing about football, students, pigeons. The changing of the presidential guard happens on Monday mornings, when it runs. So ask before you build a Monday around it.
La Compania de Jesus, the one interior to see
Two blocks away, on Garcia Moreno – the Street of the Seven Crosses – stands a special church. In fact, most Ecuadorians will tell you it is the finest in the country. From outside, La Compania de Jesus is dark volcanic stone and twisted columns. Inside, gold leaf covers almost every surface, and the first sight of it is disorienting. In fact, the Jesuits took roughly a century and a half to finish it.
Photography rules are strict and they change, so follow what the staff say at the door. There is an entrance fee, paid on the spot, and our walking tour does not include it.
San Francisco, the largest colonial complex in the Americas
The Franciscans began building within a few years of the Spanish founding of Quito in 1534. The ground had been an Inca site before. Also, they never really stopped building. What stands today is church, monastery, cloisters, chapels and museum in a single block. It opens onto a wide stone plaza, the best place in the city for late afternoon light.
In the main altarpiece, look for the winged Virgin of Quito carved by Bernardo de Legarda. It is the original of the statue on the hill you can see from the plaza. It is also one of the very few winged Virgins in Catholic art.
The Basilica del Voto Nacional and its stone animals
The Basilica is neo-Gothic, enormous and deliberately unfinished – local legend says the world ends the day construction finishes. Instead of European gargoyles, the roofline carries Ecuadorian animals: iguanas, tortoises, armadillos, condors, monkeys. Walk a full lap outside with your head up.
You can also climb the towers: steep stairs, a ladder and a plank walkway over the nave. So it is not for anyone uneasy with heights. You buy the ticket at the door. This is where our walking tour begins, and where our office sits, on the corner at Venezuela N11-99 y Carchi.
After the churches: La Ronda and El Panecillo
Calle Juan de Dios Morales, which nobody calls anything but La Ronda, is one of the oldest streets in Quito. It is also the narrowest thing that still counts as one. The restored houses hold workshops of trades that were disappearing: hat makers, candy makers, printers. It works best in the evening, when the lamps come on. Then people stop for canelazo, the hot sugarcane spirit with naranjilla and cinnamon.
El Panecillo is the hill that closes the Old Town to the south. The winged Virgin, built from thousands of aluminum pieces, crowns it. From the base you see the whole basin and the volcanoes behind it on a clear morning. Go up by taxi or with a guide – the slope from the Old Town is not a walk we recommend. For a higher view, the cable car up Pichincha is where our Rucu Pichincha hike starts. It meets at 08:30 a.m. at our Old Town office. Then it rides to 3,945 m and climbs to a summit of 4,698 m.
Three hours on foot with a guide
Our Half Day Walking Tour Quito follows its own route through the Old Town, not the list above:
- Where it starts: the Basilica del Voto Nacional, with our office on the corner.
- Departure times: 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m., every day of the week.
- How long: three hours, all walking, rated easy.
- What you see: the facades of the main colonial churches and the squares where the city’s history actually happened. Also, the legends locals still tell about them.
- How it ends: a tasting of the traditional sweets made in the historic center, then Ecuadorian chocolate at Yumbos Coffee Shop.
- Price: $13 per person, shared tour, bilingual English-Spanish guide included.
What the $13 does not cover: any other food and drinks, tips, and entrance fees to churches and museums. The walk is about the streets and the stories. So to stand inside La Compania or climb the Basilica towers, carry cash and keep a second morning free.
Practical notes, and where this fits in your trip
Put the Old Town on your first day. An easy walk at 2,850 m is what your body wants before altitude. Also, it leaves the week free to go higher. For example, the refuge at 4,800 m on our Cotopaxi Hike and Bike. Or the Otavalo run, which leaves Quito on Tuesdays and Saturdays.
- Altitude: the cobbled streets are steeper than they look and you will walk slower than you expect.
- Sun: the equator plus altitude. So sunscreen and a hat matter even when the sky is gray.
- Shoes: uneven stone, sloping sidewalks, worn steps. So leave the smooth soles at the hotel.
- Cash: Ecuador uses the US dollar. Also, church tickets and street sweets are cash, in small notes.
- Timing: churches in the morning, then plazas in the late afternoon, La Ronda in the evening.
Walk it with a guide who lives here
We are a Quito operator with our own office in the Old Town. So the walk starts on our doorstep, not at a rented meeting point. Check the two daily departures and book on the Half Day Walking Tour Quito page. Also, see what else leaves the city on our tours from Quito. Or send us a WhatsApp at +593 98 094 2338. Then we will tell you which departure fits your day better.
