Illa Experience Hotel

Illa Experience is an intimate ten-room design boutique in San Marcos, Quito's oldest bohemian quarter — a renovated colonial manor in the Old Town but off the main bustle, where each of three floors evokes a different era, from Colonial to Contemporary. Every room is individually designed and unique, with local art, church-sourced antiques, heated floors and big marble tubs. Restaurant Ines runs up to a thirteen-course Ecuadorian tasting menu, a rooftop bar looks over the Old Town and the Panecillo hill, and a wine cellar sits below the manor. A private guests-only spa adds a jacuzzi, hydrotherapy and hot-stone treatments, with a gym, a reading room and a courtyard reflecting pool that mirrors the stars at night. Named Best Luxury Hotel in South America in 2023, it stands a five-minute walk from Quito's three main plazas, around an hour from the airport, on a bed-and-breakfast base — made for couples and design-and-art travellers who want the intimate, creative side of the Old Town. Quito was the first city in the world inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage site, in 1978, and keeps the best-preserved historic centre in Latin America; from San Marcos the gold-leaf baroque of La Compania, the soaring Basilica del Voto Nacional and the winged Virgin on the Panecillo hill are all within an easy walk or short drive.