Why You Should Visit the Teleférico in Quito, Ecuador

Do you like mountains? What about great views? Awesome photos for Instagram? Overall really fun days? If you answered yes to any of these, then I can’t recommend Quito’s Teleférico, or “TelefériQo” enough.

While we’re in Quito, there are so many day trips that we want to take over the weekends. I was disappointed to look at the Saturday forecast on Thursday/Friday to find that the weather outlook for the whole country was fairly depressing — nothing but rain. So we decided to stick close to home in Quito and see what we could find to do around here.

Saturday morning we went to brunch and checked the forecast again. There wasn’t supposed to be any rain until later in the afternoon. We knew that taking Quito’s cable car up the side of the mountain was on our list, and it wasn’t far away. So we booked a taxi with Cabify.

About Quito’s Teleférico

The bottom station of the teleférico is situated on the northwest side of Quito’s city center. If you book a taxi, be sure to ask them to take you to “Vulqano Park” or “Parque Vulqano.” Vulqano Park is an amusement park, but your taxi driver will likely know you want to go to the cable car.

Another transportation tip: Book a yellow taxi for this trip — whether it’s through Cabify or another app. While apps like Cabify and Uber can offer private drivers, I read that private cars must pay a fee in order to continue up the road toward the park. If you don’t want to pay it, you can ask to be dropped off and walk the rest of the way. But it is uphill! I thought it was best to just pay 20 cents more for a yellow cab in Cabify and not have to worry about any extra charges.

(Or, find a tour that includes a trip to the Teleferico.)

Once you arrive at Vulqano Park, it’s a short walk uphill and up some stairs to get to the main teleférico station. Of course, we had to wash our hands at outdoor sinks, show our vaccination cards, and get our temperatures checked before entering the building to buy tickets. The cost of a return ticket is $8.50 per adult. You also must provide a form of ID when buying the ticket. We used Matt’s driver’s license since we didn’t have our passports. Be sure to hold on to your ticket.

The teleférico itself is one of the highest in the world. You’re already starting really high up, as Quito is the second-highest capital in the world. (La Paz, Bolivia, comes out on top.) When you board the cable car, you’re starting at 10,226 ft (3,117 meters) and ascending to 12,943 ft (3,945 meters). It says it’s an 18-minute journey, but it for sure didn’t take that long — it was definitely less than 10 minutes to the top.

And technically, it’s not a mountain you’re going up. It’s a volcano. Pichincha Volcano last erupted in 1999 and coated the city with a few layers of ash but didn’t cause any serious damage. In fact, the Ecuadorian province that is home to Quito is named “Pichincha” after this volcano.

The Swing in the Clouds

I’ll admit to being somewhat basic. When I’m doing my research about a place, I want to know where some of the best photo opportunities are. Especially because I like to share them here and on Instagram. And one of the best places for a photo — maybe in all of Quito — is on a swing that overlooks the city. On top of the mountain/volcano. After arriving in the teleférico station at the top, there was a cafe and a small gift shop. Where was the swing?

I squinted to another nearby mountain peak, saw a small crowd of people, and realized I would have to work for that photo op. It was a few hundred meters more to the north of where we’d arrived, and it was mostly uphill. But you do what you gotta do.

Okay, so it really wasn’t that bad getting there, to the “Columpia en las Nubes.” And it was definitely worth it. There are two swings side-by-side where a small line forms with people waiting for their turn. Even though it was a Saturday, there were only a handful of others there. I don’t think we waited more than 5 minutes. Of course, it’s January (AKA not peak tourist season for many cultures). But it sure is a great time to visit Ecuador. 🙂

Aside from its photogenic merits, swinging on a swing in the clouds is fun! Assuming you aren’t afraid of heights. I’m not, and I can’t remember the last time I was on a swing. So I had a really good time.

Another Exciting Thing

There are various viewpoints once you’re up there by the swing. On a clear day, you can see tons of mountains in the distance, including the famous Cotopaxi. It was not a particularly clear day for us, so we couldn’t see too much farther than the city. That was okay. We were wandering around trying to figure out what else there was to do/see up there. We went over a hill into a little clearing and saw a couple of small restaurants, a bunch of picnic tables with people and their dogs, and a horse corral full of horses.

There was also a woman who clearly worked up there chilling with a llama and alpaca. It cost 50 cents for a photo op, so I paid my dues.

But I still had my eye on the horses. I hadn’t ridden a horse in probably 20 years, but it seemed like a fun thing to do. There was no information posted anywhere, and there was no one else riding a horse nearby. So I went to find one of the workers and asked him: “Si queremos montar un caballo, cómo se funciona?” If we want to ride a horse, how does it work?

I would have been willing to pay quite a bit. Like maybe $30 each or something, just for the experience of riding a horse on a volcano in freaking Ecuador. So when he told me it was $5 for an easy, 25-minute ride… it was a no-brainer. The guide did tell me that there were longer (and of course slightly more expensive trips) available, but as I was breaking my 20-year-horse-riding hiatus, I was perfectly happy with a short trip.

I went and found Matt, we fished a couple of $5 bills out of our wallets, and our guide helped us onto our horses, Chino and Diamante. The guide came along with us and gave us some information about the area in Spanish. I got about 75% of it and translated for Matt. One of the most interesting things he told us was that there are animals like foxes, wolves, and bears that live there.

Low, gray clouds were moving in by the time we returned to the corral with our horses. And it seemed like it was finally almost time for the rain that had been promised all day. We tipped our guide an extra $2 and decided to head back toward the cable car station.

Moral of the story is… assuming you’re also not afraid of horses, I highly recommend taking a ride once you’re up there! I’m not sure how many people speak English (we didn’t really hear any) but at least now you know how far $5 can get you if you want to ride.

Going Back Down

When you’re ready to head back down, make sure you still have your ticket that you bought for the trip up. But the reason I gave this its own section is to just briefly explain the situation when it comes to getting back into the city.

After you get off the teleférico and walk down near the entrance to Parque Vulqano, you’ll probably want to get a ride from a taxi again. Depending on whether anyone was getting dropped off there, there might be taxis available. Since you aren’t using an app, you would need to know a specific well-known point or street crossing where you want your driver to drop you off.

There weren’t too many taxis around as we were leaving because it was starting to rain. I tried to order a Cabify, but I didn’t have any luck. Apparently no drivers were interested in accepting a trip halfway up the side of a mountain. So when a large yellow van asked us if we needed a taxi and quoted us a flat rate of $6 (probably twice the cost of a metered taxi), we went for it.

You also could try walking further down the mountain in the hopes of finding a taxi or having better luck with the apps closer to the city. Just maybe not as appealing of an option in the rain.

Also, here’s Matt’s video about our day. (What a great thumbnail he chose 🤔)

 

Okay, I think that’s everything there is to know about going to the teleférico! It was another of the best days ever.

Have you ever been here? Or would you want to visit here someday? Let me know in the comments!

–Cathy

Update July 2023: Earlier this month, Quito’s teleférico temporarily closed until further notice due to a technical failure that stranded dozens of passengers in the cable cars for several hours. 😬 I’m sure they’re not going to re-open it until they’re sure it’s safe, so keep an eye on the news if you’re planning to visit the teleférico!

Update October 2023: The teleférico officially reopened in mid-September!

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Originally Published on February 9, 2022.