Our travels to Cuenca involved a 40 minute taxi ride to the Quito airport, a long wait at the airport and a 35 minute flight to Cuenca. The Cuenca airport is small, (3 gates) but very nice and extremely efficient. Our hotel, Casa San Rafael, had an absolutely charming colonial style ambiance. The hotel has 13 rooms, each with a private bath, this is something you have to remember to ask when booking a hotel as not all do. The hotel was once a private home and the hotel was the main living quarters (or the place where the important people lived as our hotel receptionist stated). The servant’s quarters was sectioned off, sold and now is a different business. I am not sure how old the building is, but, the hotel other than required additions such as the front desk, remains as it was in the original house.

I love the way Ecuadorian hotels include the name of the hotel and the room number on your keys. I guess security is different in Ecuador. We would have liked to pocket the key for a souvenir just because it is so rare to see a skeleton key actually in use.

I am sure the bathrooms were added on, maybe they were closets in the original home. I tried to show the perspective of the narrow door but it was hard to capture in a photo. The inside was nice but small, anyone over 5’4” would need to put their legs inside the shower stall to be seated.

The little breakfast nook area was so cute. Every time we walked into the hotel Tod would say, “Shelly would just love this place.”

At this point we are looking forward to exploring this city!