Sites of Interest: New Town

New Town Quito is modern and does not possess the beauty of the colonial section. It's home to a large selection of hotels, restaurants, money-exchange houses and upscale souvenir shops. Also in the New Town is the Casa de la Cultura, a must-see attraction. It contains the Banco Central archaeological museum, an attached art museum, a vast musical-instrument museum, an indigenous-clothing museum and a modern-art museum. It has an amazing display of works produced by Inca goldsmiths, as well as lots of ancient pottery and detailed dioramas of life in Ecuador's pre-Columbian civilizations. Tourists keep this part of Quito in business, supporting dozens of hotels and restaurants for every budget, along with enough souvenir shops, tour companies, and banks for two cities.

Avenida Amazonas

If you're going to bump into anyone you know in Quito, it'll be along New Town's wide commercial artery. Banks, shops, offices, travel agencies, and restaurants cluster like grapes on a vine, and the sidewalk cafes are the place to be seen with a cold beer and a pizza. Andean bands play occasionally in the plaza at Jorge Washington.

Abya Yala

This small complex, contains a bookstore with the city's best selection of works on the indigenous groups of Ecuador. Shops downstairs sell snacks, crafts, and natural medicines. The 2nd floor is taken up by the excellent Museo Amazonico. The obligatory guided tour will take you past stuffed jungle animals, stunning Cofan feather headdresses, and real Shuar tsantsas (shrunken heads). The pottery depicting Lowland Quechua gods, each with its accompanying myth, are particularly interesting, as are photos of oil exploration and its environmental costs.

Museo Arte Arqueologia

Although seldom visited, this collection of pre-Columbian ceramics is excellent and worth a stop. Hundreds of items on display include many rare works from the Oriente. Upstairs are changing art displays.

Centro de Exposiciones y Ferias Artesanales (CEFA)

Even without explanations to accompany the pieces, the collection of this small artisan museum merits a quick visit. Weavings, ceremonial costumes and masks, and musical instruments (including a marimba) are all original.

Vivarium/Serpentarium

Fans of creepy-crawlies will get their fill with more than 100 live reptiles and amphibians kept here. The collection includes poisonous and constrictor snakes from the Orient.

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