Cuenca

Cuenca is Ecuador's third-largest city, sitting at 8,400 feet in the southern Andes, with a UNESCO-listed historic center and a population hovering around 600,000. It runs on US dollars, which removes a lot of the mental math that exhausts you in other South American cities. The place has a genuinely conservative, community-oriented culture. Family comes first. Siesta hours (roughly 1–3pm) are still real. Don't be surprised when your favorite café closes on a Tuesday because someone's kid had a school pageant. The expat community is large and established, estimated between 8,000 and 10,000 foreign residents, and their presence has driven a real expansion in quality cafés, bookshops, and English-friendly services. But the expat bubble is real, too. It's entirely possible to spend years here eating at the same five restaurants and never actually connect with Cuenca's Ecuadorian culture. The city leans traditional and formal compared to Guayaquil or Quito's coast. Catholic holidays matter. Greeting people properly matters. And the pace is slow in a way that delights retirees and gently drives type-A professionals mad.

Cuenca remains Ecuador's safest large city in 2026, and that matters given the country's broader security picture. The highland geography keeps it off the coastal drug trafficking corridors where Ecuador's organized crime is concentrated. That said, March 2026 brought an unusual surge of violence tied to territorial drug dealer disputes, with incidents in Las Orquídeas and parts of El Centro. These were gang-on-gang incidents, not tourist-targeting events, but they signal that no city is fully insulated from Ecuador's national trends. Day-to-day, the realistic risk for visitors and expats is opportunistic petty theft: phone snatching, pickpocketing near Mercado 10 de Agosto and Parque Calderón, and bag grabs at busy intersections. The historic center has the most foot traffic and therefore the most petty crime. Carry a slim crossbody bag worn in front, split your cash, and keep your phone in a pocket rather than your hand while walking. Never hail a taxi off the street. Use Uber or InDriver (both work well in Cuenca) or have your hotel call a registered radio taxi. Agree on the price before getting in if the meter is absent. ATMs: use machines inside banks or malls, during daylight hours, and shield the keypad. The US State Department rated Ecuador at Level 2 (Exercise Increased Caution) as of early 2026, with Level 3 and 4 zones concentrated in Guayaquil, Esmeraldas, and the northern border. Cuenca is not in those zones. Emergency number is 911.

Cuenca is genuinely walkable if you live in or near El Centro or the river corridors. The Tranvía light rail opened in 2022 and runs through the city center for $0.30 a ride. City buses cover the broader network, also $0.30. Taxis across town run $2.50–4.00 and are abundant. Uber and InDriver both operate here and are the safer, more reliable option over street-hailed cabs. Most expats who live centrally don't own a car and don't need one. If you move to an outer neighborhood like Challuabamba or San Joaquín, a car becomes useful. Gasoline is government-subsidized in Ecuador, with regular (Extra) fuel running around $1.50–1.75/gallon, one of the cheapest in the Americas. Connecting to the rest of the country: domestic flights to Quito or Guayaquil run $60–120 round-trip. Guayaquil is a four-hour scenic drive and has an international airport. Quito's international airport is less than an hour's flight. From Quito, non-stop flights to Miami take about four hours.