2.89/5
109 reviews
Photo by César León via Unsplash

Cuenca

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beautiful

park

great

feet

chill

safe

friendly

good

internet

cajas

trails

night

Cuenca is a quiet, medium-sized city in the mountains of Ecuador that offers safety, cleanliness, and affordability. The city is very walkable with a pleasant mix of historic charm, scenic parks, and a growing food and coffee scene. The people are friendly, though English isn't widely spoken, and it's a good place to focus on work, relax, or improve your Spanish. Internet, while not ultra-fast, is stable and sufficient for remote work, with some places offering high speeds like 100 Mbps.

Weather is generally temperate, with daytime highs around 70°F and cooler nights that may require warm clothing due to lack of heating in many homes. The city runs on USD and it’s easy to find delicious, hearty meals for just a few dollars. While there are bars and restaurants in areas like Calle Larga, Cuenca's nightlife is low-key, making it more suited for those looking for a calm, slow-paced lifestyle.

Cuenca may not offer a huge variety of attractions, but nearby sites like Cajas National Park provide worthwhile excursions. Altitude can be a challenge for new arrivals, so allow time to acclimate before planning demanding outdoor activities. Overall, it's ideal for a relaxing, budget-friendly stay in a safe and scenic environment.

AI-generated summary of reviews

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 $2.25. 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. 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) 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.

2 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.

2 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

✅ Stable internet

✅ Good food and café scene

✅ Walkable and scenic

✅ 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)

❌ Chilly at night

❌ Not much to do

❌ Quiet nightlife

❌ Pretty slow internet

❌ Cold now

❌ Cold all year round

❌ Very damp now

❌ Not many Nomads.com members right now

❌ Difficult to do business

❌ Quality of education is low

❌ Hospitals are not that great

❌ Roads are very dangerous

❌ People don't speak English well

❌ Not family friendly

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Feels (median)

14°C / 57°F cool

13°C / 55°F cool

12°C / 54°F cool

10°C / 50°F cold

11°C / 52°F cool

13°C / 55°F cool

14°C / 57°F cool

13°C / 55°F cool

Real (median)

14°C / 57°F
cool

13°C / 55°F
cool

12°C / 54°F
cool

10°C / 50°F
cold

11°C / 52°F
cool

12°C / 54°F
cool

14°C / 57°F
cool

13°C / 55°F
cool

Humidity

damp
86%

damp
87%

damp
88%

damp
85%

damp
88%

damp
81%

damp
83%

damp
82%

damp
80%

damp
85%

damp
86%

damp
87%

Most common

☔️ Rain

Rain

rainy
163mm

rainy
169mm

rainy
193mm

rainy
146mm

rainy
102mm

rainy
82mm

rainy
91mm

rainy
62mm

rainy
71mm

rainy
131mm

rainy
202mm

rainy
164mm

Cloud

cloudy
56%

cloudy
57%

cloudy
58%

cloudy
56%

cloudy
51%

cloudy
56%

cloudy
53%

pockets
49%

cloudy
54%

cloudy
56%

cloudy
54%

Air quality

clean
27 US AQI

clean
45 US AQI

clean
49 US AQI

clean
34 US AQI

okay
94 US AQI

clean
44 US AQI

clean
41 US AQI

clean
36 US AQI

clean
39 US AQI

clean
31 US AQI

Sun

avoid sun
8 UVI

avoid sun
9 UVI

avoid sun
8 UVI

avoid sun
7 UVI

avoid sun
8 UVI

avoid sun
9 UVI

avoid sun
8 UVI

Remote workers

327 people

257 people

286 people

400 people

480 people

345 people

300 people

375 people

433 people

650 people

229 people

333 people

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.

If you'd like to filter destinations based on their climate, try Nomads.com's Climate Finder

Based on Cuenca's cost of living, here's selected remote jobs that would cover your costs:

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Members who have been here

Values shown are estimated visits by traveling remote workers based on the total amount of trips logged by Nomads.com members. Visits to a place are only counted once per year per user, even if they visit more in that year. Visits are also normalized by overall trips added per month on the site, so if site usage goes up or down it does not affect trends. Not all digital nomads are on Nomads.com, and not all Nomads.com members log their trips. So the data is only indicative.

