Teleferiqo, a gondola to 13,340 ft. in Quito, Ecuador

A Morning at 13,340 ft.

Today Jonathan and I met up with our friends Alex and Kyra (whom we met at the language school). We decided that it would be a great day to go up Pichincha Volcano via the Teleferiqo.

The TelefériQo takes you from the west of Quito up the mountain.

Alex and Kyra wanted to get there early to avoid the crowds, so we met at 9:00am.

At the base of the Teleferiqo is a little amusement park that we didn’t visit, but it looked like it would be very quaint and a fun place to go sometime.

Tickets are $8.50 for foreigners, but that’s also the same price for the express lane.

Luckily for us, we got there early enough that there was simply no one there, and we were able to walk right on to the gondola (even if Jonathan did get in trouble for stepping off his yellow circle to take this picture.)

The ride up was quite nice, and the view of the city is amazing.

At the top there’s a little chapel with beautiful stained glass windows, a bunch of trails, and a cafeteria where you can get tea and coffee.

We decided that we would walk about 200 meters further up the mountain, but that since the very top was shrouded in clouds, we wouldn’t go the whole way (which was likely another 2-3 hour hike).

And, even though we’ve all been living at over 10,000ft. for more than a week now, we still got a bit short of breath when walking around up there. (There are signs posted all over Pichincha which say “NO running”.)

Like I said, the view of the city is great! We were able to see our apartment building!

We also noticed that there were horses for rent. We decided not to do that today, but maybe we will another day.

We did stop for coffee and some yummy deliciousness. There were some indigenous people preparing food and drinks at the start of the trails (which start at 13,340 feet).

We got some coffee from them, and it was absolutely fantastic! Even Jonathan really liked it (and that’s saying something).

We also got something that is kind of like a tamale, but it’s made with sweet corn and cheese.

I don’t remember the name of it unfortunately, only that it tasted delicious.

I highly recommend that when (notice how I said “when” not “if”) you’re in Quito, Ecuador that you get up early one day and ride the Teleferiqo.

Getting to the Teleferiqo early was a very smart idea (as long lines had started to form by the time we came back down around noon).

There’s plenty of hiking if that’s your thing, or you can even bring a mountain bike up the gondola and ride it back down. (NOT something I have ANY interest in doing. Yikes.)

It might even be fun to pack a small picnic. If you do opt for a picnic, be sure to buy something from the indigenous people as well. It’s cheap, delicious, and always better to give your money to them rather than to the Nescafe shop in the building at the top of the hill.

We had a really fun morning with Alex and Kyra, and highly recommend the Teleferiqo when you’re in Quito, Ecuador.

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TAGS: Ecuador, Pichincha, quito, teleferico, teleferiqo