BEST OF QUITO WITH DAYTRIPS
IN 5 DAYS
(PAPALLACTA, OTAVALO, RUCU PICHINCHA, MITAD DEL MUNDO)
Just like Bogotá in Colombia, Quito, the capital of Ecuador is surely a place you are going to pass by if you visit Ecuador. It’s a cross point for pretty much anywhere in Ecuador. Now you might wonder what to visit there and I am going to show you which sites are worth the visit. Quito has the most original and best preserved colonial old town in South America and is the highest capital on Earth at 2850 m (Though La Paz in Bolivia is the highest administrative capital on Earth at 3625 m). It is surrounded by volcanoes and has a quite extreme shape. From north to south it stretches over 45 km while from east to west only about 8 km in average. Furthermore, the equator is crossing right through the northern part of the city and you can literally be in two hemispheres at the same time there! Most interesting places are outside of Quito however, which is why I advise you to stay in Quito for quite a while and explore the surroundings day by day. It is to note that the 4 – 5 days itinerary presented here is the bare minimum you will need for Quito and the daytrips. For me this was enough, but if you have a particular interest in Quito or you’re travelling style is rather slow and you want to chill a bit, you will need more time.
Note on the Sequence of Activities:
Depending on the day you will arrive and your acclimatization level, you will have to swap the sequence of activities I’m giving you here. The Otavalo Indigenous Market is at its biggest scale on Saturdays, which should be your reference point. Going to Rucu Pichincha requires good acclimatization. If you just arrived from low altitude you will feel the struggle in Quito itself already, and going on 4,700 m right away or the day after is not only dangerous but physically near to impossible. Hence, if you have no acclimatization at all, stay at least 2 days just in Quito, don’t exhaust yourself and give your body the chance to get used to the low air pressure. Ideally (but not necessarily), you visit the Papallacta Hot Springs the day after you’ve climbed Rucu Pichincha, so that you can do your wellness day after doing such an exhausting activity.
Example
You arrive on a Wednesday evening or Thursday morning and have no acclimatization. Acclimatize and take a look at Quito on Thursday and Friday, visit the Otavalo Market on Saturday, climb Rucu Pichincha on Sunday, and visit the hot springs on Monday. If you feel like you need more acclimatization, go to the hot springs on Sunday and do the climb on Monday.
You arrive on a Tuesday evening or Wednesday morning and have enough acclimatization. Take a look at Quito on Wednesday, climb Rucu Pichincha on Thursday, go to the hot springs on Friday and visit the Otavalo market on Saturday. I think you get what I mean by adjusting the sequence by now.
Transport to and from Quito
Very big attention here! There are multiple bus terminals in Quito and if you choose the wrong one, you might not get the connection you are looking for or end up loosing plenty of time. There are two main terminals in Quito, both of which are huge. There is the northern bus terminal “Terminal Terrestre Carcelen – Quito Norte” (short: Carcelen Terminal) and the southern bus terminal “Terminal Terrestre Quitumbe – Quito Sur” (short: Quitumbe Terminal). As it becomes apparent, if you arrive from or depart to the south you should get off / get in in Quitumbe Terminal, same applying from / to the north with Carcelen Terminal. Usually, buses address both terminals and you aren’t able to get off in between. That means if you come from the north, skip Carcelen and get off in Quitumbe you will easily add an hour to your itinerary, if you actually want to reach the city centre. Some buses heading to the south or north are solely available at their respective southern or northern terminal. Additionally, there are a few smaller terminals spread out over the city, like “Terminal Terrestre La Ofelia” from where buses leave to famous Mindo.
Where to Stay
I can highly recommend staying in “Community Hostel”. They aren’t the cheapest hostel, but they offer a lot of activities, very good food and it’s very easy to get to know people. Also, the location is right in the historical center, which means all the historical sites are in a walkable distance. Activities I can recommend is taking the Salsa dance course and the pub crawl on Saturdays!
DAY 1: Sightseeing in Quito
Before I start to give you a descripted tour of Quito, lets make it easy. Take a Free Walking Tour! Community Hostel offers one every morning at 10:30 AM, but there are other operators as well. After the tour you can get a good, filling, and cheap lunch at “Rincón Latino Restaurante”. Just walk around the area a little bit, unfortunately the restaurant is about 100 m away from the marked location in Google Maps. After lunch, walk up the hill to the “Basilica del Voto Nacional”. Though I’m not a big fan of churches and cathedrals (I’ve seen way too many in Europe), this one stands out. First of all, I haven’t expected to find such a colossal religious building in South America and secondly the colorful painted windows are actually quite impressive as well as going on the towers and having a view of all Quito. Entrance to the cathedral is 1 $ and entrance to the towers is 2 $.
