Experience the best of Guayaquil

Guayaquil sits on the estuary of the Guayas River on the Pacific side of Ecuador. The Malecón 2000, a long riverside promenade, runs past gardens, museums, a clock tower and a viewing wheel. At the northern end, the Las Peñas quarter climbs Cerro Santa Ana, its coloured wooden houses lining a stairway of more than 400 steps that ends at a lighthouse and chapel.

Parque Seminario, known as the Iguana Park, is a downtown square where green iguanas roam beneath the trees beside the cathedral. The Historical Park re-creates the old rural life of the coast, Isla Santay offers a boardwalk and birdlife on a river island, and the Churute mangroves form a nature reserve. Flights to the Galápagos Islands leave from the city's airport.

Ceviche here is made with shrimp, served with popcorn and plantain chips, and encebollado, a fish and onion soup eaten at breakfast, is the city's favourite cure for a late night. Bolón de verde, a ball of green plantain, and seco de chivo, goat stew, are coastal staples, and cacao grown nearby supplies the chocolate. The rainy season runs from January to April.