Mirador del Rey, Cuenca
Standing at the Mirador del Rey on Cuenca's old-town cliff edge, you look straight down into the 60-metre-deep Huécar gorge while the city's famous Casas Colgadas — the medieval hanging houses — dangle impossibly over the void to your left. It is one of the most vertiginous and photogenic urban viewpoints in Spain.
The View and the Houses
The Casas Colgadas date from the 14th and 15th centuries and were originally royal summer residences. Today they house the Museo de Arte Abstracto Español, a world-class collection of 20th-century Spanish abstract art including works by Antoni Tàpies and Eduardo Chillida — an unlikely but perfect marriage of medieval architecture and modern canvas.
From the mirador, the limestone walls of the gorge drop in sheer bands of ochre, grey and rust, carved by the Huécar river. In spring the gorge floor is a vivid green ribbon; in winter, frost silvers the rockface and the hanging houses glow warmly against a pale sky.
Getting There and Beyond
The mirador is reached via the Calle Obispo Valero footpath from the Plaza Mayor, a gentle 10-minute walk through the old walled city past the Gothic cathedral. The path is well-signed and lit at night, when the houses are floodlit and the view becomes genuinely magical.
Cross the San Pablo footbridge (Puente de San Pablo) to reach the parador on the opposite cliff — a converted 16th-century convent — where the restaurant terrace offers the single best face-on view of the hanging houses over lunch.
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