Experience Quito’s highlights on a 3-hour sightseeing tour with a knowledgeable guide. Drive through diverse neighborhoods for a look at both colonial and modern Quito, and visit top Quito attractions such as Independence Plaza and the Presidential Palace. You’ll be amazed by panoramic views throughout your tour, accompanied by informative commentary from your guide about the history and culture of Ecuador's capital.
You’ll be picked up at your Quito hotel in the morning to begin your city tour. Take a panoramic drive through the financial neighborhood of Quito and La Mariscal.
Take some time to stroll through the colonial streets and visit Independence Plaza, the Presidential Palace and Government's Palace. You’ll also visit several churches including La Basilica Church and San Francisco Church, built in the 17th century.
Finally, head to the most famous hill in Quito, Panecillo Mirador, where you'll notice the contrast between colonial and modern Quito.
Your guide will provide commentary on the sites you see throughout your tour. Afterward, you’ll be taken back to your hotel.
Great introduction to the city if you are fresh off the plane. The beautiful gold leaf Jesuit church and the trip up to ththe panecillo viewpoint were the highlights. Juan was a knowledgable and enthusiastic guide.
Review by: Jole D, April 2018
Our half day Quito city tour exceeded our expectations. John, our guide was so passionate about Quito, its history and the Ecuadorian people it was infectious. This tour came at the end of a month long visit to Ecuador and Peru and we told John we weren't interested in going inside anymore churches, etc. - just give us the highlights! He smiled and said, Yes, I hear you but let me just take you to this one. From then on we were hooked. We went everywhere and enjoyed and appreciated every building and monument he showed us. Best tour guide ever, a real highlight of our entire trip. I highly recommend it!
Review by: celiane W, March 2018
The tour was very informative with a very engaging guide. I found it a great value for the price. When I booked the tour I was under the impression that we could go on the tour at different times during that day but on Saturday the tour only leaves at 8:30 am which was an inconvenience and was not made clear on Viator or on the confirmation email. Another annoyance was that the tour did not include entrance fees to different churches, entry prices are not expensive but I wish we had been told before hand.
Review by: saiyed a, February 2018
Excellent tour. Very good value for money. The guide , Juan was very knowledgeable, pleasant and helpful. _br/_ I recommend it as the first thing you should do in Quito, to get acquainted with the city.
Review by: Alain C, February 2018
This tour was amazing!
Review by: Mary E, January 2018
Javier was an AWESOME guide and good driver also - Ricardo? Always there when we were ready. Nice balance with riding in the compact bus and walking. Excellent history an overview of Old Town Quito in both English and Spanish. Covered major sites and interesting others. A plus is hotel pick up. A+
Review by: AMD-BCN, September 2017
I think the tour was really good. The guide was really knowledged and made all the efforts that we all enjoyed it with great explanations. I would reccomend the tour without any doubt.
Review by: greg g, May 2017
We would definitely do this again, it was definitely worth the price. The stops and views were wonderful. Our guide, Maria added much value to the tour. Her knowledge and passion for history and current events was apparent and we enjoyed spending the morning with her. She is lovely.
Review by: Lindsey W, May 2017
This tour was amazing!
Review by: Robin B, April 2017
Ivan was excellent
Review by: Susan B, February 2017
I really lucked out on this tour. It turned out I was the only person on it and therefore had the full attention of the guide. The guide was extremely knowledgeable and passionate not only about both the architecture and history of the buildings we visited but also of the significance of the religious icons. The churches were amazing and having such an informed guide made the tour so much more meaningful. Even with a larger group, I strongly suggest people consider this tour.
Review by: Robert A, January 2017
English/Spanish tour. Lacking in history and insight. The bus gets you to places but not much more.
Review by: Alainared, October 2016
This was a nice, 3 hour tour. We had the bus to ourselves as it was Saturday and most tourists go to the market out of town then. Went to several monuments, then up on the hill for a view and souvenir stands.
Review by: janis_man, October 2016
If you are like me and don't like reading a lot about the old city beforehand, the guide was great in explaining the significance of different places. I got a little overwhelmed by the history of this place however, so a bit of reading up before the trip may be a good idea. You get to visit the old churches, but unfortunately you don't get to spend a lot of time at some churches and hence you may want to re-visit them again at your own time. You also get to learn how to make chocolate and try the sweets at this shop.
