Cuenca is heading into its independence festivities with an unusually packed calendar, and travellers in Ecuador's third-largest city this month get the fun of stumbling into it. The city marks 206 years since independence, and while officials have scaled back the programme this year for budget reasons — no big international concerts — there's still plenty going on, from opera to a 2,000-strong student parade.
The headline event is the 'Cuenca: between monuments and memories' student parade on Thursday 29 October, starting at 10 a.m. at Parque San Blas and finishing at Parque Calderón. More than 2,000 students from 33 schools will march with brass bands and floats honouring figures from local history. It's a charming spectacle, but plan around it: the historic centre gets seriously congested during the route.
Culture seekers have a rare date too. Puccini's La Bohème gets its first-ever Cuenca staging on 22, 23 and 24 October at 8 p.m. in the Teatro Carlos Cueva Tamariz, performed by the University of Cuenca's Symphony Orchestra and Polyphonic Choir with six guest soloists and a 25-strong children's chorus from the José María Rodríguez Conservatory. Tickets are a bargain at $12 general admission, $6 for university students, sold at La Victoria stores and the theatre box office.
If you'd rather feast than march, Cuenca's food scene gives you plenty of reasons to linger. The international Best Pizza ranking has just named JuanJa's Pizza, in the Santa Anita neighbourhood of El Vergel, the best pizzeria in Ecuador — with Casa Hermanos on Calle Los Pinos also cracking the national top five. Alongside three Quito spots, that means two of the country's best pies are right here.
There's also a wave of pandemic-born home kitchens that have grown into proper businesses. McMary, launched by Erika Heredia from her home in 2020, now slings beef-and-chicken burgers on potato bread and hot dogs on sweet-potato buns from a corner at Hermano Miguel and Honorato Vázquez. Miau Pizza, started by ex-metal musician Gabriel Cuesta in April 2020, turns out 30 cm pizzas for just $6 plus wings and house potato dishes at Pres. Córdova 12-56 — and doubles as a hangout for Pokémon card players. And for a splurge, La Guarida on Convención del 45 near Calle Lamar pairs haute cuisine with cinema culture: over 700 films screened, themed five-course dinners with guest chefs and wine tastings, in a corner of the historic centre that has visibly revived thanks to its murals and new foot traffic.
For travellers, this is Cuenca at its most lively: a walkable colonial centre, free art (Adriana Sadun's water-and-river-themed exhibition runs at the City Hall Gallery until 15 November), cheap world-class opera, and a pizza ranking worth arguing over. The austere official programme means fewer big crowds than usual, but the street life, parades and restaurants more than fill the gap. Timing a visit for late October gets you the parade, the opera and the festivities in one trip.