If you want to have another view of Quito take an uber to “Virgen del Panecillo” on the so called Muffin Mountain. I would not recommend walking up there, because the surrounding is a very poor district and it is a little dangerous to walk around there. At the monument itself it is safe. During night I would highly recommend not walking around Quito at all. It is not a safe city and you should definitely take an Uber, even if its just a 10 min walk.
If you are interested in Art, you can go to the Guayasamin Museum, which is the most remarkable art museum in Quito. Its opening hours are from 10 AM to 5 PM and entrance is 8 $.
DAY 2: Trip to Papallacta Hot Springs
Get up early today, its wellness time! Papallacta Hot Springs is a truly beautiful place amidst the mountains with many pools of different temperatures at an altitude of about 3,300 m. To make the most out of it, leave your hostel around 7 AM, because you will need at least 2 hours to get there and 2 hours to get back. I’ve visited many hot springs in my life, and this is one of the best ones I’ve been to. I can really recommend this day trip.
Take an uber to the southern bus terminal (Quitumbe), where you can buy tickets for Papallacta (Look for ticket offices that have buses heading for Baeza, Papallacta is on the way). The bus ride takes approximately 1 h 30 min. Follow your location on Google Maps and get off right at the crossing to Papallacta Hot Springs (Just shout “Pare” to the bus driver, and he’ll stop for you). There will be taxis (1 $ – 2 $) waiting already to take you up to the entrance of the thermal baths. Entrance to the hot springs is 9.50 $ and a bathing cap is mandatory. If you don’t have one, you can buy it for 0.50 $ at the entrance. Make sure to leave the hot springs around 3 PM, because you will need about 2 hours to get back to Quito and it is advisable not to arrive when it’s already dark. To get back you take a cab down to the crossing where you’ve been dropped off and wait at the bus stand (“Parada” in Spanish) for the next bus to pass by. They usually drive by every half an hour and go straight to Quito. If you tell the driver that you want to go to the historical center, where you will stay most likely, he can drop you off earlier, so you don’t have to unnecessarily go all the way south to Quitumbe Terminal, just to head up north again with a cab. From the drop off point you can order an Uber and due the shorter distance you not only save plenty of time, but also some money.
Depending on whether you go with someone and can share the Ubers and Taxis you will spend 20 $ -26 $ in total (transport and entrance) for this activity.
DAY 3: Cable Car to the Viewpoint (Easy) or Hiking to Rucu Pichincha (4696 m) (Advanced)
To get an impression of Quito from above and see the volcanoes in the distance you don’t have to climb any mountain. No matter if you just want to enjoy the views or you want to climb Rucu Pichincha, you need to take the cable car first, called “TelefériQo” (8.50 $, Round-Trip), which elevates you by 1000 m within a few minutes. Up on the station “Cruz Loma” the altitude is 4000 m, and you can see the stunning scenery consisting of the entirety of Quito below your feet and the majestic, snowcapped volcanoes Cayambe, Antisana and Cotopaxi in the distance. There is even a swing to take some stunning pictures with the view. If you want to take it easy, this is it and you can return to Quito after you’re done with the viewpoint. If you are keen on climbing Rucu Pichincha or even Guagua Pichincha, read this post (click here).
DAY 4: Trip to Otavalo, the Greatest Indigenous Market in South America
Hopefully you managed to put this activity on a Saturday. Though the market is open every day, it is much smaller and doesn’t keep up to expectations if it’s not a Saturday, where it becomes massive. Otavalo is a small city, 2 hours north of Quito, where you can buy pretty much everything Ecuador has to offer. The indigenous population in the area makes up the majority of inhabitants (over 70 %) and traditional craft is an important aspect of their life. Women wear traditional Otavaleño clothing, which is very distinct and for once not just worn for tourists to come by. To see all the market, you will need an entire day, though I felt that 4 hours were absolutely enough. You can stay at Otavalo and visit some of the nature around it on another day, but I felt like visiting the market and returning to Quito in the evening was just perfect for me. Depending on how much time you want to spend in Otavalo, you will have to leave more or less early from Quito. I left my hostel at 9:30 AM, arrived in Otavalo around 12 PM and took the ride back at 4 PM.
