The Venue
Parador de Cuenca
Cloister. Parador de Cuenca
kTlog2 will be held in Parador de Cuenca, located in Convento de San Pablo, a former monastery of the Dominican order in the XVIth century. The picture on the left shows the cloister, now integrated in the venue. Below, an image of the famous Hanging Houses viewed from the bridge above the Huécar river that joins the Parador to the city center.
Getting to Cuenca
The recommended route is marked in bold face. But other possibilities might suit you better.
Plane
The closest airport to Cuenca is Madrid - Barajas Airport, situated 170 km away from Cuenca. Other options are Valencia (200 km) or Alicante (> 300km).
Once in Madrid, you can reach Cuenca by either train or bus.
Train
Getting to Parador de Cuenca by train. The main train operator in Spain is called Renfe.
You can reach Cuenca by train to "Estación de Cuenca - Fernando Zóbel".
Once in Fernando Zóbel you can take a bus to Parador de Cuenca: Take L1 bus from the train station to Plaza Mayor (approx. 30 min) and walk for a few minutes to Parador. You can also take a taxi or walk (1h)
From Madrid to Cuenca by train (approx 1h):
There are fast trains from Madrid to Cuenca from 2 different train stations:
"Chamartin - Clara Campoamor" train station. This train station is reachable from Madrid Barajas Airport by direct train from terminal T4 Barajas. 20 minutes ride, one train every 15 minutes. Look for Renfe - Cercanías (lines C1 or C10) train in T4 terminal. Buy Cercanias ticket once in Barajas Airport train station.
or
"Madrid - Puerta de Atocha" train station is also a very good option, just a bit further from the airport. Reach Puerta de Atocha train station by the same Cercanias lines C1 and C10. 35 minutes ride, every 15 minutes. Buy Cercanias ticket once in Barajas Airport train station.
You should book your fast train ticket from Madrid to Cuenca in advance.
You can check timetables and buy tickets for fast train either from Chamartin or Atocha in Renfe web page: https://www.renfe.com/es/en
Select From MADRID (TODAS) to CUENCA (TODAS) and book your train.
Additionally, as of June 2023 there is a new fast train operator offering trips from Chamartin to Cuenca, Iryo: https://iryo.eu/en/home
Other options:
From Valencia to Cuenca by train:
There are trains from Joaquin Sorolla train station to Fernando Zóbel - Cuenca train station operated by Renfe. It takes about 1h. To reach Joaquin Sorolla station from Valencia airport take metro lines 3 or 5 at the airport, change in Ángel Guimera to line 1 or 2 to metro station Jesús. Then walk a few minutes.
From Alicante to Cuenca by train:
There are trains from Alicante (Alacant Terminal train station) to Cuenca (Fernando Zóber) either by Renfe or Iryo in about 1h30 to 2h. Check their websites above.
To get to Alacant Terminal from Aeropuerto de Alicante there are Bus services (C6 and L1).
Bus
From Madrid to Cuenca by bus:
Bus services join Estación Sur de Autobuses - Méndez Álvaro (MADRID) to Estación Central (CUENCA) in about 2 hours.
You can reach Estación Sur de Autobuses from Barajas Airport by metro, line 8 (pink) from either terminal T4 or T2 to Nuevos Ministerios. Change in Nuevos Ministerios to line 6 (gray) to Madrid Mendez Álvaro stop. Bus station is easy to find from the metro. To access Metro at the Airport (or to get out of Metro at the Airport on your way back) an additional ticket (3€) apart from the regular metro ticket needs to be purchased. This can be obtained in special machines at the airport metro station, either to get in or out.
Once in Estación Central in Cuenca, you can reach Parador de Cuenca by L1 bus (from the station) to Plaza Mayor. From Plaza Mayor walk less than 10 minutes to Parador.