Cuenca is a safe and affordable mid-sized city in the Ecuadorian Andes, offering a quiet lifestyle and lower cost of living, which makes it a good fit for remote workers or those wanting to focus on language study or personal projects. The locals are friendly, and while English is not widely spoken, it’s a good setting for Spanish immersion. Meals are extremely cheap and the local cuisine is worth trying. The city is clean with a historic downtown and several charming churches and parks, like Parque Calderón. Internet is generally stable and adequate for remote work. Cuenca also features a good variety of cafes and quality food options. The city is walkable and has some outdoor fitness spaces, and although nightlife is minimal, there are a few relaxed spots to unwind. There isn’t a large amount of tourist activity or high-energy entertainment, so travelers looking for a vibrant party scene may find it too quiet. Also, due to the altitude (about 8,000 ft), it’s important to allow time for acclimation before doing higher-elevation hikes like those in Cajas National Park. Nights can get chilly, especially in places with no heating, so packing warm layers is advised.
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Cuenca is a safe and affordable mid-sized city in the Ecuadorian Andes, offering a quiet lifestyle and lower cost of living, which makes it a good fit for remote workers or those wanting to focus on language study or personal projects. The locals are friendly, and while English is not widely spoken, it’s a good setting for Spanish immersion. Meals are extremely cheap and the local cuisine is worth trying. The city is clean with a historic downtown and several charming churches and parks, like Parque Calderón.
Internet is generally stable and adequate for remote work. Cuenca also features a good variety of cafes and quality food options. The city is walkable and has some outdoor fitness spaces, and although nightlife is minimal, there are a few relaxed spots to unwind.
There isn’t a large amount of tourist activity or high-energy entertainment, so travelers looking for a vibrant party scene may find it too quiet. Also, due to the altitude (about 8,000 ft), it’s important to allow time for acclimation before doing higher-elevation hikes like those in Cajas National Park. Nights can get chilly, especially in places with no heating, so packing warm layers is advised.
AI-generated summary of reviews 7 months ago
I really enjoyed my month in Cuenca, but mostly because I wanted a chill place to focus on work and practice my Spanish. there isn't much to do, but it's very clean and safe and there's music everywhere. beautiful churches, people are very friendly (although very little English is spoke) and it's ridiculously cheap. they use the USD as official currency and it was easy to find a huge, hearty, multi-course lunch for 2ドル.25. no joke. there are ice cream and pastry shops every few feet it seems. the park in the center of the city (Parque Calderon) is a nice place to sit and enjoy the atmosphere. not many gringos, although there is a decent population of american retirees. there's one street (Calle Larga) which has a few bars and restaurants that cater to americans and there are some touristy places around the park, but my advice is to avoid these and wander a few blocks away from the park for good, authentic, local food. one of my favorite dishes is a seafood and onion stew called encebolloado which is fantastic and costs about 5ドル. the Airbnb I stayed is had 100mps internet which was great. the National Park (Cajas) is beautiful. I strongly recommend a guided tour (about 75ドル) because the trails aren't marked well and the guides are full of useful and interesting information. be prepared though, Cuenca is 2500m (8000 feet) up and Cajas is 4000m (13000 feet) up so you'll definitely feel the altitude. I stupidly went on the hike less than a week after I arrived and it was brutal. I'd wait until you have more time to acclimate to the height.
3 years ago
A beautiful colonial medium size city in the mountains of Ecuador. Currently here in Dec and the highs are 70, lows are 45. Beautiful temperate weather all the way around. Pros: - walkable with great outdoor fitness - diverse and high quality F&B scene. Great cocktails @ Madame - good coffee culture and cafes. - internet is fine. It’s stable. Not 1gb speed but not slow. - lots of history and the city has some beautiful parts - safe Cons: - smaller city. It isn’t a major metropolis. - if you’re looking to party, Cuenca is a bit quite. There’s night life but it’s pretty chill.
3 years ago
It gets chilly at night and most places don't have a heater, so pack some extra thick socks!
Felt quite safe compared to other latinAm countries. This had a safer vibe than Guayaquil and all was very affordable. People are friendly. Went to the zoo, spa, a few hiking trails and such but otherwise not much to do. Great if you wanna hunker down for a few months and live cheaply in a quieter part of Ecuador.
4 years ago
✅ Very safe
✅ Very affordable
✅ Friendly people
✅ Very clean
✅ Good internet
✅ Good food and coffee scene
✅ Affordable to live
✅ Pretty safe
✅ Lots of fun stuff to do
✅ Good air quality on average
✅ Nomads.com members liked going here a lot
✅ Many Nomads.com members have been
✅ Spacious and not crowded
✅ Very easy to make friends
✅ Freedom of speech
✅ Democratic
✅ Safe for women
✅ Very friendly to LGBTQ+
✅ Not many people smoke tobacco
✅ (Medical) marijuana MAY be legal, unenforced or decriminalized (always double check this)
Air quality clean 27 US AQIclean 45 US AQIclean 49 US AQIclean 34 US AQIokay 94 US AQIokay 94 US AQIokay 94 US AQIclean 44 US AQIclean 41 US AQIclean 36 US AQIclean 39 US AQIclean 31 US AQI
Sun avoid sun 8 UVIavoid sun 9 UVIavoid sun 8 UVIavoid sun 8 UVIavoid sun 7 UVIavoid sun 7 UVIavoid sun 7 UVIavoid sun 7 UVIavoid sun 8 UVIavoid sun 9 UVIavoid sun 9 UVIavoid sun 8 UVI
Green is good. Red is bad. Values shown are the medians of all daily highs in a month based on past few years, not necessarily current numbers. Remote worker count is estimated based on the total amount of trips logged by Nomads.com members.
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One-time-payment: (削除) 39ドル.98 (削除ここまで) 19ドル.99💫 0% off
Billed once. Then never again
One-time-payment: (削除) 98ドル (削除ここまで) 49ドル💫 50% off
Billed once. Then never again
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