Straddling the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, you’ll find La Mitad del Mundo, or The Middle of the World.
The area was built at the point thought to be Latitude 0˚, 0’, 0” better known as the Equator.
Unfortunately, the actual line is about 250 meters north of the line they used, due to a calculation error. Nonetheless, Mitad del Mundo is still a great spot to check out, and of course to take that iconic photo with one foot on either side! You won’t regret spending a few hours here on your trip to Quito– it’s close by, fun to explore, and there’s lots of areas for fun photos. Check out our tips!
- Mitad del Mundo is located about 18 miles from Quito’s city center-- roughly a 40-minute drive (Quito's traffic is legendary, so keep that in mind, too!)
- $5 entrance fee
- Open 9am-6pm everyday of the year
- Other than the famous dividing line and monument, there is also a large complex with a museum and several cultural sites
Our Tips:
- Like we always say… Plan to visit early in the day. We arrived right when it opened at 9am and had the place totally to ourselves– all the better for taking as many fun photos as we wanted, especially the iconic shot with one foot on either side!
- The yellow painted line also extends behind the monument, so you can take nice photos from the back side as well if the sun angle isn’t cooperating in front
- Speaking of the sun… Pack sunscreen! The sun is very strong here!
- Don’t miss going inside the monument, as the little museum has a good amount of information and the view from the balcony is great
- If you want to go to the real equator line, walk to the Museo de Sitio Intiñan, a nice museum about 250 yards away.
Getting There:
There are tons of tour operators in the Quito area boasting “half-day tours of Mitad del Mundo” for $30-60 per person with transportation. You don’t need to do this. Half a day is actually on the long side for a visit, and you’ll save quite a bit of money taking a ride-share like Uber or the bus.
We opted to take an Uber, which cost us about $25 USD round-trip. If you have the time to spare, there is also a bus that goes to the area which is of course far cheaper. Once you are done at the monument, there are often taxis around the visitor center to take you back to Quito. Since it is such a heavily visited spot you should not have a problem finding a taxi. You can also ask one of the security guards by the entrance to call you a taxi and they will help you out if necessary, and there’s also wifi in the visitor center to call an Uber.
What to See:
Of course the main thing to see at Mitad del Mundo is the monument, located up the big walkway from where you enter– you can’t miss it. The monument is topped by a globe, and has four sides for each of the cardinal directions.
First constructed in 1936 to honor the French, who chose this location as the equator 200 years prior, there is a small museum inside where you can read about the history of the area and you can walk up to the balcony for a nice view.
In addition to the monument, there are many little shops for souvenirs, a few restaurants, a planetarium and a few other museums.
We enjoyed checking out the chocolate museum, where they showed us how you make chocolate and gave a little taste of cocoa in a raw form. The ancestral housing area was a bit cheesy in our opinion, but still worth visiting. You can definitely spend a good amount of time walking around and reading about the history of the area, too.
Overall, if you are in Quito, don’t miss Mitad del Mundo. While most people will come here for the unique photo opportunity, there is much more to see and learn. We were really glad that we visited and highly recommend that you visit, too!
Don’t miss our other Ecuador content, including a walking guide to Quito, hiking Las Cajas National Park in Cuenca, day hiking guides to Cotopaxi Volcano and Quilotoa Crater Lake, Top 5 Baños + biking La Ruta de las Cascadas in Baños!
Ecuador is one of our favorite places that we’ve ever visited– we know you’ll fall in love, too! We can’t wait to go back.
