Cuenca · Castilla-La Mancha
Cuenca
A UNESCO World Heritage city built on the rim of a steep, craggy precipice, its Casas Colgadas (hanging houses) brazenly teetering over the ravine, now also a nerve centre of abstract modern art.
What Cuenca is like
Portrait drawn from Lonely Planet.
On the mouth of two river gorges, the Río Huécar and Río Júcar.
On the table. Stellar restaurants.
Worth the trip
- The Casas Colgadas (hanging houses)
- Contemporary art museums and galleries, including the Museo de Arte Abstracto Español
A little history
First built by the Moors in 714, Cuenca flourished as a fortified citadel for three centuries until King Alfonso XIII conquered the city in 1177, ending Moorish rule.
Who it suits: Architecture and modern-art travellers
The numbers
The decision data — each figure against the Spanish average. Regional overlays and estimates are labelled, and where there's no local reading we say so plainly.
Climate
- Winter average temp
- 6.4°C 1.3°C below the Spanish average (7.8°C)
- Summer high (Jul–Aug)
- 31.7°C 1.5°C above the Spanish average (30.2°C)
- Rainy days a year
- 70 days 3% more than the Spanish average (69 days)
- Sunshine estimated
- 7.3 h/day about the Spanish average (7.2 h/day)
- Summer water stress (WEI+) regional estimate
- 211 154 above the Spanish average (56)
Cost & economy
- Home price
- €1,567/m² 29% less than the Spanish average (€2,208/m²)
- Net income per person
- €14,988 3% more than the Spanish average (€14,495)
- Income growth ’18–’23
- 22.1%
Schools
- Schools in town
- no local data
- Nearest international school
- 136 km
- PISA maths (region) regional estimate
- 464 17 below the Spanish average (481)
Healthcare
- Drive to a hospital
- 0 min
- Nearest health centre
- 52.4 km
- Surgical wait (region) regional estimate
- 92 days 15% less than the Spanish average (108 days)
Getting around
- Drive to nearest airport
- 156 min
- Fibre-to-home coverage
- 98% 19% above the Spanish average (79%)
- 100 Mbps+ coverage
- 99% 16% above the Spanish average (83%)
Who lives here
- Population
- 53,761
- Born in Spain
- 85.2% 3.6% below the Spanish average (88.8%)
- Born elsewhere in EU/UK
- 2.7% 1.1% below the Spanish average (3.8%)
- U.S.-born residents
- 0.73 per 1,000
Numbers: SettleSpain town dataset, derived from INE, AEMET, Mitma, Ministerio del Interior and the Catastro. National average = the unweighted mean across all 8,132 Spanish municipalities with data. A blank means no municipal-level figure is published — not a zero.
How does Cuenca fit you?
These are the town's numbers. Whether it's your town depends on what you're optimising for — winter sun or mild summers, a city or a village, short medical waits, an easy flight home. The 3-minute quiz scores Cuenca against every one of Spain's 8,132 municipalities on your priorities.
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