Cayambe is a medium-sized Andean city sitting right at the equator, at the foot of the snow-capped Volcán Cayambe — the highest point on the equatorial line anywhere in the world. Most visitors pass through on the highway between Quito and Otavalo, but the town rewards a stop. Cayambe is the center of Ecuador's flower-growing industry and famous across the country for its bizcochos — crumbly butter biscuits sold warm from bakeries along the main road, best eaten with a block of fresh cheese and a cup of hot chocolate. The Fábrica de Bizcochos San Pedro is one of the best places to try them.
The surrounding countryside is striking: green dairy farms climb the slopes of the volcano, and the Quitsato Sundial seven kilometres south of town marks the precise equatorial line with a 54-metre circular platform — the only major equatorial monument in the world guaranteed to be exactly at 0°00'00" latitude. From here you can also arrange treks into the Cayambe-Coca Ecological Reserve, one of Ecuador's most biodiverse protected areas. Just south of town, Hacienda Guachalá — considered the oldest hacienda in Ecuador — is worth a stop for lunch and a look at colonial-era highland architecture.