Cuenca and the Hanging Houses

Cuenca balances its medieval old town on a knife-edge ridge between the gorges of the Huecar and Jucar rivers, a fortress city so improbably sited that UNESCO inscribed it whole in 1996. Its emblem is the Casas Colgadas - the Hanging Houses - whose tiered wooden balconies cantilever clean over the Huecar cliff, medieval in origin and much rebuilt, today housing a renowned Museum of Spanish Abstract Art in rooms where the floor seems to float over the canyon. The best view is earned from the San Pablo footbridge, a slender iron crossing high above the gorge, while the ridge-top town rewards wandering: a cathedral begun in the 12th century and counted among Spain's earliest Gothic works, plazas in faded ochre and carmine, and lanes that end abruptly in cliff-edge air. Painters colonised Cuenca in the 20th century, and the town still carries that art-and-stone double life.

What you actually see

• The Casas Colgadas - wooden balconies hanging over the Huecar gorge.
• The San Pablo bridge - the iron footbridge with the classic view back.
• The cathedral - one of Spain's earliest Gothic works, oddly faced.
• The gorge-edge lanes - a walled town ending in cliff air on both sides.

When to go

Spring and autumn give the ridge its best walking weather; summer afternoons scorch the exposed lanes. Evening light on the Hanging Houses from the San Pablo bridge is the photograph - stay past the day-trip departures.

Honest expectations

The famous hanging houses are few - three principal facades - and first sight can feel smaller than the postcards; the town-and-gorge ensemble is the real show. The climb from the modern lower town is steep, and the footbridge tests vertigo. The abstract art museum keeps limited hours - check before building the day around it.

Nearby

The Ciudad Encantada rock formations, the Jucar gorge drives and Madrid an hour away.