An easy getaway from Madrid: look through the Devil’s window, explore the Enchanted City and watch the Hanging Houses at sunset in magical Cuenca.
Madrid is a lovely city. There are many neighborhoods to explore, museums to visit and local specialities to try. If you are in Madrid for only a few days, then there is no reason to venture outside the city limits. However, if you are spending more than three days in Madrid then it becomes interesting to visit Toledo, Segovia or Cuenca as a day trip.
It is quite easy to visit Cuenca on your own: there is a high-speed train connection from Madrid’s Atocha train station to Cuenca that takes about an hour and a half. You can then explore the city and return to Madrid at the end of the day. It will be a bit harder to see other interesting sites in the area, as Cuenca is not a big city with an extensive public transport network.
I joined a day tour to Cuenca via GetYourGuide (a birthday present from my parents!). With that tour, I was able to see much more of the area with little effort. The guide says jump, you jump. The downside is that everything moves a bit slow with such a big group.
I’ll list the pros and cons of the Cuenca day tour at the end of this post. Overall, I did enjoy this tour and will consider joining other day tours via GetYourGuide in future holidays.
What you will see in Cuenca
With this tour you will visit the following sites:
- Restroom stop in Tarancón
- Devil’s window (Ventano del diablo)
- Enchanted City (Ciudad Encantada)
- Lunch in the modern part of Cuenca
- View of Cuenca from many sides by bus
- City walk in the old town of Cuenca
- Hanging Houses of Cuenca
Road to Cuenca
You have to be at the meeting point at Plaza de Oriente in Madrid at 8:45 in the morning. From there you walk in ten minutes to some cafe and wait for the bus to arrive. I had to wait twenty-plus minutes for the bus to arrive (which feels like a very long time at -1 degrees Celsius). That’s probably my biggest annoyance with group tours: you spend a lot of time waiting.
On the way to Cuenca, the bus stops at Tarancón for a restroom break and, if needed, breakfast. It is a very basic cafe without any interesting food to try. However, if you venture outside and walk back to the rotund, you see the buildings on the picture above. This sight made the stop worth it.
On the bus, the tour guide talks about the history and current situation of the province you drive through. You learn about agriculture as the main industry, the low residency rate and the forests in the area. The explanation is done in Spanish first and repeated in English.
Devil’s window (Ventano del diablo)
You drive through Cuenca (skipping several perfect photo stops) and follow a mountain road to the Devil’s window. Here you have fifteen minutes to enjoy the view, take your best pictures and buy some handmade earthenware at the shop.
The Devil’s window gives you a birds-eye-view of the Júcar River. According to popular tradition, this viewpoint is the work of the devil. At the viewpoint, shaped like a giant skull, the devil supposedly organized witchcraft sessions and hurled those he didn’t like into the abyss.
No matter the origin, nowadays you can go to Devil’s window for a nice view of the gorge and the house on top of the cliff. I liked the view from the path (before you get to the viewpoint) better as you can take a picture of both the giant skull and the house on top of the cliff. The spot in front of the information board makes for a good viewpoint as well.
Enchanted City (Ciudad Encantada)
After a short ride, you arrive at the Enchanted City, a nature reserve with ‘magical’ rock formations. If you let your imagination run wild (the guide will help you) you can recognize all kinds of shapes in the rock formations.
A very long time ago, all these rock formations were below sea level. When the sea retreated, the limestone rocks surfaced and years of exposure to ice, wind, and water helped shape the limestone into persons, animals, and other objects. Nature still has its effect on the limestone and continues to change the shape of the rock formations.
With your tour guide (one for Spanish and one for English) you take a three kilometers’ walk through the nature reserve. You will see the most interesting rock formations and learn more about the vegetation in the area. There is ample opportunity for taking photos. The Enchanted City is a beautiful place to explore.
On the way back to Cuenca you can observe the nature reserve from the outside and see many more limestone formations, rocky ground, and diverse vegetation.
Lunch in the modern part of Cuenca
There are three choices for lunch: have lunch on your own, have a tourist lunch with the group or have a traditional lunch with the group.
If you decide to have lunch on your own, then they’ll drop you in a modern part of town with many bars and restaurants. This will also give you the opportunity to see more of Cuenca on your own.
If you decide to have lunch with the group, then the bus will bring you to a tavern in another part of Cuenca. There are separate tables for the tourist lunch and the traditional lunch. The tourist lunch starts with a salad, whereas the traditional lunch starts with interesting dip sauces (one egg-based, one tomato-based and one ragout like) and a meat dish. No idea what the dishes were called, but they were delicious.
