The Río Chone runs along the western edge of the city, and the waterfront area — called the malecón — provides the most scenic point in an otherwise inland-focused town. In the late afternoons, the riverside fills with locals walking, children playing, and vendors selling snacks. The view west toward the widening river and the distant coastal hills is the best light Chone offers at any time of day.
The river here is wide and brown, moving slowly toward the mangrove estuary 30 km downstream. Fishermen moor their small wooden boats along the bank, and early mornings bring a brief bustle of activity as nets are prepared and the night's catch is sorted. The waterfront is also the practical starting point for arrangements to travel downriver — ask among the fishermen about boat transport toward Bahía de Caráquez, a route that passes through the mangrove zone and can substitute for taking the road.
The malecón is quiet in a way that provincial Ecuadorian cities often are — pleasant rather than spectacular, and worth an hour at sunset.