Review by: Bruce R, August 2016
A good way to visit the main sights with opportunities for guided exploration of much of the main venues on foot. Tandem explanations in Spanish and English.
Review by: bsotlb51, July 2016
This tour was amazing!
Review by: Pierre C, June 2016
Overall Quito is an amazing city with a UNESCO classified historical center. and it is worth it. Our guided tour was just OK. The logistics were weak: despite several emails we never got a confirmation of pick up at hotel. Instead, we received o the day before in the evening, a cryptic note in our hotel which we could not understand whether pickup would take place or note. After much stress and calling we found out we had to go to another hotel about 4 miles away. The guide was friendly, but his English was mediocre, and that made the sharing in Spanish combined with English not so fluid. we could understand the Spanish but we lost a lot of time repeating basic English statements. On the good note, I forgot my iPhone 6 in the bus and got it back in the evening after calling the bus driver. The guide's advice on which church to visit was well followed nevertheless.
Review by: Cherise C, April 2016
This is a great way to see the historic district of Quito, and panorama views of the entire city. Javier was our guide, and he was very knowledgeable and friendly; open to any questions.
Review by: Melanie K, March 2016
Good tour for an overview of Quito. We visited some interesting places, the cathedral sticks out in my mind, our tour guide was full of information and history.
Review by: john p, January 2016
I was disappointed. I was the only person on this tour and it left a lot to be desired. Most of the stops were at churches, that quite frankly I wasn't interested in. Learned little about the city. Not recommended!
Review by: Carol C, December 2015
Guide William was very nice.
Review by: William B, December 2015
The following comments do not reflect on the Tour Guide who was excellent under the circumstances, especially her English. The Tour should be re-named Church Tour of Quito, not City tour as we spent most of the time visiting churches, very little of the City. Also the guest were both English and Spanish speaking therefore we spent half the time standing around whilst the guide was speaking in Spanish, despite my request for an English tour when booking. Other English speaking guests felt the same and became bored, in fact 4 left before the tour was complete as they were bored.
Review by: William P, February 2015
Well organised and William, our guide, ways friendly and knowledgeable. He had to work twice as hard, dispensing his knowledge in Spanish and English ... I was the only non-Spanish speaker on the trip. Thank you for helping to make my weekend in Quito such a good one.
Review by: MrMino, December 2014
Very interesting walking tour in a beautiful city witj a funny guide
Review by: Frank D, December 2014
Excellent tour. William, the guide, was friendly and knowledgeable. The churches we visited were gorgeous -- especially la Compania. Don't miss that church. The add on visit to la al Mundo was worth the addition; I was glad I did it.
Review by: Jill M, December 2014
Our guide was fantastic and so knowledgeable. We would not have learned as much on our own.
Review by: Boarder, September 2014
This tour was amazing!
Review by: Grims, August 2014
We had just arrived in South America and Quito was our first stop, so after several hours of intercontinental flight we wanted to start with something light, such as a city tour. This tour was ideal and the driver and guide were punctual, courteous and efficient. Since we were not yet used to the high altitudes they took good care of us. Recommended as a starting point to explore the area.
Review by: Jacques G, July 2014
Our guide was informative but, more important, he was thoughtful about the needs of the group. He made certain that everyone was well served. Could not have been better.
Review by: Zaida A, June 2014
This was an excellent!! Tour guide - Huerta - made the tour. I recommend this tour on Mondays to see the. Hanging of the guard at the presidential palace. The visit to the colonial churches was the highlight for me.
Review by: Satish B, June 2014
Quito downtown is beautiful, but you can do the sightseeing on your own, since this was a walking tour and everything is very close to one another. I also did not like the fact that extra money was charged for the museum and other entrances. We felt 'nickled and dimed'!
Review by: Bruce B, June 2014
We had a good trip, problem was there was a mix of languages being shared during the tour. We asked for english and on two different trips got spanish speaking guides, who gave us some english but mostly spanish.
Review by: Joy A, February 2014
Highly recommend this half day tour.
