3 Days in Quito: First-Timer Plan
Heads up: some links here are affiliate links. Book or buy through them and we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. We only point you to things we would actually use.
Three days is the sweet spot for a first look at Quito: two days for the city itself, and a third for the region’s best-known day trip.
Day 1
Quito sits at roughly 2,850 meters, and the airport is actually lower, around 2,400 meters, so you ascend into the city on arrival rather than the other way around. Keep today easy. Once you’ve checked in, walk Plaza Grande and step inside La Compañía de Jesús (about $6, free the first Sunday of the month) and the San Francisco monastery and museum (around $2), the birthplace of Quito’s colonial religious art tradition. Eat dinner in the old town and get an early night. Budget roughly $60-80 covering entry fees, an airport taxi, and two meals.
Tip: take a licensed orange-plate taxi or an app like Uber or Cabify from the airport, never an unmarked street taxi, and skip heavy drinking tonight while you adjust to the altitude.
Day 2
Taxi up to El Panecillo (around $5-8 each way) for the morning view over the old town; taxi up rather than walking, since the walk has a real mugging history even though the summit itself is safe. Next, visit the Basílica del Voto Nacional (about $2, plus a few dollars for the climbable towers) for a different rooftop angle, its gargoyles carved as Galápagos animals rather than the usual grotesques. In the afternoon, ride the TelefériQo cable car (around $8.50) up to roughly 4,050 meters for the widest view of the city against the Andes. Spend the evening on La Ronda over canelazo and empanadas de viento; the street itself is safe and busy after dark, just avoid its quieter side alleys. Budget roughly $40-60 for the day.
Tip: taxi back from La Ronda rather than walking, and carry smaller bills, since larger ones can be hard for small vendors to break.
Day 3
Take a full day trip to Otavalo, about 2 hours north, best on a Saturday when the market is at its biggest, though it runs daily. Browse woven textiles, leatherwork, and jewelry from Kichwa artisan families, and budget most of the day for it: the round-trip drive alone takes close to 4 hours. A guided day tour runs roughly $40-60 per person including transport; going independently by hired taxi costs more but gives you more flexibility on timing. Add lunch and souvenirs, and budget $70-100 for the day depending on how much you buy.
Tip: haggling is normal and expected at the market stalls, but keep it friendly, small price differences matter more to the vendors than to you.
For a version of this trip with more day trips added, see our 4 day Quito itinerary .