The best-preserved historic center in Latin America and the very first place UNESCO declared a World Heritage Site, in 1978. Quito greets you with gold-clad baroque churches —La Compañía leaves you breathless—, colonial squares and a daily bustle that's no stage set: it's real life, at 2,850 meters of altitude, surrounded by volcanoes. You climb a dome, watch the red rooftops spread all the way to the mountains and understand why they call it the Face of God.