Fun Facts About Quito
- Quito is the Capital of Ecuador – it is the highest constitutional capital in the world, at 2850 meters (about 9300 feet) above sea level!
- Quito was the first city to be declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site back in 1978.
- Quito sits just 200KM south of the equator – because of this, it has 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of darkness throughout the entire year.
- Quito sits next to two active volcanoes – Cotopaxi is located just 50 km from city center and last erupted in 2016 – Pichincha is only 16km from city center and last erupted in 1999.
- Quito’s population is around 2,671,191 – it is the 2nd most populated city in Ecuador (Guayaquil is 1st)
- Quito is built atop the ruins of an Incan City – The Incas controlled the area from around 1450 until the early part of the 16th century. Quito was founded in 1534 by the Spanish.
Quito is Breathtaking!
In short, there is nothing ugly about the city of Quito. Even flying to Quito is an unforgettable experience!
Michelle and I left Cuenca and flew to Quito, where we spent two nights in a lovely little hotel called “Friends Hotel & Rooftop”. (Click HERE for the link to the hotel) We’d heard that Quito was a beautiful city, but we really had no idea how much we’d be blown away by it! The city sits at about 9300 feet (2834 meters) above sea level, but all around it, towering mountains and volcanoes reach high into the sky. The only place I can compare the scenery to would be the Austrian Alps. It was simply gorgeous wherever we looked, and so green!
We found the Ecuadorian people to be very friendly here, which didn’t surprise us because Ecuadorians seem to be just naturally friendly everywhere in Ecuador! The places we walked felt safe (although we were warned by hotel staff that they don’t recommend walking at night, and especially in certain areas of the city), but for a very large city such is this one, it didn’t seem unsafe to us. We did however, heed their advice and we were back in our hotel room before it got dark.
Our hotel offered us a 3 hour walking tour of the city for $15.00 each, and since this was our first time here, we felt this was a good way to get a feel of where we were. Our 3 hour tour was led by Ricardo, who was an excellent guide! During our tour, we saw many sights and learned about the history of the buildings we passed. We also got a tour of the Basílica del Voto Nacional (Catholic Cathedral) and were able to go up to the top of both towers where we were treated with amazing views of the city!
We both agreed that 2 nights in this wonderful city wasn’t enough. I’m sure there was so much that we missed, but we were both excited for our next destination, so we checked out of our hotel, and caught an Uber about 2 hours west to our next place, where I’m currently writing this blog.
I’m excited to share with you in my next blog where we are now. It’s magical and is truly a gem of a place!
Thank you for reading this, and have a great day everyone!
Safe travels!!