19 Best Sights in Guayaquil and the Pacific Coast, Ecuador

Guayaquil's riverfront promenade anchors the city's rebirth. After years of neglect, the 26-block street has been transformed into one of the city's most pleasant attractions. As you stroll along the Río Guayas, you can relax on benches in shady parks or poke into numerous shops, restaurants, the contemporary art museum (MAAC), South America's first IMAX theater, and a planetarium. So open and airy is the complex that the World Health Organization has given the Malecón one of its "Healthy Public Space" designations. Ample security and gates at the entrance to the complex keep things safe, even late at night. Across the street from El Malecón is the Palacio Municipal, considered the country's best examples of neoclassical architecture. Beside the adjacent Palacio de la Gobernación is Parque Sucre, a sliver of greenery dedicated to war hero Mariscal Antonio José de Sucre.

If Ecuador doesn't spring to mind when someone mentions art, a visit to one of Guayaquil's most impressive museums might change that. Ecuadoran artists began to break the connection with religious-themed art in the late 19th century, and the country's artists have never looked back. Take an English-language guided tour—essential to understanding how the exhibits are laid out. Anthropology, the first "a" in the museum's name, gets equal treatment as Ecuador's Central Bank's extensive collection of artifacts—50,000 of them—from the past 10,000 years is displayed on the building's second level.

The Nahím Isaías Museum is one of the country's truly fabulous institutions. Each year about 500 pieces of the astounding permanent collection of religious art from the colonial period is parceled out and displayed. What you see on view this year differs from last year and next year. An informative guided tour—choose between English or Spanish—that provides the best background on what you see is included in your admission.

The 136,850-acre Parque Nacional Machalilla is in the extreme southwestern corner of the state of Manabí, and was created in 1979 in an effort to halt the destruction of the country's remaining tropical dry forests. Unlike the lush greenery associated with rain forests, dry-forest vegetation includes kapok trees, prickly pear cactus, and strangler figs. The entrance fee is good for five days and includes access to Isla de la Plata, a 3,000-acre seabird sanctuary where red-footed, blue-footed, and masked boobies make their homes. The waters surrounding the island teem with flying fish, dolphins, and humpback whales that come from Antarctica to bear their young during the June–October season. There are restrooms and changing facilities at the park.

A large replica of a raft is in Bahía's Central Bank Museum, which displays archaeological artifacts and costumes. Rafts were built without nails and could hold 50–100 people.

The twin-spired cathedral, which looms over the western edge of Parque Seminario, is actually one of the city's newest houses of worship. Construction began on the neo-Gothic structure in 1937 and was completed in 1950. Vendors selling hand-carved rosaries and other items crowd the sidewalks outside.

Also called Ciudad Blanca, the General Cemetery is one of the city's most impressive sights. More than 200 mausoleums, all in elaborately carved white marble, line the neat paths. Because of a recurring problem with pickpockets, we suggest visiting on a guided tour.

Until 2002 this neighborhood, Guayaquil's oldest, at the foot of Cerro Santa Ana (Santa Ana Hill) was a seedy barrio of ramshackle houses where drugs dominated after dark. But from 2001 to 2002 the city poured $8 million into the neighborhood, transforming it in record time into one of the most charming parts of the city. Brightly painted houses, shops, and cafés climb Santa Ana Hill. Old-fashioned streetlamps light the way to the summit—there are 444 steps, thoughtfully (or unthoughtfully) numbered—where you can get an unparalleled view of the city. Perhaps the most amazing aspect of Las Peñas's transformation is that it was done without relocating the neighborhood's residents. Many of them benefited from business grants doled out by the city and now work as shopkeepers or manage cafés. The response from the community has been overwhelmingly positive, and other cities around the globe are following Guayaquil's model.

Guayaquil's oldest church was founded by the Franciscans in 1548. Near the historic Las Peñas neighborhood, the simple colonial structure was rebuilt after it was destroyed by pirate attacks. Locals also refer to it as the Iglesia de San Vicente.

The name of this place just a short boat ride from town translates as "Heart Island." First you'll stop at an off-island welcome center to see a presentation, then you get back on the boat to continue to the island itself. Isla Corazon, which has 174 acres of mangroves, serves as a nesting place for frigate birds—males inflate what looks like a large red balloon to attract females during mating season. You can either walk along boardwalks to explore the forest or canoe around the island.

Imposing marble columns form the backdrop for statues of the men who liberated most of the continent, Simón Bolívar and José de San Martín. The monument commemorates their first (and only) meeting, in Guayaquil in 1822.

Open-air restaurants and shops front the city's pleasant oceanside promenade, which leads north and south from the cruise-ship docks.

Just a block from the waterfront, the Pacific Bank Museum has rotating exhibits of archaeological discoveries, as well as a permanent collection of 19th-century South American art.

The Museum of Culture features prehistoric stone and ceramic artifacts discovered on La Plata Island off the coast from Guayaquil. There's also an impressive collection of gold items dating to before the arrival of the Spanish.

Yet another museum operated by Ecuador's Central Bank exhibits artifacts from the Pacific coast's pre-Inca indigenous Manta culture.

While the Municipal Museum of Guayaquil has many interesting archaeological exhibits, the biggest draw is a collection of tsantsas, or shrunken heads. Artifacts from indigenous peoples here include beadwork, feather work, tools, and weapons. In the lobby is an unusual 8½-meter (28-foot) totem with 32 vertical figures.

Your passport is required for admission, only so an attendant can compile data about who visits and from where.

There are three sections to this park: the Architecture Zone, with colonial buildings dating to 1886 (they were restored and moved here); the Traditional Zone, where actors dressed in period costumes re-create life as it was lived in the early 20th century; and the Endangered Wildlife Zone, with rare birds and animals. There are wooden walkways throughout and a small restaurant. This is a very pleasant way to spend a few hours; it's right on the edge of the rainforest.

This lovely square, the heart of the city since it was inaugurated in 1895, is known by many names. Because it has the almost obligatory statue of a triumphant Simón Bolívar, many locals call it Parque Bolívar. A more common moniker is Parque de las Iguanas, as dozens of the scaly green creatures can be found lazing about on park benches and across the limbs of trees. (Vendors sell mango slices for you to feed to the animals if the spirit moves you.) The gardens, which still have a marvelous wrought-iron bandstand, are filled with 43 species of indigenous plants.

The Moorish style clock tower, constructed in 1770, is one of the city's most enduring landmarks. Inside is a small exposition of photographs of Guayaquil dating from the early 20th century.