Tour description

Cuenqueando is a specialist agency in Cuenca that knows our land perfectly. That's why we've prepared this excursion from Madrid to Cuenca, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and to the Enchanted City, so you can experience the nature and heritage that this tour to Cuenca offers.

This excursion to Cuenca and the Enchanted City from Madrid will allow you to discover these two must-see attractions, but it will also give you a glimpse into the reality of rural Spain. Along the way, we'll pass through some of the most remote and unpopulated areas in Europe, giving you a perspective far removed from the country's major cities and major tourist attractions.

A combination of nature and heritage makes this one of the best excursions to explore the surroundings of Madrid.

BOOK WITH US AND BENEFIT FROM CONTRACTING DIRECTLY WITH THE ONLY AGENCY THAT ORGANIZES THIS TOUR TO CUENCA!

ITINERARY

Departure from Madrid: 8:30 a.m., from Plaza del Conde de Casal
Stop at the Devil's Window
Guided tour of the Enchanted City
Panoramic view of the Júcar Gorge
Free lunch in the Castillo District
Guided tour of Medieval Cuenca
8:00 p.m. Arrival in Madrid, Plaza del Conde de Casal

TOUR DESCRIPTION

We depart from Plaza del Conde de Casal, in the center of Madrid, accompanied by our native tour guide to the Enchanted City. Along the way, we'll make a brief stop at a restaurant where we'll have time for a restroom or a coffee. Near our destination, we'll make another brief stop at the Devil's Window, a legendary viewpoint overlooking the Júcar Gorges, where we can spot the impressive Griffon Vulture overhead.

In the Enchanted City, we'll take a 2-kilometer walking tour with our guide, who will provide us with all the information and anecdotes surrounding this magical walk.

At the end of the tour, our bus will pick us up and take us to Cuenca's Castle District, where you'll find several restaurants where you can have lunch.

After lunch, we'll take a comfortable 1.4-kilometer walking tour, always downhill, that will take us past the most emblematic corners and monuments of the Medieval Quarter to the Plaza Mayor. There, you'll have 25 minutes of free time, during which you can have a drink in the square's bars, buy souvenirs, or take a quick visit to the cathedral on your own. We'll conclude the tour by visiting the San Martín District, passing by the Hanging Houses and crossing the San Pablo Bridge, for the most iconic view of the Hanging Houses.

The bus will pick us up at the José Luis Perales Auditorium for the return trip to Madrid, where our guide will drop you off at 8:00 PM at the same point from which the excursion departed.

This tour to Cuenca from Madrid has been designed by the agency that best knows this destination, so you can enjoy and get to know our region to the fullest in just one day. Our local guides will make you feel at home because Cuenca is our home! We invite you to book our Cuenca bus tour directly with us!

DESCRIPTION OF POINTS VISITED

Devil's Window

On the way to the Enchanted City, we find the Devil's Window viewpoint. A privileged vantage point over the cliffs that the Júcar River has carved into the limestone rock of the Iberian Massif over millions of years. During the stop, dozens of vultures, and with luck, other birds of prey, will delight us with their flight to the sound of the murmur created by the echoing waters of the Júcar River in the canyon, creating an atmosphere that will awe us.

The Enchanted City

Here we begin our excursion to Cuenca. Although the name may mislead, don't expect to find tall buildings or ancient monuments, because this place is dedicated to showing you the natural wonders of the Cuenca Mountains. The Júcar River, as it passes between Uña and Villalba de la Sierra, forms a gigantic and impressive canyon. It is here, at almost 1,500 meters above sea level, that nature has indulged itself in one of those whims that always fills travelers with wonder: The Enchanted City.

The Enchanted City is a natural site that was declared a Natural Site of National Interest in 1929. It is currently included within the boundaries of the Serranía de Cuenca Natural Park (PNSC), a priority protection zone due to its exceptional geomorphological value, which is of international significance.

The awe it inspires has led numerous filmmakers to find inspiration in this striking cinematic landscape, adorned by the silence of the mountains. A film landscape that has been visited by artists such as Sophia Loren, Frank Sinatra, Cary Grant, Oliver Stone, and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Here, karst modeling has generated whimsical shapes in the rock that surprise visitors. These world-renowned geological phenomena are rock formations sculpted by the action of water, wind, and ice. An underwater landscape hidden by the Jurassic Thetis Sea, the predecessor of the Mediterranean. Its paths encourage you to wander through curious stone formations reminiscent of human figures, objects, and animals, with a precision that is difficult to understand, until you discover a delirious city, a city that seems asleep under some kind of mysterious spell. You will discover all its secrets with this guided tour of the Enchanted City.

