Quito in 2 Days on a Budget (Daily Costs)
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2 days covers Quito’s Old Town core, if you pace day one for altitude
This route sticks to the Old Town’s free UNESCO sights plus the TelefériQo, roughly $40-70 a person per day including a hostel bed, almuerzo lunches, and transit. Quito sits at about 2,850m, and the airport is actually lower, so day one is deliberately light on activity to let you acclimatize. With more time on the ground, the 4-day itinerary adds an Otavalo market day trip on top of this exact core.
Book or plan before you go
- A hostel or budget hotel in the Old Town, so everything on Day 1 is walkable
- Small-denomination dollar bills for markets and taxis, $20s are hard to break
- A licensed orange-plate taxi or an app (Uber, Cabify, inDrive) for the airport transfer and any night travel, never an unmarked street taxi
Day 1: Arrival and the Old Town, taken easy
Arrive at Tababela (UIO) and take a taxi or app ride into the city, roughly 45 minutes into a city that sits higher than the airport, so treat today as a light acclimatization day rather than a sightseeing sprint. In the afternoon, once you’ve had water and rested, walk the free core of the Old Town: Plaza Grande, the facade of La Compañía de Jesús (interior $6 if you want the gold-leaf ceiling, free the first Sunday of the month), and the courtyard of San Francisco Monastery. Lunch is an almuerzo at a market comedor, a few dollars for soup, a main, and juice. Skip alcohol tonight and drink plenty of water, mild altitude sickness is common on day one.
| Day 1 cost (USD, per person) | Low | Higher |
|---|---|---|
| Hostel dorm / budget room | 12 | 40 |
| Airport taxi/app to Old Town | 25 | 30 |
| Almuerzo lunch | 3 | 5 |
| La Compañía interior (optional) | 0 | 6 |
| Dinner | 6 | 15 |
| Day 1 total | 46 | 96 |
Day 1 tip: book the first night’s hostel or hotel before you land, arriving tired and altitude-adjusted is the wrong time to be comparing options on your phone.
Day 2: Basílica, El Panecillo, and the TelefériQo
Start at the Basílica del Voto Nacional ($2, a few dollars more to climb the towers past the Galápagos-animal gargoyles) for a rooftop view over the Old Town. Take a taxi up to El Panecillo, don’t walk, the ascent has a real mugging history even though the summit itself is safe and popular; the 360-degree view and the winged Virgen de Quito statue are worth the short fare. In the afternoon, ride the TelefériQo ($8.50) up to roughly 4,050m at Cruz Loma for a genuinely different angle on the city and its ring of volcanoes, mornings tend to have the clearest skies. In the evening, walk La Ronda for a canelazo and empanadas de viento, safe on the main lane itself.
| Day 2 cost (USD, per person) | Low | Higher |
|---|---|---|
| Hostel dorm / budget room | 12 | 40 |
| Basílica + towers | 2 | 5 |
| Taxi up El Panecillo (round trip) | 4 | 8 |
| TelefériQo | 8.50 | 8.50 |
| Dinner + canelazo on La Ronda | 8 | 18 |
| Day 2 total | 34.50 | 79.50 |
Day 2 tip: check the TelefériQo’s weather before you queue, fog rolls in most afternoons and the ride isn’t worth it under heavy cloud cover.
Is 2 days enough to see Quito’s Old Town properly?
It’s enough to hit the highlights, Plaza Grande, La Compañía, San Francisco, the Basílica, El Panecillo, and the TelefériQo, but it’s a tight schedule, not a relaxed one. If you want to add even one day trip like Otavalo or Mitad del Mundo, or you’d rather not rush the Old Town’s museums, the 4-day itinerary gives the pacing more room.
For the cheap-eats picks behind these lunch and dinner numbers, see our where to eat guide .