Parque El Ejido

Beautiful place

Tourist destination to buy souvenirs, great variety

El Ejido Park is a public space open to all. Admission to the park is free and available at all times. Located at the junction between the historical centre and modern districts. The entrance to the park is decorated by the Circassian Gate Arch, built in 1908, which depicts artefacts of centaurs and people. Another interesting attraction located at the entrance of the park is the bronze monument "Eternal Struggle" created in 1903, the sculpture depicts struggling allegorical characters, symbolizing the eternal struggle of good and evil. The park itself is famous for its green area, has trees in its collection, among which are specimens more than a century old, making it a true natural heritage of the capital. The park was beloved for its trade by vendors and craftsmen. Here you can find paintings, various souvenirs and unique handicrafts in the tents set up.

It is a large and well-kept park. We willingly crossed it, to go from the Marsical to the old city, both for the beauty of the vegetation and because what is "human" is in harmony with the nature of the park: the wooden sculptures, the large trunk left there symbolizing the usefulness and beauty of the now felled trees. It is very popular: there are stalls, street artists but also people and groups walking or kicking a ball. There is the Center of Ecuadorian Culture, a beautiful, free and recently renovated museum.

We actually stayed across the street at the Hilton, and the views from our hotel were directly on the park. There's a pretty cool miniature version of the Arc de Triomphe, which is pretty cool.

We went to this park twice during our time in Quito. The first time, we just walked around the outer edges and looked at the crafts a bit. It seemed like a nice park, so when we had more time, we decided to walk through it on the paths and explore. Two police men came up to us when we were in the middle of the park. They only spoke Spanish, but we knew enough Spanish to understand them and were able to answer their questions. They warned us that the park was not safe and that we should leave quickly because it was dangerous there. They said that there were people there who would steal from us and/or attack us. We said okay told them we would leave right away. Which we did. We didn't necessarily see anyone that appeared to be a threat and we were never approached by anyone, but we took them at their word. . .because they were police officers and because we just didn't know. We don't know if this park is known as an unsafe place for tourists. I just read through reviews here and I see there are warnings for night time. I just wanted to relate our experience as something to be aware of. We didn't have any trouble, but it seemed that perhaps the police saw or were of aware of things we didn't see.

We used this park as a cut through to the historical district. On any given day, the park is active with food vendors and people strolling around, so it always felt safe. On the weekends, artisans set up shop and market their handiwork. This is always a fun place to wander through and they do an admirable job of maintenance despite the high usage.

The area used to be communal ground on the outskirts of the old city. Now pastures have been turned into a city park, quite centrally located between the old and the new town. Towards the north near the arc is where Avenida Amazonas begins. To date the park has maintained its pleasant green grassy spaces and trees. However. recently metro construction activities started and blue plastic barriers have appeared. Hope the park will not be affected. On Sundays there are local artists and craftsmen / women selling their wares. On weekdays there are many youngsters. Some were practising rap.

This is a wonderful place for good and cheap food and have tons of places to curl up with a good book. I wouldn’t recommend staying there after dark though. A large number of displaced peoples call this park home at night. During the weekends you can find beautiful art at good prices here.

We wandered here a few times, as it was just a couple of blocks from our hotel. We crossed it to both to and from our day-long walk to explore the Old Town. On Sundays there are many artists selling their work, mostly painters, of every style imaginable. They were asking very reasonable prices. Not a place to venture at night, though.

This parks attractions are the pond and the Observatory. However, this place has no tourist appeal at all. It is at the entrance of the Old Town, so if you are walking it does not harm to pass by it. But a special trip to it is not worth it.

220/5000 the park is very beautiful but there are many street vendors I felt a little afraid of traveling there as there are always several of them maybe not all are bad people but it does damage a bit the image of the park