City of Cuenca

On this guided tour of the city of Cuenca, declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, you will discover one of the cities with the greatest tangible and intangible heritage in Spain.

La Cuenca landscape is a city built on a strip of land between the gorges of the Júcar and Huécar rivers, which provide an incomparable natural setting for an urban development anchored in time. These gorges enclose an immense historical heritage nestled between two precipices, a city immersed in nature with thousands of years of geological morphology, gradually eroded by these rivers, forming stone structures that dwarf the observer.

La Cuenca heritage is a city that opens to the visitor like a perfect fusion of modern art and tradition. A must-see for travelers is a stroll through its old town, wandering through the maze of charming alleyways, which house everything from important examples of religious heritage, such as churches, convents, and seminaries that reflect this city's deep-rooted tradition of worship. Important museums such as the Museum of Abstract Art, the Antonio Pérez Foundation Museum, and the Diocesan Museum, a fine example of provincial sacred art that houses important works from the Romanesque period to the present day, including paintings by Martín Gómez the Elder and El Greco. A city of contrasts where the modern and the traditional coexist. 

The city's most impressive building, the Cathedral of Our Lady of Grace, is the first Gothic cathedral in Spain, built by order of Alfonso VIII. Its interior never ceases to amaze, as it spans the 12th century to the last chapels of the Baroque.

Everyone knows the Hanging Houses of Cuenca, an example of Cuenca's popular architecture, whose balconies invite you to simply gaze into the void, becoming a hallmark of the city. This is also true of the San Martín Skyscrapers, the first buildings with more than ten stories in the world. The San Pablo Bridge, designed by the Eiffel School, is a walk for the daring and an adventure for the vertigo-inducing, but it leaves everyone with the same feeling of standing in one of the best spots in the city. The same feeling comes from sitting in the Castillo District, where visitors can feel the city at their feet, as its viewpoints directly overlook a drop into the gorges that seems to overlook the most incredible depths.

Let's not forget the flavor of Cuenca; this city is also shaped by its unique flavors, its succulent foods, and its traditional dishes. It's a must not to leave without trying their morteruelo (a type of stew with garlic and onions), their ajoarriero (a type of stew with garlic and onions), their gachas (porridge with porridge), or roast lamb. And daring—without knowing what it is—to eat a zarajo (a type of stew with garlic and onions), all accompanied by local wines and topped off with a honey and almond-based dessert, alajú (a type of stew with garlic and onions), and a revitalizing resolí (a type of stew with garlic and onions).

All these basins—the Heritage Basin, the Landscape Basin, the Hanging Basin, the Sabor Basin, the Holy Basin—engulf visitors in a myriad of sensations, emotions, and memories. Everyone who contemplates them falls in love with such beauty, without a doubt: Cuenca is unique!

Tour duration

Offered languages

We started the tour...

TIME: 8:30 a.m.

PLACE: Plaza del Conde de Casal, 6. Next to the door of the Hotel Claridge

We finished the tour...

TIME: 8:00 p.m.

PLACE: Plaza del Conde de Casal, 6. Next to the door of the Hotel Claridge

Included in this tour

• Transport
• Native bilingual guide
• Tickets
• Guided visit to Medieval Cuenca

Not included in this tour

• Lunch
• No service not specified in the “Includes” section

Additional information

You can consult thehttps://sites.google.com/view/cuenca-tour-englishapp where you will obtain information on where to eat, what the weather will be like on your visit, our guides and be able to see the opinions of other travelers or share yours.

GENERAL CONDITIONS

Free cancellation up to 24 hours before the excursion
Bilingual guide up to 30 people. In case of occupying more than 30 places, the company will make available to clients a Spanish-speaking guide and a guide in a second language
automatic confirmation
Departure from 4 people, if there were only 3 travelers registered for the excursion, it would be canceled
We accept digital voucher or printed voucher
Travelers must be 10 minutes before at the meeting point
The order of the visits, as well as the schedules, can be altered for organizational or other unexpected reasons.
It is possible that on occasion the menus vary for organizational reasons