Bandidos del Paramo sits on Whymper in La Floresta, the creative neighbourhood that has become Quito's most interesting place to drink. The bar built its name on gin and tonics that lean on Ecuadorian botanicals, and it shares a family with the Bandido beer label.
Who would love it: drinkers who want a careful gin and tonic in a relaxed room rather than a club. Who would hate it: anyone after a big late-night dance floor, since this is a neighbourhood bar that trades on conversation.
La Floresta runs on cobbled streets, small galleries and a slow, local energy, and Bandidos fits it. The room is unfussy and warm, the kind of place where the bartender will talk you through what is in the glass. House beers from the wider Bandido project sit on the list next to the gin, so a table can mix a beer drinker and a gin drinker without anyone settling.
Order a gin and tonic and ask which Ecuadorian botanicals are in the build, since that is the house signature and the reason to come. A round of the in-house beer makes a good second act. Nan Magazine traces the bar back to the same team behind Bandido Brewing, and the Whymper room shows up across Quito nightlife guides as a La Floresta fixture.
Best time to go is the early-to-mid evening from Tuesday to Saturday, when La Floresta is alive but unhurried. It works well as a first or second stop on a night that drifts between the neighbourhood's bars and small restaurants. Hours can shift, so a quick check before you set out saves a walk.
Pair it with the best cocktail bars we track, then keep the night going across the best bars in Quito or up to Cherusker for German lagers in nearby La Mariscal.
