Cuenca and the Southern Highlands
We’ve compiled the best of the best in Cuenca and the Southern Highlands - browse our top choices for the top things to see or do during your stay.
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1. Museo del Monasterio de la Concepción
Museum/GalleryCuenca's wealthy Ordóñez family donated its spacious home to the Catholic Church in 1599, whereupon it became the cloistered convent of the Order of the Immaculate Conception, or the Conceptas. Four centuries later, part of this well-preserved edifice houses the Museum of the Monastery of the Conception, which contains an impressive collection of religious art from the 16th to the 19th centuries. This is a must-see stop for an understanding of colonial art, all of which focused on religion, and none of which was ever signed by the artist. (Most pieces here are labeled "anónimo".) The well-informed guides—take a tour conducted in Spanish, English, or French—explain that service to God was deemed more important than any artistic recognition. (That didn't stop some artists from incorporating their own faces in their works.) Most of the collection was contributed by families whose daughters entered the convent. Half the building is still inaccessible, the cloistered nuns emerging only after closing to clean the museum. No one except the museum director has face-to-face contact with them.
Hermano Miguel 6–33, between Juan Jaramillo and Presidente Córdova, Cuenca, Azuay, 010150, Ecuador07-283–0625Sight Details
Rate Includes: $2.50 -
2. Carmen de la Asunción
The ornate carvings surrounding the doorway of this diminutive chapel are a good example of Spanish baroque design. The interior is typically ostentatious—especially noteworthy is the gilded pulpit encrusted with tiny mirrors. Alas, the church keeps very irregular hours and may not be open when you pass by.
Mariscal Sucre at Padre Aguirre, Cuenca, Azuay, 010150, Ecuador -
3. Catedral de la Inmaculada
Started in 1886 and finished more than 80 years later, the city's immense Romanesque cathedral can hold more than 9,000 worshippers. (Locals refer to the building as the Catedral Nueva (new cathedral); it replaced the Sagrario across the plaza as the seat of the archdiocese of Cuenca.) The interior arches tower more than 100 feet high, and light that enters through the stained-glass windows casts a golden glow over the thick brick walls and Italian marble floors. The impressive pillars are Ecuadoran marble, and the choir chairs are hand-carved from native wood.
Cuenca, Azuay, 010150, Ecuador07-284–2097Sight Details
Rate Includes: Daily 6:30–4:30 -
4. Catedral Vieja
Also called El Sagrario, this lovely church, the "Old Cathedral," was begun in 1557, the year the city was founded, and served as the headquarters of its archdiocese until a new cathedral on the opposite side of the park was completed in the 1960s. The whitewashed outside gleams after a complete restoration; the inside serves as a museum of religious art.
Sucre at Luis Cordero, Cuenca, Azuay, 010150, Ecuador04-283–4636Sight Details
Rate Includes: $2, Weekdays 9–1 and 2–6, weekends 10–1 -
5. Iglesia de San Francisco
Built in the 1920s, the Church of St. Francis is famous for its soaring steeple and intricately carved, gold-drenched main altar, which contrasts nicely with its unassuming interior. The church keeps very limited hours.
Av. Gran Colombia at Padre Aguirre, Cuenca, Azuay, 010150, EcuadorSight Details
Rate Includes: Mon.–Wed. 7:30–8:15, Thurs.–Sat. 6:30–7:15, Sun. 7:30–9:30 and 4–5 -
Recommended Fodor’s Video
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6. Museo de Arte Moderno
The Museum of Modern Art, housed in a restored convent, features interesting rotating exhibitions of works by Ecuadoran and other Latin American artists.
Sucre 1578, Cuenca, Azuay, 010150, Ecuador07-283–1027Sight Details
Rate Includes: Free, Weekdays 9–1 and 3–6, weekends 9–1 -
7. Museo Pumapungo
Museum/GalleryEcuador's Central Bank is a vast repository of art and artifacts, which it displays in museums around the country. This concrete-and-glass structure is its Cuenca installation. Among the archaeological treasures are ceramics and jewelry from the pre-Incan Cañari culture. The museum also contains an impressive collection of colonial and postcolonial art. On the river behind the museum is a small archaeological site where Incan ruins are being excavated.
Larga at Av. Huayna–Capac, Cuenca, Azuay, 010150, Ecuador07-283–1255Sight Details
Rate Includes: $3 -
8. Parque Abdón Calderón
Surrounded by beautiful colonial buildings, Cuenca's central square is one of the loveliest in South America. Manicured trees tower over men discussing politics, grandmothers walking arm in arm, and children running to and fro. The park is dominated by the pale rose Catedral de la Inmaculada towering over its western edge.
Ecuador -
9. Plaza de San Francisco
The noisy plaza is filled with vendors hawking a variety of bric-a-brac. Under the northern colonnade, merchants sell more enticing wares—colorful skirts, hand-knit sweaters, and intricate hangings.
Ecuador -
10. Turi
For a fantastic view of Cuenca by night or day, head up the mountain to the tiny village of Turi. Stroll along Turi's main street past the mural-covered church, and you'll soon find yourself in rolling hills where stucco farmhouses punctuate cornfields and potato patches. Up here there's also a workshop of Eduardo Vega, a well-known artist, where you'll see his ceramics and paintings. A taxi is the best way to get here, but make sure to ask the driver to wait for you.
Ecuador
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