Things to do in Cuenca
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FEATURED
Full Day Tour to Inca Ruins of Ingapirca with Lunch
7 hours (Departs Cuenca, Ecuador)
by Viator
In Ecuador, you can get in touch with some of the most intriguing and unbelievable history in the world! Venture from Cuenca to Ingapirca on a guided tour and m…
Not LP reviewed
from USD$44.99 - All things to do
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Tiestos
Though a hair on the pricey side, one reader claimed they're the best steaks in Ecuador. Formerly known as Las Brasas de San Juan, this grill house is lovely, the owners are friendly and you definitely get what you pay for. Pizzas and pastas too.
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Café Eucalyptus
The irreverent Eucalyptus menu proudly declares that it doesn’t serve ‘customs officials, crazy bus drivers, or airline executives.’ For the rest of us, dozens of Cuban, Vietnamese, Spanish and other reliably delicious international dishes are served at cozy tables near roaring fireplaces, and an extensive variety of wines and beers flow from the gorgeous bar. This wonderful restaurant should cure any gringo’s hankering for home, and, thankfully, it still serves guidebook writers.
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Moliendo Café
From Ecuador’s neighbors to the north, the hearty arepas (maize pancake) are a specialty here. Topped with anything from beans and cheese to slow-cooked pork, they go well with cold beer or a strong Juan Valdez. Whether you get a little or a lot, it’s essentially old-fashioned comfort food, Colombian-style.
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Barranco
This old hat factory has an interesting museum where you can see how panamas were made over the years and witness them being made in the present. Upstairs there’s a nice café and a cheesy exhibit where you can dress up as a chola cuencana – hat, skirt and all. Plenty of hats are for sale, and you can even custom order a panama (especially important if you have a big head).
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Mamá Kinua Cultural Center
A community tourism project offering tours and homestays in nearby indigenous communities ($48 per person per night; two persons minimum). You can participate in all kinds of activities, including folkloric music, cooking, farming, medicinal plant demonstrations, and cheese-making. All revenue goes to a community health network. No English is spoken.
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El Maíz
Billing itself as purveyor of the ‘new Ecuadorian cuisine,’ El Maíz takes traditional ingredients like quinoa and chochos (marinated lupine beans) and turns them into modern and delicious fusion dishes. This restaurant feels more upmarket than its prices suggest.
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La Barraca
Casual atmosphere and great music complement excellent snacks (guacamole and chips, popcorn and the like), which all make perfect bedmates with an ice-cold beer. The 'international' main courses, however, leave plenty to be desired.
reviewed
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Full Day Tour to Inca Ruins of Ingapirca with Lunch
7 hours (Departs Cuenca, Ecuador)
by Viator
In Ecuador, you can get in touch with some of the most intriguing and unbelievable history in the world! Venture from Cuenca to Ingapirca on a guided tour and m…
Not LP reviewed
from USD$44.99 -
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Tutto Freddo
Across from the main plaza, this is likely the best (and definitely the most popular) spot in town for a mammoth banana split or a towering milkshake. And the upstairs booths are great.
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Café Austria
Every caffeinated drink known to humankind, dainty Austrian cakes, pressed sandwiches and goulash make for a great menu at this Austrian-owned café. English-language newspapers are always available.
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Río Tomebamba & Calle Larga
The swift, rock-strewn Río Tomebamba is attractively lined with old colonial buildings that tower above the grassy riverside. The buildings themselves open onto the street of Calle Larga, which runs parallel to - and directly above - the river. From Calle Larga, three attractive stone stairways lead down to Avenida 3 de Noviembre, which follows the river's northern bank and makes for a pleasant walk. The largest staircase, at Hermano Miguel, is known as La Escalinata.
One of the river's landmark features is the Puente Roto (Broken Bridge), the remaining third of an old stone bridge that once spanned the river.
Inside one of Calle Larga's historical buildings, the Museo …
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Churches
Two blocks east of Plaza de San Sebastián stands the bare, 19th-century Church of San Cenáculo (cnr Bolívar & Montalvo). One block north of the church is Gran Colombia, the main handicraft and shopping street in Cuenca. The street's landmark building is the Church of Santo Domingo (cnr Gran Colombia & Padre Aguirre), which has some fine carved wooden doors and colonial paintings inside. Although it looks older, the church was built in the early 20th-century.
Although its doors are rarely open to the public, the Church of El Carmen de la Asunción (Mariscal Sucre near Padre Aguirre), founded in 1682, is one of Cuenca's prettiest sights, thanks to the colorful flower mark…
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Hat Shopping
Cuenca is the center of the panama hat industry and one of the best places to buy straw hats. Cuenca's hat tradition - and its haberdasheries - can be roughly divided into two types: hats for export (panama hats) and hats made for and used by local indigenous people.
