El Panecillo, Quito, Ecuador

© Karol Kozlowski/plainpictur

Info. El Panecillo, Quito

Quito, the capital city of Ecuador, is the second-highest official capital city in the world at an elevation of 2,850 metres above sea level. If you want to get even higher you can travel up El Panecillo, a 200-metre-high hill between southern and central Quito. Its peak is at an elevation of 3,016 metres. Rising above the old city centre in the foreground, this rotund volcanic hill offers perhaps the best possible panorama of Ecuador's capital. On top of the hill there is a statue of a Madonna, which is made from over 7,000 pieces of aluminium.