73 Best Sights in Ecuador

The "company" referred to here is the Society of Jesus, the powerful Jesuit order that profoundly influenced religious life in colonial South America. In many cities, Quito included, the local Jesuit church outshone the local cathedral. La Compañía is the most impressive of the capital's 86 churches, with 10 side altars and a high altar plated with gold. The high central nave and the delicacy of its Arab-inspired plasterwork give the church a sumptuous, almost sinfully rich appearance. Indeed, almost half a ton of gold was poured into the ceilings, walls, pulpits, and altars during its 160 years of construction (1605–1765). At the center of the main altar is a statue of the Quiteña saint Mariana de Jesús; her remains are entombed at the foot of the altar. Guided tours in Spanish or English are included in your admission price. If you see nothing else in Quito, don't miss this.

Guayaquil's riverfront promenade anchors the city's rebirth. After years of neglect, the 26-block street has been transformed into one of the city's most pleasant attractions. As you stroll along the Río Guayas, you can relax on benches in shady parks or poke into numerous shops, restaurants, the contemporary art museum (MAAC), South America's first IMAX theater, and a planetarium. So open and airy is the complex that the World Health Organization has given the Malecón one of its "Healthy Public Space" designations. Ample security and gates at the entrance to the complex keep things safe, even late at night. Across the street from El Malecón is the Palacio Municipal, considered the country's best examples of neoclassical architecture. Beside the adjacent Palacio de la Gobernación is Parque Sucre, a sliver of greenery dedicated to war hero Mariscal Antonio José de Sucre.

If Ecuador doesn't spring to mind when someone mentions art, a visit to one of Guayaquil's most impressive museums might change that. Ecuadoran artists began to break the connection with religious-themed art in the late 19th century, and the country's artists have never looked back. Take an English-language guided tour—essential to understanding how the exhibits are laid out. Anthropology, the first "a" in the museum's name, gets equal treatment as Ecuador's Central Bank's extensive collection of artifacts—50,000 of them—from the past 10,000 years is displayed on the building's second level.

Cuenca's wealthy Ordóñez family donated its spacious home to the Catholic Church in 1599, whereupon it became the cloistered convent of the Order of the Immaculate Conception, or the Conceptas. Four centuries later, part of this well-preserved edifice houses the Museum of the Monastery of the Conception, which contains an impressive collection of religious art from the 16th to the 19th centuries. This is a must-see stop for an understanding of colonial art, all of which focused on religion, and none of which was ever signed by the artist. (Most pieces here are labeled "anónimo".) The well-informed guides—take a tour conducted in Spanish, English, or French—explain that service to God was deemed more important than any artistic recognition. (That didn't stop some artists from incorporating their own faces in their works.) Most of the collection was contributed by families whose daughters entered the convent. Half the building is still inaccessible, the cloistered nuns emerging only after closing to clean the museum. No one except the museum director has face-to-face contact with them.

The Nahím Isaías Museum is one of the country's truly fabulous institutions. Each year about 500 pieces of the astounding permanent collection of religious art from the colonial period is parceled out and displayed. What you see on view this year differs from last year and next year. An informative guided tour—choose between English or Spanish—that provides the best background on what you see is included in your admission.

Bahía Tortuga, 3 km (2 miles) southwest of Puerto Ayora, has a long, white-sand beach where marine iguanas sometimes strut along the water's edge. There are no facilities along the water, but if you walk from town (take the road to Bellavista and turn left past the bank), you'll pass a soda-and-beer stand at the top of a lava-rock staircase. Marine turtles drag their bulky shells up onto the beach to lay their eggs between November and February. The baby turtles are moved to protected locations when they hatch in June and July.

Construction of this neo-Gothic church has been going on for more than a century, but it still isn't completed, and never will be: Local susperstition holds that the world will end when basilica construction is finished. Here the traditional gargoyles found on such structures are representations of Ecuadoran jungle animals. The structure bridges the Old and New cities—literally, figuratively, and stylistically—but falls into neither. Its 115-meter (380-foot) towers are one of Quito's best-known lookout points.

Near the small village of Bellavista you can explore amazing underground lava tubes. The mile-long tunnels, tall enough to walk through, were created when flowing lava cooled more quickly on the surface than below, forming a crust that enclosed an underground labyrinth. To reach the tunnels from Puerto Ayora, head north on the road to Bellavista, turn east at the cross street, and walk about a mile until you find a farm with a sign that announces "los túneles." A small fee is collected by the owner, who also provides flashlights.

