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What is it like to celebrate New Year’s Eve in Quito, Ecuador?
This is the exact question we asked ourselves when we landed in Quito on December 28, 2025.
We were visiting Quito for a week prior to embarking on an epic 7-day Galapagos cruise in the New Year.
While we knew we were going to do some fun day trips and explore Quito at that time, we had zero idea what to do for New Year’s Eve.
Were there New Year’s Eve parties? Fun traditions? Would everything be closed?
Thankfully, we learned a lot about how Ecuadorians ring in the New Year and say goodbye to the old, and we had a lovely time celebrating in Quito!
So now, I’m here to show you what we did (and what you can do) to enjoy New Year’s Eve in Quito during your trip!
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Table of Contents
Quito New Year’s Eve Traditions
I’ll be honest, Happy Gringo has a great guide for New Year’s Eve traditions in Ecuador as a whole.
According to local guides we met here, a lot of locals head to the beach. People are off work, so they get in the car and hit the road to have a fun vacation for New Year’s! That makes sense, as the country straddles the Equator, and this is the best time of the year to go to the beach.
But here are some things you’ll inevitably discover while exploring Quito during New Year’s.
1. Tax Collectors
This was the very first thing we noticed while on a day trip to Cotopaxi on December 30. We were stopped while driving through a small town and people blocked off the roads, wore masks, and were making noise.
Someone even had a fake gun which was terrifying. It was a bit jarring to see until we realized that these people who were dressed up were the “tax collectors.”
This is a New Year’s Eve tradition in Ecuador where people dress up, block off roads and streets, and ask for change to let you pass through. Once you give over some coins, they let you go on your way.
Presumably, the coins are for beer money for the big event on New Year’s Eve.
So word to the wise: bring lots of coins with you around this time of year, especially if you’re driving. It’s all in good fun, and our guides even were prepared with coins for this.
We also witnessed this again while exploring Quito and seeing people block of streets and getting coins later on.
Note: USD is the official currency of Ecuador, so your change is fine!
2. New Year’s Widows (Viudas)
This was the next thing we noticed while exploring a market on New Year’s Eve in the heart of Quito. We noticed a bunch of men came in dressed as ladies with wigs, heels, makeup, and all!
They started asking for money and climbing on stands and dancing. It is quite revelrous to witness in person. They are the New Year’s Widows, or really the widows of the old year.
Throughout the day we witnessed even more men merrymaking, dancing in heels, and asking for coins. They play music as they go too!
Again, the coins are used for beer money for that evening.
Moral of the story: Keep coins on you at all times! It’s all in good fun, but you may get stopped at some point. So just have coins to give away for both of these situations.
3. Año Viejo Dolls (aka Effigies)
The next thing we noticed just walking around the shops in Quito were these paper mache dolls. Some looked like politicians (both local and national as well as international- you can only guess some of the ones they had!).
But they also had action figures and other characters for kids.
These dolls represent the old year, including all the bad things that happened in the past year. So when the clock strikes twelve at night, people will take to the streets and light up their dolls/now effigies and leap over it to wish for a better new year.
We witnessed this in the streets with fathers helping their kids leap over the burning dolls and just having fun leaping over it themselves.
Oh, and during the afternoon and into the evening, there are huge versions of these dolls set up on Av. Río Amazonas. There is also a huge party here with tons of music and dancing all around on New Year’s Eve!
4. Other Important New Year’s Eve Traditions in Ecuador
There are other great traditions that you’ll see in Ecuador while you’re there for New Year’s Eve too like:
- Eating 12 grapes at midnight. You’re meant to have one for each chime of the clock, and you should eat all 12 within the first minute of the New Year!
- People write down their testament about the old year, and it is typically meant to be funny.
- People wear yellow or red underwear. This is said to bring in luck (if yellow) or romance (red) in the New Year.
- Run around the block with your suitcase. This is meant to bring travel in the New Year.
- Fireworks at midnight. This is always just a fun way to ring in the New Year.
New Year’s Eve is a Family Holiday in Ecuador
For a lot of countries, Christmas is the family holiday and New Year’s Eve is for friends. In Ecuador, New Year’s Eve is a family affair as well.
They’ll have dinner together, light their Año Viejo dolls, and just enjoy each other’s company. Dinners can last a long time and the big celebrations obviously happen at midnight.
Again, the beach is popular, but Quito also has a lot of fun celebrations!
Which takes me to how we actually spent New Year’s Eve in Quito!
What We Did During New Year’s Eve in Quito, Ecuador!
We had such a fun day and evening celebrating New Year’s Eve while in Quito, especially as New Year’s Day is actually Chris’s birthday!
So we began the day by visiting Basílica del Voto Nacional as we were already staying in the old city at Vista del Angel.
This was our second full day in Quito, so we saw some of the highlights already like the famous Campania de Jesus Iglesias (the gold church) and the San Francisco Church and Convent on our first day.
We even explored the El Panecillo angel on the top of the hill on our first day as well.
So for New Year’s Eve, we figured we’d check out one more iconic church, and this one looks similar to the famous Notre Dames in France. Only this one has an Ecuadorian twist. That is because the gargoyles here are shaped like animals from Ecuador!
