TripAdvisor names Cuenca second best tourist destination in Ecuador

Cuenca is Ecuador’s second best tourist destination for 2015 according to TripAdvisor. The website’s Travelers’ Choice awards are compiled based on ratings by tourists.

Cuenca’s Calderon Park.

Quito ranks first in the ratings. “It is one of the best preserved historical sites in Latin America,” TripAdvisor says.  The city ranks 11^th among all destinations in South America.

TripAdvisor says that visitors to Cuenca are attracted not just be its history but also by its reputation as the cultural capital of Ecuador. “Writers and poets have long flourished in this city that seems focused on the arts,” the website says. Beyond the city itself, visitors rated the Cajas National Park as one of Ecuador’s best natural attractions.

Guayaquil was rated third and was praised for its convenient international airport and various urban renewal projects, including the malecon on the Guayas River and the history park in the Las Peñas neighborhood.

Baños de Agua Santa (Ambato) is in fourth place on the TripAdvisor list, which was compiled before the recent activity of the Tungurahua volcano, which has emptied many of the town’s hotels and hostals.

Puerto Ayora in the Galapagos ranks 5^th. The Finch Bay Eco Hotel, which in 2014 was recognized as one of the Best Hotel Green in the world, is one of the town’s major attractions.

Other cities that received mention in the TripAdvisor list are Salinas, Loja, Riobamba, Mindo, Tena, and Ambato.