Cuenca: A City on the Edge of a Gorge

The Casas Colgadas are Cuenca’s signature sight: medieval houses built right at the cliff edge, their wooden balconies hanging out over the Huécar gorge. The surviving group dates in part from the 15th century. They are best seen from the outside and from below — but you can also step inside. The largest of them holds the Museo de Arte Abstracto Español, a museum of Spanish abstract art built around the “Abstract Generation” of the 1950s and 60s (Tàpies, Saura, Chillida, Zóbel, Torner), with later work into the 1980s and 90s. Founded by the painter Fernando Zóbel in 1966, it was Cuenca’s first contemporary art museum and is now run by the Fundación Juan March. Entry is free, and the bright rooms hanging over the gorge are as much a draw as the art.

This iron footbridge is the classic viewpoint. It crosses the Huécar gorge at around 40 metres up, linking the old town with the former Convent of San Pablo (now the Parador). From the middle of the bridge you get the postcard view of the hanging houses clinging to the rock. It sways a little and is not for anyone who hates heights — but the view is the best in the city. Access is free.

Begun around 1196, Cuenca’s cathedral is counted among the first Gothic cathedrals built in Spain. Its front is unfinished, which gives it an unusual, blunt look, and inside you’ll find Norman-Gothic vaulting, a rare triforium and modern stained glass by 20th-century artists. A combined ticket lets you climb to the triforium for a high view over the nave and the Plaza Mayor. Hours change with the season and the church’s own services.

The heart of the upper town is the Plaza Mayor, framed by the arches of the town hall (built right over the road) and the cathedral front. From here, narrow lanes such as Calle de los Canónigos drop down toward the hanging houses and the San Pablo bridge, while others climb to the castle ruins and the old walls. This is the part of Cuenca to wander slowly, especially in the evening.

Across the gorge from the hanging houses, beside the Parador, the former Church of San Pablo holds the Espacio Torner. This stripped, light-filled Gothic church — no longer used for worship — displays about forty works by the Cuenca artist Gustavo Torner, several on loan from the Reina Sofía in Madrid. The bare stone and the art were arranged together by Torner himself, making the building and the collection one piece.

The two rivers that wrap around the old town have carved deep gorges, or hoces, on either side. Walking paths run along both — the Hoz del Huécar below the hanging houses, and the Hoz del Júcar on the far side. A stroll along the bottom gives you the town from below: the tall houses seem to grow straight out of the rock. It is the easy way to swap the crowded lanes for quiet in a few minutes.

Cuenca’s best free activity is a walk that links its two river gorges. Drop down from the old town into the Hoz del Huécar, follow the river path beneath the hanging houses, then loop around the tip of the rock and back up the Hoz del Júcar. It takes a couple of hours at an easy pace and shows you the city from angles the day-trippers never see. Good shoes and water are enough; the climbs back up are short but steep.

This is less a “thing to do” than the whole point of staying. In the early morning and late evening, the San Pablo bridge, the Plaza Mayor and the lanes around the cathedral are quiet and beautifully lit. Walk the same route twice — once at night, once at first light — and you’ll understand why an overnight beats a day trip here.

Cuenca is the gateway to one of central Spain’s great natural parks. Within an hour you can reach the Ciudad Encantada, a maze of wind-and-water-carved rock shapes in a pine forest, and the road climbs on toward the source of the Cuervo river and mountain villages like Uña and Tragacete. This is why we treat Cuenca as a base, not just a stop: the empty country starts right here.

Cuenca sits in a region of strong, rustic food (see Where to Eat). Doing it properly is an activity in itself — a slow lunch of morteruelo or roast lamb, or an evening of local tapas and Manchego wine in the old town. It rewards taking your time far more than ticking off a checklist.