Review by: Lucy R, February 2014
The tour itself was interesting. First stop was the Bascilica which was terrific. Then we went to the statue of the Virgin on the top of the hill (on a clear day) and it was beautiful. Then on to centro where we walked down 2-3 streets and were TOLD how nice they were and what interesting shops there were but everything was closed!!! After that we went into TOO MANY churches (4, I think). The guide was pleasant but his English was so poor that all of us barely understood him (2 Americans and 2 Canadians). We could only pick out the occasional English word. With no disrespect, I suggest that the guides practice their English skills with native English speakers before giving tours. I had been in Ecuador for 3.5 months already, so I was the only one who regularly understood (most of) what he was saying. The other tourists had just arrived and hadn't gotten used to how quickly the Spanish speak. All in all, the tour was good, but we relied on looking at things instead of learning what they meant. Also, while touring 3-4 churches in centro we were repeatedly told that there were other interesting things that we could come back and see on our own. That was disappointing as this was the main reason for taking a tour -- to have someone SAFELY take us to these interesting places!
Review by: Richard R, February 2014
The tour gave us a good feel for the history and heritage of Quito. Our guide was very knowledgeable and professional. He seemed to enjoy sharing the city with us and made the time enjoyable.
Review by: Charles D, February 2014
Very knowledgeable guide and well planned half-day tour in Old Quito. We enjoyed it very much.
Review by: ldellal, January 2014
The most important sites in Quito are visited in the old city and you get a lot of the history as well. The insides of the churches are just amazing. The view of Quito from the hill with the Virgin of Quito statue is wonderful. We ended up adding on the Middle of the World tour, and we are glad we did. Great explanations of equatorial phenomenon at the museum, and the restaurant the group stopped at had some of the best traditional food we ate on our trip.
Review by: J A B, December 2013
The Tour was sold including complimentary hotel pick-up and drop off in Quito. This was not the case and we had to find our own way to where the tour began. When I mentioned this to the tour operator they said the issue was with Viator._br/_
The Tour Guide did his best however I found his accent and understanding of english difficult to understand so although we saw places we weren't able to learn much._br/_
Otherwise we enjoyed the tour but we would have liked to see the changing of the guard which was taking place.
Review by: Bandit, October 2013
Great tour and overview of the city of Quito. Lots of impressive sites, plazas and churches in a city full of magic, history and culture! Our guide was great and we packed so much in on this tour. I'd highly recommend!
Review by: Carole B, August 2013
The Quito half day tour was great value and our local guide was very knowledgable. We were only in Quito for a short time so wanted to make the most of our time there. We learnt so much and went places we never would have seen on our own. We were collected from our hotel by Annalucia and the Grays tour bus. What was written up as a 3 hour tour turned into 4.5 hours. This was fine with us as there was so much to see and we didn't feel as if we missed anything. A very worthwhile experience.
Review by: Kirk L, August 2013
Wilson, the guide was very good. But the tour group was too big and the old ladies from Argentina kept wandering off. I know we did not get to see some of the things on the tour route as a result. When possible you need smaller groups all in one language.
Review by: Ted N, August 2012
Had a great time seeing Quito
Review by: Lisa M, June 2012
Friendly Guide! Very Informative!
Review by: Christopher W, May 2012
Superb guide, who had to make his commentary in two languages... Visited some wondeful sights and got to see in half a day a lot of the city... Highly recommended...
Review by: izausa, December 2011
We visited all the beautiful churches, we walked along the narrow colorful streets of old town Quito, we admired the view of the city from the Panecillo hill, I enjoyed the tour very much.
Review by: Fred H, November 2011
Everything was very punctual. Guide was very well knowledged. Only isapontment that this was a Spanish and English tour (2 English speaking and 6 Spanish speaking). Although the guide tried to allocate his time, the Spanish speakers won!).
Review by: MARIA G, August 2011
Old town Quito is beautiful! I was quite surprised they had amazing architecture, very charming and quite interesting. The tour guide Karla was very good, knowledgeable and very friendly. She had to conduct the tour in both English and Spanish since we were the only English speaking group. They were also very prompt in picking us up from the hotel.
Review by: ManG, August 2011
Old town Quito is beautiful! I was quite surprised they had amazing architecture, very charming and quite interesting. The tour guide Karla was very good, knowledgeable and very friendly. She had to conduct the tour in both English and Spanish since we were the only English speaking group. They were also very prompt in picking us up from the hotel.
Review by: Sophia T, May 2011
Very informative guide, just enough time to see everything, including the Changing of the Guard at the Presidential Palace - that was one of the highlights of our trip. Excellent!
Review by: Joy O, February 2011
Guide absolutely fabulous great knowledge and fun but other than churches little to see in the town, disappointing.
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