Machachi is located to the south of the capital of Ecuador, Quito.

It is a city surrounded by the volcanos Atacazo, Corazon, Rumiñahui, Illinizas Peaks, Viudita Hill, Pasochoa, and Sincholagua, and owns part of the Cotopaxi volcano, a great active volcano which measures 5,897 m (19,347 ft) in altitude.

In the Panzaleo language, it means great active land.

Machachi is the cradle of many slopes and the same ground is a perennial thermal and mineral water outcrop.

In the fertile valleys of San Pedro are about 22 sources of chemicals which have theurapeutical properties.