Spot as many unique animals as you can like Galapagos tortoises, blue footed boobies, and more!
After visiting this church, we grabbed an Ecuadorian hot chocolate in Huma Chocolate and Coffee Experience…where we noticed a lot of commotion and music outside. We thought it was just general revelry.
That was until we walked over to the Mercado Central to grab a very important item for New Year’s Eve: grapes!
We picked up snacks and a bunch of grapes to eat at midnight. It was fun to just explore this market which includes areas to grab food and produce.
Pro-tip: Get grapes that are seedless if possible, because we didn’t and it was a challenge to eat them all in a minute. I failed.
It was here where we had our first encounter with the widows. They stormed the market, playing music and dancing in their heels, tossing one of their fellow widows around, and climbing on the stands.
It was chaotic but honestly pretty funny to watch.
After that, we noticed the tax collectors blocking off streets, and then we took an Uber over to Av. Rio Amazonas to see the giant dolls on display.
These guys were huge, and there was so much music and dancing. It is a huge party over there on New Year’s Eve. So if you want to party, that is the place to go!
Just be wary of your belongings as we definitely avoided a few pickpockets and phone snatchers while there.
After exploring and enjoying the festivities, we grabbed dinner at Miskay Restaurante. It’s a place known for having Ecuadorian food, and they even have vegetarian options. It’s also open on New Year’s Eve for dinner, which is great because not a lot of places are open.
Then, we grabbed an Uber back (after finding a spot to meet because the roads around Av. Rio Amazonas were definitely busy!). We went back to our hotel and enjoyed the celebrations from the rooftop bar.
Being on the top of a hill, the views from Vista del Angel were spectacular! We played card games with our friends, watched as people across the street set up their dolls outside, and then witnessed the revelry outside.
Then, at midnight, the whole town really came to life! Fireworks were going off everywhere! People rushed to the stone streets to light their dolls on fire, and they started jumping over them!
Families helped each other leap over the dolls, and there was so much hugging and just overall fun going on!
Thank goodness we didn’t have anywhere to be, because the roads were full of burning effigies and cars barely got through!
We ate our 12 grapes (Chris was the only one of the 4 of us to finish them) and had so much fun seeing how Ecuador rings in a new year!
We then wished Christopher a “Happy Birthday” and quickly went to bed!
PS- Check out our guide to Quito podcast episode!
What to Do in Quito on New Year’s Day
I’ll be honest with you, not a lot is open on New Year’s Day. We ended up just sleeping in, enjoying the steam room and jacuzzi at our hotel, and having dinner there.
New Year’s Day is meant for relaxing/recovering from the day before. A lot of restaurants and attractions aren’t open.
The exceptions are touristy restaurants/cafes as well as hotel restaurants.
And some tour operators do have tours on New Year’s Day as well if you want to do that. Here are some that I’m seeing open on New Year’s Day:
- From Quito: Cotopaxi National Park Full-Day Tour with Hike (9 hours)
- From Quito: Cotopaxi Full-Day Tour with Horseback Riding (8-10 hours)
Again, I’ll be honest, I wouldn’t like to do either of those things after staying out late the night before. But you do you!
Where to Stay in Quito For New Year’s Eve
There are a few places you could stay at during New Year’s Eve in Quito. I’ll discuss them here.
Vista del Angel: This is where we stayed and LOVED it! It’s in the old city, so you can walk to a lot of places, and it’s on a hill overlooking the city. Yes, it’s a hike to get up to it, but the views make it so worth it!
We spent several nights here, and it was perfect for New Year’s Eve particularly because of the rooftop bar. We saw SO much just hanging out there and enjoyed the fireworks at midnight.
Plus, the staff are super nice and even arranged a little room decoration and birthday cake for Christopher for his birthday.
Hilton Colon Quito: This is where we stayed when our Galapagos tour started and where we ended our time in Quito. This hotel is near the National Museum of Ecuador, Parque El Ejido, and La Mariscal Artisan Market.
It’s a great base to stay during your time in Quito, including at New Year’s Eve, as it is near the celebrations Av. Rio Amazonas!
Casa Joaquin Boutique: Also located not far from the action on Av. Rio Amazonas for New Year’s Eve, this budget-friendly boutique hotel is a great spot to ring in the New Year while you celebrate with the locals.
Note: Many hotels in Quito, like those mentioned above (except for the Hilton) may not have AC. Now, this isn’t typically a big issue as Quito doesn’t get super warm, but it’s worth noting.
That is how to spend New Year’s Eve in Quito, including how we enjoyed our time learning about the New Year’s traditions of Ecuador.
I hope you have fun, and Happy New Year!
Want more South America travel tips? Check out these posts!
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- Ultimate Peru Honeymoon Guide
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Kat is the founder and author of the World Wide Honeymoon blog. She has traveled to 43 countries spanning 5 continents to find the most romantic, unique, and fun places for couples to enjoy time together. She creates in-depth itineraries, honeymoon guides, packing lists, and even travel budget guides (Kat’s a former accountant!). Kat has been blogging since 2017, giving honest opinions and tips from her experiences while traveling. Aside from this blog, she runs a podcast with her husband, Chris, called the World Wide Honeymoon Travel Podcast and a travel blog dedicated to France called France Voyager.