Quito & The Volcanoes Valley

Quito's Historical Center has marveled many a traveler throughout history—including famed globetrotters like Alexander von Humboldt and Simon Bolívar—and became the first city to be declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1978.

The sheer concentration of Colonial churches in Quito's old town—there seems to be one on every block—has converted the urban core into a world-class sightseeing destination. Sculpture, art, and design highlight classic Catholic iconography as well as the Arabesque patterns and motifs that smother walls and pillars of one of the most coveted Baroque Art talent troves this side of the Americas.

Among the dozen or more beautiful churches in Quito, an authentic piece de resistance is Iglesia de La Compañía, one of Latin America's architectural wonders, chock-full of gold leaf, Christian symbolism, and Baroque mastery. Second on the list—though arguably a complete experience overall—is Iglesia San Francisco, the continent's most significant religious complex, with its excellent museum, stunning courtyards, chapels, and main church, which is still very much a part of everyday life for the hundreds of devotees that visit every day.

The next day, choose to visit one of many divergent ecosystems and great diversity in both nature and culture formed around the Andes. From cloud forests to snow-peak mountains, cold páramo streams to warm, forested waterfalls or wonderful cross-cultural encounters, as the Andes are home to over thirty distinct ethnicities, groups that recognize their many subtle differences in traditions, rituals, and dress.