Cuenca With Kids

Cuenca with kids turned out to be one of the easiest weeks of family travel we have had. It is a colonial city high in the Ecuadorian Andes where the weather stays mild, a proper lunch costs a couple of dollars, and the people are so kind that strangers kept stopping us in the park to ask where we had moved from. Here is everything we loved about it, and everything we learned about visiting Cuenca with kids.

All the Reasons We Loved Cuenca

Cuenca Ecuador is located in the Andean mountains in the southern part of the country. It is the third largest city in Ecuador and renowned for its cultural and artistic scene and home to several universities. It is chock full of Spanish colonial architecture that dates back to the 16th century and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site due to its well-preserved historic center. It is notorious for its beautiful surroundings and is always green, as Spring seems to be the only season they have year round.

With moderate temperatures there is no shortage of outdoor activities around;  including visiting the picturesque Cajas National Park, hiking through the Biopark zoo on the side of a mountain or horseback riding through incredible valleys and farmlands.  To read about those activities and so many more that we enjoyed during our week here, check out our what to See & Do in Cuenca page.

The food scene here was good, and I attribute affordability as a large factor.  It was crazy the quality of food we could buy for so little compared to what we are accustomed to in the US.  There were great breakfast options (and we are a breakfast family!), followed by their famous Almuerzos or set lunch for $2.75USD.  We even found a farm to table restaurant for dinner that rivaled some of the best restaurants we have eaten at around the world for a fraction of the cost by western standards.  To read all about these delicious foods, head over to our Cuenca Eats page.

There is a pretty large expat community in Cuenca Ecuador and it is no surprise why once you visit this magical South American town.  Combined with how far your dollar goes, it’s a no brainer for retirees and digital nomads to put down some roots.  Did I mention the currency here is the United States Dollar?  English is also widely spoken in Cuenca, but I still recommend learning a few Spanish phrases.  Transportation into Cuenca is an easy sub hour flight from Quito or Guayaquil and getting around town by taxi is shockingly cheap.

The people are very kind, and smile at strangers as they pass.  Before this trip I thought that was mostly an American and Australian thing.  We were approached several times in parks while out and about by strangers asking where we moved here from.  It was funny that everyone automatically assumed we lived there.  That has never happened to us in any other country we have visited.

Overall Cuenca Ecuador is a pretty amazing South American city that is a great destination for families, or anyone for that matter.  It’s accessibility and affordability combined with its great infrastructure and lovely people make this a destination worth seeking out.  If you are a newbie traveler that would like to visit something off the beaten path with ease, Cuenca is a perfect option.  We enjoyed everything about Cuenca (except Dawson complained about the temperature differences when the sun went behind the clouds…I’m rolling my eyes at him), so much so that we are considering a year abroad here in the near future!

Planning Cuenca With Kids: What We Would Tell a Friend

Fly in rather than driving in. Cuenca is a sub hour flight from either Quito or Guayaquil, which is a very short hop with kids, and once you land, taxis around town are cheap enough that we stopped doing the math in our heads.

Pack layers even though it never really gets cold. The city sits high in the Andes and spring is more or less the only season, but the temperature drops the moment the sun goes behind a cloud. Dawson complained about it all week. A light jacket in the day bag handles it.

Build your day around the almuerzo. The set lunch runs about $2.75 and it is the best value meal in the city, so we ate our big meal in the middle of the day and kept dinners simple. Breakfast is a strong meal here too, which matters if you have a breakfast family like ours. Our favorites are all on the where to eat in Cuenca with kids page.

Money and language are both easier than you expect. The currency is the United States dollar, so there is no converting in your head and no hunting for an exchange desk, and English is widely spoken because of the large expat community. Learn a few Spanish phrases anyway. It is worth it, and people are lovely about it.

Save at least one day for outside the city. Cajas National Park, the Biopark zoo built into the side of a mountain, and horseback riding through the valleys and farmlands were the parts our girls talked about afterward. They are all on our things to do in Cuenca with kids page, along with how we paced them.

Give it a week if you can. Cuenca is walkable, safe feeling and slow in the best way, so it rewards the kind of trip where you go back to the same bakery twice. If you want to see how our days actually ran, we wrote them out on our Cuenca family itinerary, and the practical bits like taxis and altitude are on the Cuenca travel tips page. We are still half serious about a year here.