Cuenca – Holiday Apartment between the Old Town, Cathedral and Gorges

The historic fortified old town of Cuenca is an exceptionally well-preserved medieval fortified city. It retains its original urban layout, as well as numerous outstanding religious and secular buildings dating from the 12th to the 18th century.

Culture

The 12th-century cathedral stands in the upper town. It was built on the site of the former Great Mosque and is considered the first Gothic cathedral in Spain. Construction began at the end of the 12th century; its essential core was created in the 13th century. Surviving Gothic elements include the original rib vault and a distinctive triforium.

The Casas Colgadas are medieval private houses built on steep rocky cliffs above a bend in the Huécar River. They consist of three former palatial houses. Since 1966, two of the Casas Colgadas have housed the Museo de Arte Abstracto Español. The museum has a collection that revolutionised the presentation of abstraction in Spain.

The Museo Tesoro de la Catedral in Cuenca displays works that summarise eight centuries of the history of the Diocese of Cuenca. At the Museo Paleontológico de Castilla-La Mancha, 95 per cent of the collection consists of original pieces.

Holy Week in Cuenca is recognised as a festival of international tourist interest. Its tradition dates back to the 17th century.

Nature and Trails

As the Huécar and Júcar rivers flow through the city of Cuenca, their gorges form two canyons that are more than 1,000 metres wide and have a drop of over 200 metres in several areas.

The Camino a la Cueva de la Zarza is a 1.60-kilometre panoramic trail along the Huécar Gorge, offering views of the old town. It begins at the former San Pablo monastery, now the Parador Nacional de Turismo.

Cuenca Río is a 7.70-kilometre urban greenbelt with bridges, footbridges, architectural monuments, cultural attractions and green spaces. Different trail lengths help to compare options or organise your own daily itinerary. The stated distances and the trail features mentioned can be set side by side as objective points of reference. This allows daily planning to distinguish between a panoramic trail along the gorge and a longer urban greenbelt, while culture, architectural monuments and green spaces each form distinct focal points.

When booking a holiday apartment in Cuenca, travel dates, room category and cancellation conditions provide objective points of comparison. Alongside these, the historic buildings, museums and trails represent different characteristics of the destination: together, they connect the fortified old town, the gorges and the urban green spaces into clearly distinguishable themes for planning your own day.

Other Destination Pages

You can continue exploring other destinations via the direct pages for Valdecabras and Nohales.

Getting There and Orientation

Cuenca’s Fernando Zóbel AVE station is about 6 kilometres from the city centre and is connected to the bus station by urban bus route 1.

The Oficina Municipal de Turismo in Cuenca provides visitors with multilingual information, maps and brochures.

For the higher-level travel overview: Cuenca.

More Destinations

More places within the same destination:

Castillo De Garcimuñoz, Beteta, Los Hinojosos, Enguídanos, Huélamo, Fuertescusa.