- Code:A
- Type:province
- Native name:Azuay Province
- Population:801,609 (2022)
- Area:8,173 km²
- Elevation:2,500 m
- Capital:Cuenca
Introduction
Azuay, in Ecuador's southern highlands, is built around Cuenca — a UNESCO World Heritage colonial city widely considered Ecuador's most elegant, and the genuine home of the Panama hat, which despite its name has always been woven here rather than in Panama.
Overview
Cuenca, Azuay's provincial capital, earned its UNESCO World Heritage listing for a colonial centre that rivals Quito's own — cobblestone streets, red-tiled roofs, and a skyline dominated by the blue-and-white domes of the New Cathedral, built over more than a century and never quite finished as originally planned. Four rivers run through the city, and the riverside walks along the Tomebamba are one of Cuenca's most pleasant everyday pleasures rather than a tourist-only attraction. The city's other defining export is misleadingly named: the “Panama hat” has always been woven in Ecuador, predominantly in and around Cuenca, and was only ever associated with Panama because 19th- and early 20th-century travellers bought them while passing through the Panama Canal en route elsewhere. Genuine handwoven toquilla-straw hats, some taking months to complete for the finest grades, are still made and sold in Cuenca workshops today. Beyond the city, Azuay's highlands hold Cajas National Park, a high-altitude landscape of glacial lakes and páramo grassland within easy reach for a day trip, offering a genuinely different, wilder counterpoint to Cuenca's polished colonial core.
Discover Azuay
Cuenca's Colonial Centre
Cuenca's UNESCO-listed centre is built on a strict colonial grid, its architecture blending Spanish colonial form with later French influence brought by wealthy Cuencano families in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The New Cathedral's blue domes are the city's visual signature, visible from streets across the centre, while the older Cathedral facing the same main plaza shows the more restrained colonial style it eventually outgrew. Museums, artisan workshops and a lively café culture fill the surrounding streets, and the riverside promenades along the Tomebamba give the city a genuinely walkable, unhurried character distinct from the more intense pace of Quito.
The Real Panama Hat
Despite the name, Panama hats have always been made in Ecuador, and Cuenca and the surrounding Azuay countryside remain the centre of production. Hats are hand-woven from toquilla palm fibre, with the finest grades — tightly woven enough to hold water — taking skilled weavers months to complete. Workshops around Cuenca offer a genuine look at the weaving process rather than a staged demonstration, and the craft carries UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage recognition in its own right, separate from the city's own World Heritage listing.
Cajas National Park
A short drive from Cuenca, Cajas National Park protects a stark, beautiful high-altitude landscape of over 200 glacial lakes set among páramo grassland and twisted polylepis forest, the highest-altitude native tree in the world. Trails range from short lakeside walks to full-day hikes, and the altitude here — often above 4,000 metres — makes it a genuinely different physical experience from a Cuenca city day, worth approaching with the same acclimatisation care as the Avenue of Volcanoes further north.
Ways to Experience This Destination
Cuenca's blue-domed cathedral, colonial grid and riverside walks along the Tomebamba.
Hand-woven toquilla-straw hats, genuinely made in Cuenca and the surrounding countryside, not Panama.
High-altitude glacial lakes and páramo grassland, a short drive from the city.
Frequently asked questions
Why is it called a Panama hat if it's made in Ecuador?
Is Cuenca worth visiting alongside Quito?
What is Cajas National Park like?
Visaja keeps this page's contact details and visa guidance under continuous review — still, requirements can change at short notice, so confirm the essentials with the mission or the official government portal before you travel.