Ecuador Part 2: Quito-Cuenca Road Trip

14 June 2025

Our primary reason for coming to Ecuador was to visit the Galapagos Islands but of course, we still had to pass through the capital city to get there and back. So, we checked it out and then decided to prolong our stay there by taking a road trip by bus to Cuenca, a distance of about 500km to the south.

Quito was the northern capital of the Inca empire, bordered by Mt. Pichincha (4776m) to the west and an enormous valley to the east. It was always an important trading post between the Andean highlands and the Amazon and the tropical Pacific coast.

The city today is not that interesting, apart from the colonial part in the centre, with its well-preserved historical buildings, including 16^th and 17^th century, churches, and wide plazas.  Quito is known as the main religious catholic centre of South America and most monastic orders from the Franciscans to the Carmelites settled here. The two most beautiful are the church of the Jesuits, the ornate Iglesia de la Compania de Jesus, and the Iglesia y Convento de San Francisco, in the plaza of the same name.

The central square, the Plaza Grande, also houses the President’s palace, the Palacio de Carondelet. On the south side is located the impressive Catedral de Quito, where several former presidents are buried, including Gabriel Moreno, who was murdered with a machete while in office in 1875.

The most interesting place outside the city centre was the Middle of the World Monument (Mitad del Mundo), sitting at 0° latitude, which designates the equator’s precise location established by the 18th-century French-Spanish Geodesic expedition. Although modern GPS technology has shown that the exact equator line lies very slightly to the north, the site nevertheless remains historically significant for its role in scientific exploration. It also commemorates the deep connection it has to the indigenous cultures that have inhabited the region long before the monument. 

Heading out from Quito, the first stop on our bus tour took us to Cotopaxi National Park, from where we could view the snow-capped volcanoes of Ecuador and explore some walking trails around the lagoon of Limpiopungo. A few hours later, we stopped at the crater lake of Quilotoa but unfortunately, we could see little of it due to the low clouds and surrounding mist.

Finally, we arrived in Cuenca, reputed to be the prettiest city in Ecuador with narrow streets, historic churches, flower-filled squares and a plethora of patisseries (no complaints there).

Originally settled by the Canaris, who lived from agriculture, livestock and the working and trading of ceramics and precious metals, and later ruled by the Incas, the best vestiges of Cuenca’s past can be seen in the Pumapungo palace-museum, close to the city centre.

One of the first buildings constructed by the Spanish after the conquest of the city in 1557 is the Old Cathedral of Cuenca. It is still standing after all this time, whereas the New Cathedral, completed only 50 years ago is expected to collapse within the next 20 years due to building errors! Both can be viewed from the beautiful Parque Abdon Calderon in the heart of the city. The nearby San Francisco Craft Market and Flower Market are also worth a visit.

Panama hats do not originate from Panama but from Cuenca (the hats were widely worn by workers building the Panama Canal  in the 1880s). We visited a hat factory to see the manufacturing process, beginning with the original plant fibers, and we came away with two examples ourselves.

It was easy to understand why so many ex-pats settle in Cuenca, a pleasant and safe historical city with a mild climate, good transportation links, low prices and offering very good quality food and restaurants.

For us, however, it was time to head back to Quito and fly to the final destination of our trip, Cartagena in Columbia.