Here's a textbook case on how to do urban renewal: The city has taken one of its most historic streets, cleaned it up, beefed up security, and given grants to owners to refurbish their properties. The result is a two-block pedestrian-only cobblestone street lined with independent galleries, shops, cafés, and a few small bars. Flowers deck out the wrought-iron balconies and flags flutter over strolling Quiteños.

The ornate carvings surrounding the doorway of this diminutive chapel are a good example of Spanish baroque design. The interior is typically ostentatious—especially noteworthy is the gilded pulpit encrusted with tiny mirrors. Alas, the church keeps very irregular hours and may not be open when you pass by.

A large replica of a raft is in Bahía's Central Bank Museum, which displays archaeological artifacts and costumes. Rafts were built without nails and could hold 50–100 people.

The restored Sucre House, once the residence of Field Marshal Antonio José de Sucre, displays 19th-century furniture and clothing as well as photographs, historical documents, and letters. The house makes an interesting visit if you're a military-history buff.

This museum of pre-Colombian art and artifacts is easy to miss, hidden as it is inside a lovingly-restored 17th-century house. The museum has arranged the pieces thematically, not chronologically, so a walk through the eight galleries is both a history and an art lesson. The museum is small, so you can move through it in less than an hour before or after visiting Iglesia de San Francisco next door. There are two tranquil courtyards here where guests are welcome to relax. The gift shop sells nice Ecuadorian handicrafts alongside some locally-made clothing and bags. The free audio tours are informative and engaging.

The city's cathedral is a repository of art from the Quiteña school, which combined themes of Spanish and indigenous cultures: Jesus preaching in the Andes or the Wise Men mounted on llamas in the Nativity scene. The exceptional sculpting abilities of Manuel Chili Caspicara can be appreciated in the 18th-century tableau The Holy Shroud, which hangs behind the choir, and in the intricate designs of the rococo Chapel of St. Anne, in the right aisle. The building also houses the volcanic rock-hewn tomb of Quito's liberator, Antonio José de Sucre. A guided tour in Spanish or English is included in your admission price. Enter around the corner on Venezuela.

Started in 1886 and finished more than 80 years later, the city's immense Romanesque cathedral can hold more than 9,000 worshippers. (Locals refer to the building as the Catedral Nueva (new cathedral); it replaced the Sagrario across the plaza as the seat of the archdiocese of Cuenca.) The interior arches tower more than 100 feet high, and light that enters through the stained-glass windows casts a golden glow over the thick brick walls and Italian marble floors. The impressive pillars are Ecuadoran marble, and the choir chairs are hand-carved from native wood.

The twin-spired cathedral, which looms over the western edge of Parque Seminario, is actually one of the city's newest houses of worship. Construction began on the neo-Gothic structure in 1937 and was completed in 1950. Vendors selling hand-carved rosaries and other items crowd the sidewalks outside.

Also called El Sagrario, this lovely church, the "Old Cathedral," was begun in 1557, the year the city was founded, and served as the headquarters of its archdiocese until a new cathedral on the opposite side of the park was completed in the 1960s. The whitewashed outside gleams after a complete restoration; the inside serves as a museum of religious art.

Also called Ciudad Blanca, the General Cemetery is one of the city's most impressive sights. More than 200 mausoleums, all in elaborately carved white marble, line the neat paths. Because of a recurring problem with pickpockets, we suggest visiting on a guided tour.

Until 2002 this neighborhood, Guayaquil's oldest, at the foot of Cerro Santa Ana (Santa Ana Hill) was a seedy barrio of ramshackle houses where drugs dominated after dark. But from 2001 to 2002 the city poured $8 million into the neighborhood, transforming it in record time into one of the most charming parts of the city. Brightly painted houses, shops, and cafés climb Santa Ana Hill. Old-fashioned streetlamps light the way to the summit—there are 444 steps, thoughtfully (or unthoughtfully) numbered—where you can get an unparalleled view of the city. Perhaps the most amazing aspect of Las Peñas's transformation is that it was done without relocating the neighborhood's residents. Many of them benefited from business grants doled out by the city and now work as shopkeepers or manage cafés. The response from the community has been overwhelmingly positive, and other cities around the globe are following Guayaquil's model.

Follow the main road east from Puerto Ayora to the expansive grounds of the Charles Darwin Research Station and its visitor center, which has an informative exhibit explaining the basics of Galápagos geology, ecology, and weather patterns. Self-guided trails lead to the station's zoo-like giant tortoise pens, where you can see the only tortoises you're likely to encounter during your visit. Your admission is included in the $100 entry fee you paid upon landing in the islands.

When the sun beats down on you, it gets quite hot here; bring a hat and water.

