A modern and contemporary art gallery with changing exhibits. Housed in a beautiful old building.

Open mornings.

cnr. Mariscal Sucre and Talbot, Cuenca.

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It should be no surprise to find a superb ethnographic museum in a country that is a living ethnographic museum in itself. But the exhibits are great, particularly the shrunken heads whose hair kept growing long after they had parted company with their owners’ shoulders. All kinds of ethnic celebrations, costumes, foods and traditions are brought to life, and as an introduction to Ecuador it is hard to beat. What’s more, at the back are ancient Inca ruins, and the extensive gardens feature a cross-section of the country’s amazing diversity of flora.

Location: Corner of Calle Larga and Huayna Capac.
Telephone: (593-7) 2831255.
Opening hours: Monday-Friday, 9-6, Saturday 9-12.
Entry: Free.

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Cuenca’s plazas and common areas. The square alongside San Sebastian Church is one of the better ones. It’s the perfect place to get away from the hot midday sun, sit in the shade and read your book. Then, full of the joys, you can cross to the southern end of the square and get a bit of culture too. The Museum of Modern Art is located in a charming, whitewashed old adobe building that used to be a hospice for alcoholics. Some might say that is appropriate given some of the bizarre art on display, but it’s always interesting.

Near the corner of Mariscal Sucre and Coronel Talbot, the Plaza San Sebastian

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A great lookout point across the red-tiled roofs of the city to the surrounding mountains, get there for about 6 to watch the sun set and the spires of Cuenca’s many churches light up as darkness falls. For those feeling fit and altitude-acclimatised, it is a reasonably strenuous hike up, but occasional flat parts give you the chance to pant and repent your sins before continuing. Otherwise it’s a 10-minute taxi ride from the city centre.

A 40-minute hike along Avenida Vicente Fray Solano or a taxi ride will take you there.

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