The main course for the traditional lunch was lamb skew with potatoes, some vegetables, and mushrooms. At this point, I was enjoying my meal and didn’t pay attention to the other tables anymore, so I don’t know about the tourist lunch’s main course.
Dessert was a bit boring: profiteroles with vanilla ice cream, fruit or a third option I didn’t register. At this point, we were running out of time and the guide told us to spread out going to the toilet as there was only one toilet for men and one for women in the tavern.
House wine, sparkling water, and still water were included.
I’m a bit conflicted about the best choice here. Joining the organized lunch was very relaxing, but I felt like I missed out on seeing more of Cuenca. At the same time, the traditional lunch was very good, so I do not regret my choice. If you decide to have lunch with the group, then I recommend the traditional lunch variant.
Also keep in mind that lunch is served around 15:20, so make sure you either eat enough for breakfast or bring snacks to bridge the time.
View of Cuenca from many sides by bus
After picking up the ‘lunch on your own’ group, the bus takes a short scenic route from modern Cuenca to the top of the old town. Along the way, you see old farms and other houses built near the river with a big cliff towering over them. From the guide you learn more about how they are protecting these buildings with great historical value.
City walk in the old town of Cuenca
The city walk starts at the highest part of Cuenca so that you only have to walk down. If you do this tour in winter, the sun will be setting by the time you get there (17:30), giving a reddish glue to the whole area. In a way this is perfect timing, as the light of the sun is making the area more beautiful. At the same time, because there is not enough time to set up your camera for the perfect picture, the beautiful view will remain edged in your memory only.
The group splits into English speaking and Spanish speaking groups again and each group follows its own guide. The guide tells you more about the city and explains that many people are moving to the new part of town because the facilities are much better there. At a normal walking speed you cross town, making it a bit hard to take the perfect picture, as you don’t have time to wait for all the people to leave your frame.
By this time the street lights will be on, turning the city into a lovely city that gives off a warm and cozy feeling (even though it is only 2 degrees Celsius). At the end of your walk through town you reach the city square in front of Cuenca’s Cathedral.
There you get 20 minutes of free time to visit Cuenca Cathedral and visit the tourist shops. Alternatively, you can hop into a bar for a drink (or to warm up) or take your camera or phone to explore the small streets connected to the square (my choice).
Hanging Houses of Cuenca
At last, time for the highlight of the Cuenca tour: the Hanging Houses. That is, my expectations were huge, as this is the sight that is advertised the most for Cuenca. With the lights turned on you first get a nice view of the upper part of Cuenca’s old town where you started the walking tour.
Unfortunately, the most prominent hanging house was in scaffolding, so it didn’t look that great from up close. Moving on to the hanging bridge (which you previously saw from above) you can see the whole cliff with more ‘hanging’ houses. With the lights on, your 360-degree view is very beautiful. You can take a few minutes to take your pictures before heading back to the bus for the two hours’ drive back to Madrid.
I would have loved to see this view by daylight instead of by night. The Cuenca guides say the Cuenca city walk and hanging houses look best at night, but I would have preferred the day view. I couldn’t make great use of the golden hour light because there was not enough time, so for my pictures, it would have been better to do this tour in summer when you visit all sites before it gets dark.
Pros and cons of the Cuenca day tour
Pros
- You see much more than Cuenca, as you also visit the Devil’s window and Ciudad Encantada. While it is quite easy to get to Cuenca by train (even faster than by bus) it is hard to see all the other sites as well.
- Scenic views from the bus. Especially the route from and to Devil’s window and Ciudad Encantada is beautiful.
- Everything is well organized: you don’t have to worry about a thing.
- Information about the area.
Cons
- Lots of waiting when traveling with a group.
- You can’t get out of the bus to take pictures of nice sights or take your time to wait for the right moment to take the picture during the walking tour.
- Because you don’t get to the Cuenca part of the tour until 17:30 (if you opt for included lunch) you feel like you hardly spend any time in Cuenca.
- In winter, it will be dark (with illuminated buildings) by the time you get to Cuenca’s Hanging Houses. Though this is a very personal preference; you might prefer it that way.
Final thoughts
I can recommend this tour by GetYourGuide to anyone. It is well organized and the guides are knowledgeable. I didn’t join many group tours in recent years, so most of the cons I listed come from comparing it to traveling on my own by car. It is nice to have everything taken care of once in a while, especially after exploring Madrid actively on my own for a few days.
This tour is also suited for kids. There was a five-year-old in our group and that went really well. The pace is such that it is easy to follow with plenty of ‘outside’ moments where kids can spend some energy.
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