Line 1 puts most of Quito's best-known sights within a short walk of a station: the UNESCO-listed historic centre, the city's main museums, its largest parks and its oldest observatory. This guide works through them station by station.
Quito's old town was among the first sites inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, in 1978. It is one of the largest and best-preserved colonial centres in Latin America, and the Metro drops you at its edge.
Get off at San Francisco (station 7). The exit opens a few minutes' walk from Plaza de San Francisco, with the Plaza Grande, La Compañía and the La Ronda street all within easy walking distance.
Note that the MuNa and the Casa de la Cultura are the same address, not two separate trips — both are reached from El Ejido station.
62 hectares in the financial district. Botanical garden with a large orchid collection, the Vivarium of reptiles and amphibians, a boating lake, athletics track and a planetarium.
Central park full of monuments, with an open-air art and crafts market at weekends. Directly above the station.
103 hectares laid out on the runway of the city's former airport. Wide open space for running and cycling.
Further south, Las Cuadras is a short walk from Morán Valverde station, and La Alameda park sits above the station of the same name.
La Alameda (station 8) is the stop for the Quito Astronomical Observatory, the oldest in South America, which sits inside La Alameda park along with El Churo, the city's oldest lookout tower. The Basílica del Voto Nacional is also closest to this station, not to San Francisco as is sometimes assumed.
For the panoramic view over the old town from El Panecillo and its winged Virgin, there is no station at the top: take a taxi from San Francisco. Walking up is not recommended for safety reasons.
Itchimbía, on the hill east of the centre, gives another wide view over the historic quarter and is also reached by taxi from San Francisco.
What is worth getting off for at each stop:
| Station | What is nearby |
|---|---|
| Quitumbe | Intercity bus terminal, Mercado Mayorista |
| Morán Valverde | Parque Las Cuadras |
| Solanda | Mercado de Solanda |
| El Recreo | Chimbacalle district, shopping centre |
| La Magdalena | Colonial church of La Magdalena |
| San Francisco | Historic centre, Plaza Grande, La Ronda, city museum |
| La Alameda | Basilica, observatory, La Alameda park |
| El Ejido | MuNa national museum, Casa de la Cultura, El Ejido park, La Mariscal |
| Universidad Central | University campus, Parque El Arbolito |
| La Carolina | La Carolina park, botanical garden |
| Iñaquito | CCI shopping centre, natural science museum, Atahualpa stadium |
| El Labrador | Parque Bicentenario, airport bus |
Stations not listed serve mainly residential districts without major visitor attractions.