{"id":2076,"date":"2014-10-27T15:28:15","date_gmt":"2014-10-27T15:28:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.spainexchange.com\/?p=2076"},"modified":"2026-10-09T15:01:40","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T15:01:40","slug":"the-amazing-world-of-ciudad-encantada-the-enchanted-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.spainexchange.com\/articles\/the-amazing-world-of-ciudad-encantada-the-enchanted-city\/","title":{"rendered":"Ciudad Encantada (\u201cThe Enchanted City\u201d), Cuenca"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Ciudad Encantada (“Enchanted City”) is a natural site of limestone rock formations in the mountains north of the city of Cuenca, in Castilla-La Mancha. Erosion has shaped the rocks into figures that look like animals, objects and people. This post explains how the site formed, what the marked route shows, and what a visit costs and requires in 2026.<\/p>\n

Where it is<\/h2>\n

The site lies in Valdecabras, a village that belongs to the municipality of Cuenca, at kilometre 19 of the CM-2104 road. Spain’s official tourism website puts it 28 kilometres from the city of Cuenca. It sits inside the Parque Natural de la Serran\u00eda de Cuenca, among large pine forests, and close to the canyon that the river J\u00facar cuts between U\u00f1a and Villalba de la Sierra. Cuenca’s tourist board gives the altitude as almost 1,500 metres.<\/p>\n

The Ciudad Encantada was declared a Natural Site of National Interest on 11 June 1929. It is run as a tourist park with a ticket office, and it has its own official website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

How the rocks were formed<\/h2>\n

According to the park, the story starts 90 million years ago, when the area was part of the bed of the Tethys Sea. Calm water allowed salts to settle, above all calcium carbonate. At the end of the Cretaceous the sea withdrew and the limestone seabed rose to the surface. Water, wind and ice have worn it down since then. Geologists call the process karst, and the regional government lists the Ciudad Encantada of Valdecabras among the best examples of this kind of relief in the natural park.<\/p>\n

The shapes come from the different hardness of the rock layers. Spain.info<\/a> explains that the top layer is grey magnesian limestone, which resists erosion better than the reddish rock below. The lower part wears away faster, which leaves overhangs and the mushroom-like outlines the site is known for.<\/p>\n

What the route shows<\/h2>\n

There is one way-marked circular route of 3 kilometres. Many formations have signs with the name of the figure they resemble. The names that the official tourism sources list include:<\/p>\n