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Tips & Traps
Insider advice from Local Friends and travelers. What to do, and what to avoid, city by city.
- TipA place or a move worth it
- TrapWhat to avoid, and how
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Insider advice from Local Friends and travelers. What to do, and what to avoid, city by city.
Join RALF to share your own tips and traps
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Plan a Cajas day with a margin for closures. Visitors must register at the Toreadora or Soldados control point with their route, group size and expected time inside. ETAPA, which runs the park, has restricted access at short notice after forest fires, as in November 2024 when visitors were asked to stay around the…
Hotel Santa Lucía fills a colonial house dated 1859 in the historic center, about two minutes on foot from Parque Calderón and the cathedrals. Rooms are arranged around a central courtyard that also serves as the restaurant, so breakfast happens under the old arcades. Staying here puts markets, museums and the river…
Deportivo Cuenca plays its home games at Estadio Alejandro Serrano Aguilar, a short distance south of the old town. Seats are split into general, preferencia, tribuna and palco areas, and physical tickets are sold at the club offices before the match, with online sales available for some games. Check the fixture list…
Cuenca marks its founding on April 12 with a smaller, more local program than the November independence fiestas. Expect student parades, a rural parishes fair on Avenida 12 de Abril, exhibitions, dances, concerts and a solemn city council session. When the date falls on a weekend the local holiday moves to the Monday…
Gualaceo is the home of the macana, a fine handwoven cloth made with the ikat technique, mostly by artisans from Bullcay and Bullzhún, and long part of the cuencana dress. Cheaper industrial copies compete with it, and a formal origin designation that would certify real pieces was still being sought in late 2024…
At the Todosantos complex on Calle Larga, narrow wooden stairs lead up to a small dome with a 360 degree view of Cuenca, the Tomebamba and the mountains around. On the way up you can ring the bells that call to Mass. The space is tiny and the stairs are steep, so go in a quiet slot, travel light and let others take…
The Remigio Crespo Toral museum is a restored brick house on Calle Larga that belonged to a poet and public figure and opened as a permanent museum in 2017. Rooms hold period furniture, old photographs, colonial objects and archaeological pieces from Azuay, and the back of the house overlooks gardens and the…
CIDAP, the Interamerican Center for Crafts and Popular Arts, runs a free museum of colorful textiles, ceramics, festival masks and handmade pieces from artisans across Latin America. It sits beside the Paseo 3 de Noviembre on the Tomebamba, an easy walk from the old town. It opens Monday to Saturday and is closed on…
The Cuenca tram does not take cash on board. Buy a single ticket from the machine at the stop, or a personalized card at the terminal, the El Arenal station or the airport if you stay several days. Validate it at the reader before boarding and check that the balance went down after the beep. Inspectors do check and…
Inside the Todosantos complex on Calle Larga, the Santo Pan bakery still bakes daily in a wood-fired oven dating from 1820, described as the oldest in Cuenca. Buy a loaf or a pastry, then pair it with the specialty coffee sold in the complex or an Agua de Todosantos made with ingredients from its own garden. It sits…
Take the stairs to the second floor of Mercado 10 de Agosto, where a row of stalls sells hornado, pork roasted for five or six hours, mostly in wood-fired ovens. The plate comes with mote, llapingachos, salad and a spicy ají sauce. Come for a late breakfast or an early lunch, since the stalls work every day of the…
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