Cuenca Historic Centre

UNESCO World Heritage Site: Historic Centre Of Santa Ana De Los Rios De Cuenca (1999). A Planned Inland Spanish Colonial City Of Tiled Roofs, Flower Markets, Churches And River Terraces, Known For Its Panama Hats, A Craft First Woven On The Coast But Traded Through Cuenca. · Cuenca, Azuay

Cuenca is the third city of Ecuador, set at about 2,560 m in the southern Andes, and its historic centre was listed by UNESCO in 1999. It is a planned Spanish colonial town of whitewashed houses, tiled roofs, wrought-iron balconies and churches, built around Parque Calderon and the blue domes of the New Cathedral, with four rivers and green terraces along the Tomebamba. The pace is calmer than Quito or Guayaquil, many foreign retirees live here, and most sights sit within a flat, walkable few blocks. The city is also the centre of the toquilla straw hat trade, and the so-called Panama hat is Ecuadorian, not Panamanian. The honest picture is a gentle two or three day stop rather than a thrill: churches, museums, markets, river walks and good food, with the Cajas paramo and the Inca ruins of Ingapirca as day trips. Nights are cold, rain is common from February to May, and cobbles are hard on the feet. Come for atmosphere, craft and unhurried streets, and give it time. Bring a warm jacket, comfortable shoes and small bills for markets and cafes.

Colonial city in the southern Andes at about 2,560 m, with the blue-domed New Cathedral on Parque Calderon and four rivers crossing the old centre, Cuenca, Azuay, Ecuador

The streets and parks of the centre are open at all hours and FREE. Churches and museums keep their own hours, usually open in the daytime with a lunch break and CLOSED on certain days, often Sunday afternoons or Mondays, so confirm each one. Pumapungo is free but not open every day. Markets run best in the morning. Many shops and restaurants shut on big holidays, and the streets get crowded and loud during the Corpus Christi and November festival weeks.

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