Visit one of Cuenca's traditional hatters on Tarqui and you'll see hundreds of refurbished white straw hats, tagged for their owners and hanging everywhere. They usually have a few top-quality hats for sale, too. Other hat shops are tourist oriented.
Check out: Casa del Sombrero Alberto Pulla, Sombreros Don Migui (Tarqui near Calle Larga), Barranco, Homero Ortega P & Hijos, and La Paja Toquilla, This small sto…
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Craft Stores & Stalls
There are several good craft stores along Gran Colombia and on the blocks just north of Parque Calderón. The best place for a serious spree, however, is the Casa de la Mujer , which houses over 100 craft stalls and makes for hours of shopping fun.
The Thursday Plaza Rotary market (Mariscal Lamar & Hermano Miguel) is mainly for locals (which means pigs and polyester, fruit and furniture), but there are a few craft stalls. You're best off heading to the nearby craft market, which has an odd but interesting combination of basketry, ceramics, iron-work, kitchen utensils, bright plastic animals, gaudy religious paraphernalia and guinea pig roasters (great gift for mom, but to…
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Museo Pumapungo
Cuenca’s most important museum, Museo Pumapungo has an entire floor of colorfully animated dioramas displaying traditional costumes of Ecuador’s diverse indigenous cultures, including Afro-Ecuadorians from Esmeraldas province, the cowboy-like montubios (coastal farmers) of the western lowlands, several rainforest groups and all the major highland groups. The finale features five rare and eerie tzantza (shrunken heads) from the Shuar culture of the southern Oriente.
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Museo de las Conceptas
This religious museum in the Convent of the Immaculate Conception, founded in 1599, offers a glimpse into centuries-old customs of the cloistered nuns who live here. You can’t actually see the nuns – they’re cloistered, after all – but you can see their primitive bread-making equipment and dioramas of their stark cells, as well as some important religious art. Strangely enough, this old-fashioned nunnery has wi-fi (but only for visitors!).
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Catedral de la Inmaculada Concepción
Parque Calderón is the city's main plaza, dominated by the Catedral de la Inmaculada Concepción, the 'new cathedral,' whose giant sky-blue domes are visible mainly from the rear of the church. Inside, the marbled interior is rather stark. Construction began in 1885, and the cathedral was supposed to be much taller than it is - an error in design meant that the intended bell towers could not be supported by the building.
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Markets
Thursday is the main market day and there's a smaller market on Saturday. The two main market areas are Plaza San Francisco and Plaza Rotary. The San Francisco market is mainly for locals, though there's a row of stalls on the north side with weavings and sweaters from Otavalo. The market at Plaza Rotary is mainly fruits and vegetables. Both markets are lively and interesting, and continue on a smaller scale throughout the week.
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Plaza de San Sebastián
Marking the western edge of the historical center, the quiet Plaza de San Sebastián is anchored by the 19th-century Church of San Sebastián. In 1739, when this plaza was still used for bullfights, it was a mob of cuencanos (folks from Cuenca) – not the bull – who mauled a member of La Condamine’s geodesic expedition here, apparently because of an affair with a local woman.
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Ecotrek
Ecotrek is recommended for trekking, mountaineering (rock and ice) and Amazon travel - especially to the southern Oriente. It also goes to the Galápagos.
Local tour operators offer day trips to Ingapirca, Parque Nacional Cajas, nearby villages and markets, and other local attractions. Note that entrance fees are generally not included in many tours - ask when you book.
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El Sagrario
This stark-white 'old cathedral' goes almost unnoticed thanks to the stunning Catedral de la Inmaculada Concepción nearby. Construction began in 1557, the year Cuenca was founded. In 1739, it was used as a triangulation point by La Condamine's expedition to measure the shape of the earth. More recently, it was renovated for the 1985 visit of Pope John Paul II to Ecuador.
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Plaza de San Francisco Market
The Plaza de San Francisco Market has an interesting combination of basketry, ceramics, ironwork, wooden utensils, plastic trinkets, gaudy religious paraphernalia and guinea pig roasters (great gift for mom, but tough to get home). It also has a large contingent of otavaleños (people from Otavalo) selling sweaters and weavings on its north side.
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Mirador de Turi
For a lovely view of Cuenca, take a taxi south of town along Avenida Solano to the stark white Church of Turi, perched high on a hillside in the southern suburb of Turi. The views are especially splendid on the occasional evenings (usually around holidays) when all of the churches' steeples and domes are lit throughout town. It's about 4km from the center.
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Eduardo Vega
Just below the Mirador de Turi is the home, workshop and studio of Eduardo Vega, Ecuador’s most important ceramic artist. His colorful terracotta and enamel murals grace walls all over Cuenca and the rest of Ecuador. Sculpture, vases and plates are for sale, and the affable artist is often hanging around and ready to chat.
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