Ecuador · Provincia de Pichincha · Quito
Ponceano, Quito — Area Guide & Where to Stay
The Estadio Rodrigo Paz Delgado stands in Ponceano, a parish of north Quito where Liga Deportiva Universitaria de Quito has played since 1997.
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Where to stay in Ponceano
Where the beds are, and what that means for the visit.
A bed in Ponceano is a bed beside a stadium and a bus terminal. Terminal La Ofelia sits on Avenida Diego de Vásquez and sends the Metrobús-Q trunk buses south along Avenida De la Prensa toward the old centre, which is the practical reason to book this far north. Ponciano Alto is the costlier end.
Its blocks of flats went up after 1995 and carry the parish's highest land values, while the streets around Los Cipreses put Condado Shopping and its weekend traffic within walking distance. The La Ofelia food fair fills an open yard from Friday to Sunday, so rooms on that side wake early.
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Direct booking searches for these neighbourhoods.
Ponciano Bajo
The Estadio Rodrigo Paz Delgado and Terminal La Ofelia sit a few hundred metres apart, so one address covers a Liga Deportiva Universitaria de Quito fixture and the first bus south.Find hotels in Ponciano BajoQuiet residential streetsPonciano Alto
This sector built out into apartment blocks and gated conjuntos after 1995, and what it holds is the Casa de la Justicia rather than any nightlife. Lodging is scarce in this area; reserve in advance.Find hotels in Ponciano AltoMarkets and shoppingLos Cipreses and La Ofelia
Condado Shopping opened here in 2007, and the weekend food fair at La Ofelia brings growers in from the countryside every Friday.Find hotels in Los Cipreses and La OfeliaHotel links are affiliate links: booking through them may earn us a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never affects how places are ranked. How this works
About Ponceano
What are the main landmarks in Ponceano?
Three buildings carry the parish. The Estadio Rodrigo Paz Delgado, known across Quito as the Casa Blanca, stands where Avenida John F. Kennedy meets Gustavo Lemos; it went up between 1995 and 1997 for 16 million dollars to a design by Ricardo Mórtola, and opened on 6 March 1997. Condado Shopping followed in 2007 in the Los Cipreses barrio, 37,000 square metres of high-tech glass and steel.
The Casa de la Justicia arrived in Ponciano Alto in 2011, gathering courts, public defenders, forensic doctors and police units under one roof. The Quito Tenis y Golf Club is not one of them; it lies over the northern line, inside El Condado.
What is the history of Ponceano?
A hacienda here changed hands for 800 pesos. In 1805 Manuela Cañizares, who four years later hosted the meeting that opened Ecuador's fight for independence, bought the estate covering much of what is now Ponceano, land recorded earlier under Gregoria Salazar, and rented it to Pedro Calderón for 151 pesos a year. She sold in 1815.
Josefa Cáceres paid 1,950 pesos for it, and the ground stayed farmland, counted as part of Cotocollao, until the 1960s. Then the Hacienda El Condado was cut into plots of 300 square metres for its huasipungueros, and on 4 May 1977 those settlers were constituted as the barrio San José del Condado.
Where is Ponceano?
Ponceano is one of 32 urban parishes in the Distrito Metropolitano de Quito, in Pichincha, Ecuador, and it answers to the La Delicia zonal administration. Carcelén and El Condado close it to the north, Kennedy and La Concepción to the south, Comité del Pueblo to the east and Cotocollao to the west. The 2010 census counted 54,052 parish dwellers, 52.1 per cent of them women.
Land use is mostly housing. Its commercial core runs between La Ofelia and Los Cipreses, and the ground climbs from Ponciano Bajo, where the stadium sits, to Ponciano Alto.
Common questions
What is the best area to stay in Ponceano?
Ponciano Bajo: Match days and early buses. Ponciano Alto: Quiet residential streets. Los Cipreses and La Ofelia: Markets and shopping.
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Updated October 2026