Ecuador's southern highlands are having a busy month, and travellers heading this way have plenty to plug into their itineraries.
Cuenca just posted some eye-catching tourism numbers from the Día de Difuntos and Independence holiday stretch. More than 61,000 visitors came to the city, spending an estimated $38.2 million — up 26.6% on the previous year, and achieved with a modest municipal investment of $274,000. Hotels hit 89% occupancy, peaking at nearly 98% on the Sunday. Seventy events drew almost half a million attendees, and museum visits jumped by a third. Just as notable for anyone worried about safety: incidents fell sharply compared to last year, robberies dropped 39% and there were no deaths, though drunk-driving arrests rose sharply as police cracked down.
Looking ahead, one of the region's most distinctive events is the Caminata Ecoturística Religiosa "Padre Albino del Curto", a 40km pilgrimage hike running 11–14 November through the Río Negro-Sopladora and Tinajillas-Río Gualaceño protected areas — a 33,742-hectare reserve spanning Azuay and Morona Santiago that shelters 262 vertebrate species and 44 endemic plants. It starts with a mass in Sevilla de Oro, departs at 4am the next morning, and finishes at the Santa Elena cave in Copal. Community guides organise it; contact numbers are available through local organisers.
Culture lovers have options too. Loja's 11th Festival de Artes Vivas runs 12–22 November with around 400 shows by artists from 13 countries, Germany as guest nation, free public-space performances, and $5 theatre tickets. In Cuenca itself, the Ricaurte parish throws its festival for patron saint San Carlos Borromeo on 13–15 November — crafts fairs, processions, live orchestras and the famously divisive traditional guinea pig banquet. A senior-citizens' chorus concert at Teatro Pumapungo on 12 November rounds things out.
Two local stories worth knowing if you're planning a visit. Cuenca's urban buses are getting four security cameras each plus emergency alert buttons, expected to be fully operational by mid-2027, in response to onboard robberies. And the controversial 12-storey Uzhupud Sky Garden project near Paute has been suspended after pushback over its impact on the landscape, with developers scouting sites in other provinces.
For travellers, this is a good snapshot of Cuenca right now: a compact colonial city drawing record crowds, investing in visitor safety, and surrounded by genuinely unusual experiences — from Amazon-bound pilgrimage trails to festivals where cuy (roast guinea pig) is the centrepiece dish. If you want the Ecuadorian highlands without the crowds of Peru's better-known circuit, the momentum here suggests going sooner rather than later.
