Riobamba

The land around Riobamba belonged to the Puruhá nation, who fiercely resisted the Inca advance in the late 15th century. The Inca Huayna Capac made peace through an alliance, marrying the princess Paccha; by tradition their son was Atahualpa, the last Inca ruler. After the Spanish conquest, Diego de Almagro founded the city on 15 August 1534 on the plains of San Miguel, near Lake Colta, and it is considered the first city established in what is now Ecuador. Almagro also founded the small church of La Balbanera nearby, said to be the oldest in the country.

The colonial city became part of the Audiencia of Quito in 1563. In 1797 an earthquake destroyed it completely. The survivors moved to the plain of Tapi, 14 km away, and built a new planned city, which still keeps much of its colonial-era architecture; the cathedral was rebuilt from the remains of the old one between 1810 and 1835.

Riobamba first declared independence on 11 November 1820, but was retaken by royalist forces, and became part of Gran Colombia in 1822. In the first half of the 20th century the city grew again to become, for a time, the third city of the country. In November 2002 explosions at an army munitions depot killed seven people and wounded hundreds.

Riobamba's culture mixes a proud colonial city with the Indigenous Puruhá heritage of its countryside, where Kichwa-speaking communities keep their own dress and markets. The city has produced scholars and artists since the 18th century, among them the scientist and geographer Pedro Vicente Maldonado and the Jesuit historian Juan de Velasco. Parque Maldonado, facing the cathedral, is the main square.

The main celebration is the Fiesta del Niño Rey de Reyes, honouring the Christ Child as King of Kings, which begins in December and ends on 6 January, the Epiphany. Riobamba's Independence Day on 21 April is the main civic holiday. Cockfights are held during festivities and at weekends at the Gallera San Francisco, and the Monumental Raúl Dávalos bullring, opened in 1952 with room for 13,000 people, has hosted corridas since; the 2011 national referendum banned killing the bull.

The city calls itself the trekking and mountaineering capital of Ecuador. It is the base for climbs of Chimborazo, Carihuairazo, Sangay and El Altar, and mountain biking is popular. Football follows Centro Deportivo Olmedo at the Estadio Olímpico.

According to the 2022 census, the city had about 177,000 people, and more than 370,000 live in the wider urban area. It is one of the largest cities in the central highlands and the main commercial centre of Chimborazo province.

The economy rests on agriculture in the surrounding countryside and on cattle ranching, for which Riobamba is an important trading centre. Its markets are busy every day — the city has seven, three of them in the centre — and Indigenous artisans sell handwoven textiles, crafts and leather goods. Several universities, among them the Universidad Nacional de Chimborazo and the Escuela Superior Politécnica de Chimborazo, bring a large student population.

Life follows a highland rhythm: markets early, lunch as the main meal, cool evenings. Parks such as Maldonado, Sucre and 21 de Abril are the city's meeting places, and in the evening young people head for the bars between the Parque Infantil and the old railway station. Regular passenger trains no longer run to the city: all of Ecuador's railway services were suspended in 2020, and as of 2026 only two tourist routes were listed as operating, among them the Devil's Nose line between Alausí and Sibambe.

Riobamba's speciality is hornado, whole roast pork. It is carved at market stalls in La Merced and the city's other markets and served with mote hominy and llapingachos, fried potato-and-cheese patties. Fritada, pork simmered and then fried in its own fat, is close behind.

The province shares the wider highland diet of potatoes, maize and beans. Locro de papa, a thick potato soup with cheese, is everyday food, and cuy, guinea pig, appears in local dishes such as ají de cuy. The almuerzo set lunch is the everyday meal for workers and students, and the daily markets, with their stalls of vegetables, fruit, meat and dairy from the surrounding farms, are where most households shop.

The city also has a fondness for fried chicken, with many places serving it, some of them on Avenida Daniel León Borja near Parque Guayaquil. On cold evenings, canelazo — sugarcane spirit with hot cinnamon water, often with naranjilla juice — is the warming drink of the highlands.