The opening of the New City's Teleferiqo has eclipsed this rounded hill and its stunning views as Quito's most popular lookout point, but El Panecillo wins in convenience and authenticity; it's easy to walk to, you can climb up, and the presentation here is more serene.. At the top stands the monumental cast-aluminum statue of the city's protectress, the Virgin of Quito—a 1976 copy of Bernardo de Legarda's famous 18th-century sculpture Virgin of the Apocalypse of the Immaculate Conception, on display in the Iglesia de San Francisco. There are police on the long flight of stairs up, so it's safe to climb. Due to the elevation, a moderate level of fitness is needed to tackle the stairs, so some visitors may wish to take a taxi and have it wait for you at the top (about $10 round-trip).

Baños is Spanish for "baths," and there are several thermal springs in town. The town's official name is Baños de Agua Santa (Baths of the Holy Water), but no miracles have ever been attributed to the springs. The best of the bunch is a series of pools called El Salado. Its six rough-hewn pools, next to a fastmoving stream, overflow with mineral water of various temperatures. The pools are refilled each morning at dawn.

Ecuador's most famous contemporary artist, Oswaldo Guayasamín (1919–99), held court at a workshop and beautiful museum in the residential neighborhood of Bellavista, befriending everyone from the Rockefellers to Fidel Castro during his long career. This is the starkly modern vision the artist never lived to see completed: a secular chapel of art dedicated to the history of mankind, housing a collection of his cubist works on the theme of social injustice in Latin American history. Take a guided tour in English or Spanish. It's included in your ticket price and will prove invaluable for understanding what you're seeing. On display here are pre-Colombian ceramics, colonial sculptures, and paintings from his private collection, as well as a permanent exhibit of his own paintings. Original works by Guayasamín, as well as prints, posters, and T-shirts, are sold in the gift shop.

Nestled in a secluded valley below the Guayasamín museums, the village of Guápulo is a preserved pocket of colonial architecture only 2 km (1 miles) from Quito's New City. Early September brings Guápulo's annual festival, which features food, drink, and marching bands. To reach Guápulo, walk downhill via the steep staircase directly behind the Hotel Quito, east of the city at Avenida Gonzáles Suárez 2500. To return, make the uphill trek, or take a taxi for about $4.

The settlement, with narrow cobblestone lanes lined with two-story white houses trimmed in blue, grew up around its impressive 17th-century church, the Santuario de Guápulo. The Guápulo Sanctuary contains pieces by some of Quito's most exceptional sculptors and painters; the paintings in the central nave are the work of Miguel de Santiago, and the side altar and pulpit—completed in 1716 and considered masterpieces of colonial art—were carved by Juan Bautista Menacho.

The Church of Mercy's beautiful, light-filled interior contains a brilliant statue of the Virgin of Mercy above the main altar. It was sculpted to honor Mary, who supposedly intervened to save Quito from a series of 18th-century earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. The church's 153-foot tower houses the city's largest bell. The adjoining convent, shown by appointment only, features a rich collection of colonial paintings and sculptures.

In 1809 Ecuador's declaration of independence was signed in the Church of St. Augustine, and many of the soldiers who fought the Spanish crown are buried here. The gilded crucifix on the main altar offers an impressive example of a style of art called the Quiteña school. The altar displays paintings by Miguel de Santiago about the life of St. Augustine, while more depictions of the saint crowd the side aisles.

Established by Franciscan monks in 1536 and said to be the first church built in the Americas, the Church of San Francisco was named for the patron saint of the city. The twin towers, destroyed by an eruption of Volcán Pichincha in 1582, were rebuilt at half their original size in 1893, contributing to the facade's uninspiring appearance. Inside, however, you will find the first New World example of an interior entirely covered with gilded and painted wood. Stationed at the main altar is Bernardo de Legarda's famed 18th-century sculpture Virgin of the Apocalypse of the Immaculate Conception. The monastery, at the north end of the complex, now houses a museum of colonial religious art. You can arrange for an English-speaking guide with 24 hours' notice.

Built in the 1920s, the Church of St. Francis is famous for its soaring steeple and intricately carved, gold-drenched main altar, which contrasts nicely with its unassuming interior. The church keeps very limited hours.

Guayaquil's oldest church was founded by the Franciscans in 1548. Near the historic Las Peñas neighborhood, the simple colonial structure was rebuilt after it was destroyed by pirate attacks. Locals also refer to it as the Iglesia de San Vicente.

The interior of the colonial Church of Santo Domingo may not be as impressive as the Old City's other churches, but it does feature an eye-catching clock and some interesting statues, including the Virgen del Rosario. The adjacent Dominican monastery also holds a small museum of religious art. South of the Plaza Santo Domingo, narrow cobblestone streets lead down to Calle Ronda, one of Quito's first streets.