While most of the attractions in Quito are located in the historic city, the modern city provides visitors with plenty of things to see and do as well. There are numerous museums and parks as well as shopping and restaurants. We didn’t have time to visit all of the attractions but this entry will explain what we did manage to see.
Carondelet Palace (Palacio de Carondelet), the Presidential Palace of Ecuador, sits on the west side of Plaza Grande in Quito’s UNESCO World Heritage listed historic city center.
There are lots of great museums located in the UNESCO World Heritage listed historic city center of Quito, Ecuador. Some are historical sites and homes while others display art and artifacts.
I’ll be honest with you. Mitad del Mundo (Middle of the World), a touristic “city” within San Antonio de Pichincha, is a cheesy tourist trap. Its large 30m tall monument is said to be exactly on the equator but is actually about 240m off the mark (nobody looking at the pictures of you straddling the yellow line has to know).
A good place to visit while in Medellín is Pueblito Paisa. It’s a a small replica Antioquian village on top of Nutibara Hill (Cerro Nutibara), a small hill in the middle of the city.
Getsemaní is a historic neighborhood just outside the Old Town of Cartagena. It’s a popular place for tourists to stay and has a few minor attractions. It’s also part of the UNESCO World Heritage listing of Cartagena.
La Virginia is a hot town in Colombia’s Coffee Region. There’s really no reason for anyone to stop there. It’s basically a town conveniently located on a crossroads to many major cities.
El Centro is the city center of Medellín. It contains some of the city’s most important landmarks. It’s also a great place to observe daily life. El Centro is officially known as La Candelaria and corresponds to Comuna 10.