“Everything went exactly as planned and we came home believing that we had had a good overview of the country, thanks in no small part to the itinerary you mapped out to fill in the blanks after we gave you the three cities that were a must.
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Ecuador’s most attractive colonial city, “Santa Ana de los Cuatro Rios de Cuenca” was founded in 1557 and is a beautiful UNESCO world heritage site. Historic white-washed churches sit alongside mansions and charming townhouses while hand-carved balconies overlook the cobbled streets and leafy plazas.
Dating back 1500 years, Cuenca was built on the ashes of Tomebamba, a magnificent Inca regional capital to rival the likes of Cusco in Peru. At the heart of the Inca town, legend has it that the Pumapungo Temple of the Sun glistened with gold in the afternoon sun, a story that set off many conquistadors in search of the mythical golden city of El Dorado.
Today, Cuenca is a bustling tourist capital awash with charming bars, restaurants and galleries. The beautiful colonial architecture has generated a rich heritage in art and literature and the city is even the birthplace of the Panama hat. Further afield, Cuenca is gateway to Ecuador’s southern Sierra and ringed with spectacular landscapes such as the magnificent lakes and grassland paramo of Cajas National Park to the west.
A colonial gem at the heart of historic Cuenca, the Mansion Alcazar is an elegant turn-of-the-20th-century townhouse that has been lovingly converted into one of the city’s finest boutique hotels....
A stone’s throw from the cathedral and central plaza, the Hotel Santa Lucia is a charming historic townhouse and former governor’s residence at the heart of Cuenca’s UNESCO old town. Constructed in...
“Everything went exactly as planned and we came home believing that we had had a good overview of the country, thanks in no small part to the itinerary you mapped out to fill in the blanks after we gave you the three cities that were a must.
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