Guayaquil Highlights Tour: Iguana Park, Malecon 2000 & Las Peñas

4.99

(137 reviews)

What’s the experience like?

The first thing I heard was a rustle—like leaves shifting—but it turned out to be an iguana scuttling right past my shoe in Seminario Park. Our guide, Carla, grinned and handed me a few leaves (“they love these,” she said). I’d never been this close to so many iguanas just lounging around people, blinking slow and lazy under the trees. There was this mix of city noise—car horns, someone selling ice cream—and the weird calm of reptiles sunbathing. It felt oddly peaceful.

We wandered over to Administration Square next. The Mayor’s Office looked grander than I expected—white columns, a bit faded but proud. Carla pointed out statues of local heroes (I forgot half the names already), but what stuck with me was how people used the benches for quick lunches or quiet phone calls. The Guayaquil Cathedral was just around the corner—tall stained glass windows catching bits of sunlight that made colored patterns on the floor. It smelled faintly of incense inside, cool and echoey compared to the sticky heat outside.

I have to admit, I didn’t know about the Moorish Tower before this day trip in Guayaquil. Its clock chimed while we stood nearby, and Carla explained how it’s become a city symbol—she told us her grandfather used to set his watch by it every morning. Then we hit Malecon 2000: suddenly there’s space to breathe, river breeze cutting through the humidity. Kids ran ahead toward those big statues at Hemicycle of the Rotonda; couples leaned on railings watching boats drift by. You can smell fried plantains from food carts mixed with river air—it’s a strange combo but somehow works.

Las Peñas was last—a climb up uneven steps past blue and yellow houses where artists painted with doors open wide. My legs complained a bit (it’s steeper than it looks), but every turn gave another view over Guayaquil and the river curling away below. We stopped for cold drinks at a tiny café; I tried saying “gracias” like our guide did and got a friendly laugh from the owner. Still think about that view from Santa Ana Hill—late afternoon light turning everything gold for a minute or two before we headed back down.