The chart below shows visitors by nationality normalized for population size. This means we take all trips logged on Nomads.com, check which country of origin the user is from, then divide that total visit count by the country of origin's population. If we didn't, it'd just show the big countries like US, Brazil and India always on top. Instead, this shows which nationalities worldwide proportionally visit more or less, which is more useful.

⭐️ Total score	2.89/5 (Rank #78) 109 reviews
❤️ Liked by members	👍7 liked it 👎0 disliked it
👍 Quality of life score	Okay
👶 Family score	Okay
🎒 Community score	Okay
💵 Cost	😙 Affordable: $1,303 / mo
📡 Internet	😡 Slow: 8Mbps (avg)
😝 Fun	Good
⛅️ Temperature (now)	🥶 Too cold: 11°C51°F (feels 11°C52°F)
💦 Humidity (now)	💦 Damp: 96%
💨 Air quality (now)	🌱 Great: 49 US AQI
💨 Air quality (annual)	🌱 Great: 42 US AQI
👌 Safety	Okay
🤮 Food safety*	Good
👮‍♀️ Lack of crime*	Okay
🤝 Lack of racism*	Okay
🎓 Education level*	Mediocre
⚡️ Power grid	Great
🌊 Vulnerability to climate change	Great
💰 Income level*	Very low: $499 / mo
🙊 English speaking*	Okay
🚶 Walkability	Great
🚦 Traffic safety*	Bad
✈️ Airline scores*	Okay
🧳 Lost luggage*	Great
🏥 Hospitals	Bad
😄 Happiness*	Bad
🍸 Nightlife	Bad
📶 Free WiFi in city	Bad
🖥 Places to work from	Great
❄️ A/C or heating	Okay
😁 Friendly to foreigners	Good
🗯 Freedom of speech*	Good
👩 Female friendly	Okay
🌈 LGBTQ+ friendly	Great
🎅 Startup Score	Bad

🌍 Continent	Latin America
🚩 Country	Ecuador
🗓️ Average trip length	16 days
📡 Internet speed (avg)	8 Mbps
⛅️ Weather (now)	🌦 11°C 51°F + 💦 Damp (96%) = feels 11°C 52°F
💨 Air quality (now)	👍 49 US AQI 🍃 OK
💨 Air quality (annual avg)	👍 42 US AQI
🔌 Power	115V 60Hz
🚑 Travel medical insurance	Safetywing
💸 Tipping	Yes, 12.50%
☕️ Best coffee place	Cafe de Ñucallacta
☕️ Best alt. coffee place	Cafe Eucalyptus
🏪 Best 24/7 coffee place	Hotel Carvallo
🚰 Tap water	🚫 No, not drinkable
♻️ Return rate	8% of visitors return
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Population	330,000 people
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 GDP per capita*	$5,982 / year
👫 Gender ratio (population)	👨 45% 👱‍♀️ 55%
👫 Gender ratio (young adults)	👨 51% 👱‍♀️ 49%
👫 Gender ratio (nomads)	👨 66% 👱‍♀️ 34%
🏞 Foreign land ownership allowed	Yes
⛪️ Religious government	Non-religious
🏠 Apartment listings	AsWeSit
✈️ Best short-haul air carrier	LAN Ecuador
✈️ Best int'l air carrier	LAN Ecuador
🏥 Best hospital	Hospital Santa Inés

💵 Cost of living for nomad	$1,303 / month
💵 Cost of living for expat	$987 / month
💵 Cost of living for family	$2,675 / month
💵 Cost of living for local	$764 / month
🏨 Hotel (median price)	$875 / month
🏡 Airbnb (median price)	$1,129 / month
🏠 1br studio rent in center	$703 / month
🏠 Median home price	$143,000
🏨 Hotel (median price)	$41 / night
🏠 Airbnb (median price)	$37 / night
🏢 Coworking hot desk	$141 / month
🍛 Dinner	$3
🥤 Coca-Cola (0.3L)	0
🍺 Beer in cafe (0.5L)	$1
☕️ Coffee in cafe	$2
👩‍🏫 International school	$6,017 / year
📱 Mobile data (~10GB)	$11 / month
🚕 Taxi price (avg trip ~3km/2mi)	$6 / trip