Transportation

Buses, Transportation, and Driving

You can catch the bus into Cuenca, Gualaceo, Azogues, or Paute right in front of the local store. It is approximately a 1 mile walk in the beautiful mountains. The ride to Cuenca takes a little over an hour, Gualaceo is 45 minutes. It takes about 50 minutes to go to Cuenca by car.

If you walk 45 minutes down to the tollbooths at the bottom of the mountain, you can get to Cuenca in 15 minutes from there. Don’t try to come back that way though or you’re in for one heck of a long, steep, uphill walk and muscles so sore you’ll crawl for days!

Use a driver if you want to stay later than 5 pm in the city, and share the cost with others who live at Gaia Sagrada if you want a night on the town. If you really want to stay out late and you want to keep it cheap, use a hostal or stay with a friend in the city, and come back on the bus the next day. Those are fun adventures!

You’ll have to do some walking to get to the transportation points. Gaia Sagrada is not for a person who can’t enjoy a good, healthy walk. If you’re looking for health improvement, exercise, or weight loss, walking to the bus will do the trick for your day’s workout. When you come back from the city it’s all downhill, so that doesn’t count!