Ecuador runs on US dollars, but Quito's stretch further than anywhere in the Andes: a three-course almuerzo costs $3, the Metro $0.45, and the best miradors, parks and Banco Central museums charge nothing at all. Three days built around that.
A 54-hectare hilltop park directly above the old town, free and open 06:00–18:00. The Palacio de Cristal is an 1889 glass-and-iron hall relocated from the old Santa Clara market; entry is free when no expo is booked.
The Banco Central's smallest museum, in a restored colonial house at Venezuela N3-117 y Esmeraldas. Free entry, Tuesday to Friday 09:00–17:00, holding the largest public collection of Ecuador's indigenist and surrealist pioneer.
Quito's former bullring, now 25 hectares of eucalyptus and footpaths. Weekends bring the open-air art market along Avenida Patria, where local painters sell canvases from $10, plus ecuavóley courts where crowds bet a dollar a point.
The city's oldest park, laid out in 1596, with a rowing lake and the 1873 Quito Astronomical Observatory — the oldest still standing in South America. The park costs nothing; the observatory museum charges $2.
Three floors of comedores on Avenida Pichincha, open 07:00–16:00. Upstairs almuerzos run $3–4 for soup, main course and juice; the house specialities are caldo de 31, seco de chivo and hornado carved off the whole pig.
Trading on Calle Sucre since 1950 behind its original wooden counters, this is the old town's cheapest sit-down snack. Empanadas de morocho, quimbolitos and humitas cost $1–1.50 each, and a mug of canelazo with aguardiente stays under $2.
A covered market of roughly 200 stalls on Jorge Washington, open daily 10:00–18:00. Alpaca-blend jumpers start near $12, Otavalo tapestries $5 and Panama hats from $15 — cheaper than Old Town shops, and haggling is expected.
Open since 1858 in a colonial house on Calle Guayaquil, Quito's oldest ice-cream parlour still churns helados de paila by hand in a copper pan set on straw and ice. Two scoops of mora or guanábana come to about $2.
The cable car lifts you from 3,117 m to 3,945 m on the flank of Pichincha in 18 minutes, running 09:00–20:00. Foreign adults pay $9 return, Ecuadorians and residents $4.50, and a free marked trail continues from the top toward Rucu Pichincha.
The runway of the old Mariscal Sucre airport, shut in 2013 and now a free 125-hectare park. You can walk or cycle two kilometres of tarmac past the original threshold markings, with Cayambe and Cotopaxi on the horizon on clear mornings.
One Metro de Quito fare is $0.45 and covers the whole 22 km line; ride to Iñaquito station for Parque La Carolina, 64 hectares of free lawns, skate bowls and Sunday ecuavóley courts, plus a paddle-boat lake at $3 a turn.
A ravine-edge balcony below the Hotel Quito where the Camino de Orellana drops toward Cumbayá at sunset. The 1649 Santuario de Guápulo sits below, free to enter, its Bernardo de Legarda pulpit rated the finest carved in colonial America.