Take an Uber to the northern bus terminal (Carcelen) (~4.50 $) and you will find plenty of operators going to Otavalo, basically every 20 min (~3.30 $). On the way to Otavalo, you will be able to see the majestic Cayambe Volcano in the distance, which is why you should try to take a window seat on the right-hand side of the bus. Once you arrive at the terminal in Otavalo, navigate to Plaza de Ponchos, which sounds like quite literally what you can find there. A whole plaza full of poncho vendors. The quality of the textiles in Otavalo is extraordinary and you can buy alpaca wool products for unimaginably low prices. Usually, they will try to sell you a poncho for about 30 $, but if they see you hesitate or you bargain just a little bit, they will sell it to you for around 20 $. From there on, just stroll through the market, get lost and enjoy the insane variety of things they sell here. I bought a bum bag, an alpaca poncho, an alpaca blanket, a hat and some smaller souvenirs for friends and family.
A Note on the Quality of Alpaca Products
Of course, there are different quality levels, and vendors aren’t always honest in terms of the used materials. Often, the cheaper products are a blend of Polyester and alpaca wool, which makes the clothing much lighter and isn’t bad at all, but it’s not real alpaca as some vendors might claim. A 100 % Alpaca product is really heavy, and as soon as you hold one in your hands you will know what I mean. Also, alpaca is not a definitive term. There are different kinds of alpacas, and the prices will vary drastically depending on what you want. The wild alpaca, called “Vicuña” has the best wool one can imagine, but since they are quite aggressive animals and barely held captive, acquiring their wool is very expensive and if someone claims to sell a 100 % vicuña wool poncho for less than 200 $, you are being scammed. The next best wool is the baby alpaca wool, which is also quite expensive, but extremely soft. Within baby alpaca wool there are also differences. 1st grade baby alpaca wool is the wool you get when a baby alpaca is sheared the first time ever. With every shearing afterwards the wool looses quality gradually. That means, 1st grade baby alpaca wool can only be acquired once from every animal and is therefore very expensive.
If you are a budget traveler, don’t bother about these luxury products. A “normal” alpaca poncho is a souvenir you shouldn’t miss to buy from Otavalo. It is the most original and best piece of traditional clothing you can get in South America. And though the ponchos in Peru or other parts of Ecuador are indeed quite good, nothing beats the price to value ratio of an Otavalo product. The poncho I bought here accompanied me for 3 months and I had a lot of use for it in the cold mountain regions or as a warm blanket on night buses. As soon as you are ready to leave Otavalo, go to the bus terminal and you will already hear people shouting “Quito, Quito, Quito”. Follow that voice and within a few minutes you will be sitting in a bus heading for Quito. In total you will need about 16 $ for transport if you are solo, sharing the Uber to and from Carcelen Terminal makes things cheaper.
During the night I can highly recommend taking part in the Saturday pub crawl of the community hostel. It starts with a drinking flatrate on the hostels’ rooftop, followed by a small firework and visiting some bars. After that you will go to a club and can dance through the night.
DAY 5: Visit the Equator Line and Head to Mindo
Today is your last day in Quito and you are about to visit “Mitad del Mundo” (in English “Middle of the World”). Mitad del Mundo is a monument that is located in the place where the equator passes Quito. Here the sun shines perfectly perpendicular (Zenit position) to earths’ surface on June 21st (Summer Solstice) and on December 21st (Winter Solstice) and you can stay with one foot in the northern and one foot in the southern hemisphere. Though this is obviously just a monument, I think this is pretty amazing. Since I am a geography nerd, being there was pretty special for me. The monument itself contains a museum on how people determined the exact position of the equator and the historic significance of the area. Personally, I really enjoyed being there and taking some hilarious pictures. Also it contains a planetarium, which I haven’t visited due the constraints of the bus schedule to Mindo, but I think it could be quite cool.
Furthermore, the bus to Mindo that leaves from the “Terminal Terrestre La Ofelia” is passing by this monument and it’s a perfect opportunity to save some time and money and just jump in right at the monument and keep heading to famous Mindo, where you can spend a few days and engage in amazing activities. Mindo is worth a post on its own, and definitely not just a daytrip, which is why I’m not going to keep explaining about Mindo right here. I think 1 – 2 hours at Mitad del Mundo is enough to see and explore everything, which is why it makes so much sense to join the bus heading for Mindo the same day.
The bus takes between 20 – 30 min from La Ofelia Terminal to the monument. You can find the bus schedule here. To be picked up you cross the main road with the traffic circle to your right-hand side. On the other side of the street there is a parking bay, where you wait for the bus. You can find the exact location right below.
Conclusion
That’s it with my guide for Quito. I can assure you that you haven’t seen everything after these five days, but as the title says, you’ve seen the best of Quito and the surroundings. I did a lot of research before I headed there, experienced it all, and I can guarantee that this is the best itinerary without any frills.
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