El TelefériQo
What is the TeleferiQo?
The Teleferiqo is a cable car that takes you up the side of the Pichincha volcano to an elevation of 13,000ft! From there, you can see the sprawling city of Quito as well as other volcanoes in the area - weather permitting. If you’re brave, you can rent a mountain bike for $5 when you purchase your cable car ticket, and bike down! There are hiking trails at the top, one of which leads to Pichincha’s Ruca summit and takes about 4-6h to complete. See the safety section below!
TL;DR Top Tips
Go on a weekday! It turns out the locals love the Teleferiqo, and you’ll be standing in a very long line on the weekends.
Views disappear around noon; plan accordingly. On a weekend, you’ll need to arrive earlier due to long lines.
BYO toilet paper. This is of course a pretty good strategy when traveling in general.
Plan to get lunch afterward instead of at the top - the restaurant was a low point in our culinary experience in Ecuador.
Don’t miss the swing!
Ensure the Ruca Pichincha trail is safe on all axes if you want to go (see safety section below).
Logistics
We were advised to go early to catch the view before noon, when the weather clouds roll in and rain follows, at least in October-December. What we didn’t realize is that on the weekends, locals love to enjoy the Teleferiqo too - so the line is VERY long! And you can only buy tickets in person. We arrived at 11:10 and it took us a little over an hour to buy tickets and get on the Teleferiqo. By the time we reached the top, the clouds were thick and the view was completely obscured. We got glimpses of view at times, but we definitely wish we’d gotten to the top of the mountain earlier in the day.
Safety
The Teleferiqo’s top station is at ~12,900ft. If you are already feeling a bit altitude sickness in Quito, wait until you acclimatize before heading to the Teleferiqo. The hike’s summit is at over 15K ft, so proceed with caution!
There are other reasons to be cautious of the hike. Our guidebook did mention to “check the conditions” before deciding to hike to the top of the mountain, once you’ve taken the Teleferiqo. We weren’t planning to do it anyway this trip, but two days before we went to the Teleferiqo, we got an alert from the US embassy that armed robberies were taking place along the hiking trail to the top! I’m not sure if the guide book was referring to crime or to weather, but clearly, you should look into both before planning on that hike. I also recommend registering with the US embassy so that you get these alerts, too! Also, I have seen other blog posts saying that the hike used to be dangerous but is now completely safe. Our trip was in 2021; I’m not sure if it got safer and then less safe or what, but clearly, you should investigate upon arrival in Quito.
Getting to the Teleferiqo
There are no great public transit options to get to the TeleferiQo. Take a taxi - if you get one through your hotel it might be $8; through Cabify, around $2.75. We couldn’t get a Cabify so we paid $8. The horror!
At The Bottom
If there’s a long line and you’re traveling in a group, one of you should wait in the ticket line while the rest get in the line to board the Teleferiqo. The line snakes past a sweets shop and a small cafe. The building where tickets are sold has lockers and nice bathrooms.
At The Top
Cafe
Coffee: very good; view: varies with the weather; empanadas: very bad.
Ian said, and I quote, “This is the worst empanada I have ever had.”
The bathrooms are nice, although you’ll have to pay for toilet paper or BYO.
Miradores and Swings in the Clouds
Don’t miss walking a bit along the trail - at least to the swings! Just because there’s cloud cover near the actual Teleferiqo doesn’t mean the view is completely obscured from the trail. And even when it just looks like you’re swinging into clouds, it’s pretty cool! Trail signage for the North Trail doesn’t include any mention of the swing, but it is along that trail, past the llamas and the horse.
Instagram Moment
In case panoramic views of Quito aren’t instagrammable enough for you, you can pay a little extra to walk on a mural that looks like you’re walking a plank out into the air. We did not do this, but no judgment.
Getting Back from the Teleferiqo
The line to go back down was almost as long as the line to get to the top. Just as we got in line, the heavens opened and it started to hail, which quickly turned to rain. Social distancing in the indoor portion of the line went straight to hell as everyone crowded in to avoid the inclement weather. But then the line continued to grow, so there was eventually just a portion of the line stuck in the rain - it looked like it really sucked!
Once at the bottom, with the warnings we’d seen about cab scams and crime, we really wanted to order a car. However, the driver whose info we had was not available, and we didn’t have enough cell signal to order a car via Cabify. We wound up just accepting a ride from one of the cab drivers on site that wait for people to need transit, and we were nervous, but it turned out fine. I don’t have any real advice here other than to trust your gut, and perhaps arrange with your hotel in advance to have a cab pick you up - though trying to time your pickup will be really tough if it’s a weekend and lines are long. There is apparently a bus from the Teleferiqo to the bottom of the hill road that leads to the city limit; you can also walk down the hilly road in about 20 minutes. It should be possible to order a cab from there.
A brief break in the clouds
