Cuenca: Ecuador's most liveable city and why it might be the best base for your trip

Cuenca is the kind of city that earns loyalty slowly. Arrive by bus through the mountain pass and you'll descend into a colonial centre laid out with Castilian precision, a river running along its southern edge, blue-domed cathedral towers visible from every vantage point. The city moves differently from Quito — smaller, quieter, more on foot — and after a few days it becomes difficult to leave.

At 2,550 metres above sea level in the southern Andes, Cuenca sits in the Tomebamba river valley between four rivers: the Tomebamba, Yanuncay, Tarqui and Machángara. The valley gives it a mild climate — neither the cold dampness of high-altitude Quito nor the heat of the coast. Average temperatures hover between 12°C and 18°C year-round. The locals call it a city of eternal spring, which is an exaggeration, but a forgivable one.

In 1999, UNESCO designated Cuenca’s historic centre a World Heritage Site, recognising the quality of its Spanish colonial architecture and its 16th-century urban plan. It’s one of the best-preserved colonial centres in South America. The distinction is deserved, though what the UNESCO designation doesn’t capture is the layering underneath: before the Spanish grid, the Inca city of Tomebamba. Before Tomebamba, the Cañari civilisation. The ground under Cuenca’s cobblestones holds more than three thousand years of continuous occupation.

The Tomebamba: reading the riverbank

The Río Tomebamba runs along the southern edge of the historic centre, and its banks — El Barranco — are one of Cuenca’s defining spaces. Walking the Barranco gives you one of the best views of the colonial architecture rising above the river, particularly in late afternoon light when the stone catches the sun.

But the Tomebamba is more than scenic. Look at the stone walls visible in the riverbank, particularly near Pumapungo (see below): these are Inca masonry foundations, part of the remains of Tomebamba, the Inca city that was one of the most important in the empire outside Cusco. The Inca emperor Huayna Capac was born here and reportedly considered Tomebamba a rival to Cusco in importance. The Spanish built their colonial grid directly on top of the Inca city, as they did throughout the Andes, and the Tomebamba river walls are one of the places where that superimposition is most visible.

The two cathedrals and what they tell you

Cuenca has two cathedrals on its main square (Parque Calderón), and the contrast between them is revealing.

Pumapungo: the Inca ruins almost nobody visits

The reason Pumapungo is overlooked is partly its location at the edge of the tourist zone and partly that it requires some patience — the ruins don’t announce themselves dramatically. But the combination of outdoor archaeological remains, a well-curated ethnographic museum, and a botanical garden planted with traditional Andean crops makes it easily worth two hours.

• 🎟Entrance Free
• ⏱Time needed 1.5–2 hours
• 📍Location Calle Larga and Huayna Cápac, eastern edge of centre
• 🗓Hours Tuesday–Sunday, 8am–5:30pm

The Panama hat is from Cuenca

This is one of those historical corrections that, once known, you cannot unknow. The hat called a Panama hat — woven from toquilla straw, associated with tropical elegance, famously worn by Teddy Roosevelt at the Panama Canal construction site — is not from Panama. It was made in Ecuador, most of it in and around Cuenca and the coastal town of Montecristi.

The name came from geography of distribution, not manufacture. In the 19th century, the hats were exported through Panama, which was the main transit point for goods moving between South America and North America and Europe. Buyers in the north encountered them in Panama and called them what they saw. The association stuck.

The finest toquilla straw hats are still made in Montecristi (on the coast) and are among the most technically demanding textile products in the world. A superfino Montecristi hat — woven so tightly that the weave is invisible to the naked eye and can hold water — takes a master weaver three to six months to complete and costs several thousand dollars. What you find in Cuenca’s markets are usually more accessible grades: still handmade, still genuine, but woven in days rather than months.

Cuenca also produces ikat textiles (paño macana), woven on backstrap looms by artisans in nearby communities, and distinctive blue-and-white ceramics. The crafts market on Plaza de San Francisco is the best single location to see all of these together.

Day trip: El Cajas

Thirty kilometres west of Cuenca, El Cajas National Park sits at 3,800–4,500 metres above sea level. The landscape is páramo — the high-altitude Andean grassland ecosystem that holds an extraordinary concentration of water and biodiversity despite appearing, at first glance, bleak. El Cajas contains over 3,000 lakes and lagoons, formed in glacial cirques left by the retreat of Pleistocene glaciers. It is one of the most spectacular high-altitude landscapes in South America and receives a fraction of the visitors of comparable sites in Peru.

• 📍Distance from Cuenca 30 km west · ~45 min by bus or taxi
• 🏔Altitude range 3,800–4,500 m
• 💰Entrance $2 per person
• ⏱Day hike Half-day or full day · multiple marked trails
• ⚠Weather Unpredictable — bring waterproof layers even on sunny mornings

The park is a reservoir for Cuenca’s drinking water, which partly explains why it’s been protected. The lakes hold rainbow trout (introduced, controversial among ecologists, delicious in the park restaurant). The birdlife includes Andean condors, which are visible on clear mornings near the main trailheads.

The bus from Cuenca to the park entrance costs around $1 and departs from the main terminal. Taxis charge $15–20 one way.

The expat question

Cuenca has one of the largest expat communities in Latin America relative to city size — primarily retired North Americans and Europeans who arrived after the city featured prominently in international “best places to retire” lists in the 2010s. The presence of this community is visible: there are English-language bookshops, American-style cafes, and real estate agencies targeting foreigners.

What does this signal to a traveller? Several things. First, the city is genuinely liveable — the expats are responding to real qualities of climate, safety, cost and urban amenity. Second, some parts of the city centre have adjusted toward foreign tastes and prices in ways that make them slightly less interesting. Third, the core of Cuenca — the historic centre, the markets, the barrio El Vado, the university district — remains entirely its own thing, unaffected by the expat layer.

The complete Far Guides Ecuador guide has a dedicated section on Cuenca and the southern highlands, including the Ingapirca Inca ruins, the artisan communities of Chordeleg and Gualaceo, and a detailed day-by-day itinerary for four days in the region.