The Best Activities in San Cristobal de las Casas

Explore the town on a walking tour

A great place to begin your adventure of San Cristobal de las Casas is by joining the Free Walking Tour. 

🕰️ These are held every day in English at 10am and 4pm and in Spanish at 10am. The meeting spot is at Plaza de la Paz, by the wooden cross in front of the large yellow cathedral.

This tour is a great way to learn more about the city, get insight into its history, some free tastings of Chiapas grown coffee and pox (a traditional drink made from corn), and see some of the political street art across the city.

💰 Don’t forget to tip the guide for all their local knowledge.

Taste the local cuisine on a food walking tour

You can not miss out on this Food Walking Tour of San Cristobal! This tour goes perfectly alongside the Free Walking Tour, and if you are up to it you can do both in one day and get your steps up.

🕰️ Run by a group of local men, this tour is offered at 12:30pm and 4pm everyday, in both English and Spanish. It takes about 3 hours because the guides show you so many local places to eat and drink. There is also the option to do this tour on bike or scooter.

💰 This tour is vale la pena (very worthwhile). You pay only $250 MXN and get to visit more than seven different places. 

The tour has a great mix of local cuisine and innovative gastronomy. You will get the chance to try mole, tostadas, barbeque, soups, micheladas, pox and cafe. There are also visits to different cuisine like Thai, Indonesian, Turkish, and a bar turning the cocktail experience on its head. 

I did this tour twice while I was living in San Cristobal and loved the experience. Both times I did the evening tour and at the end we all went to a popular bar with live music and continued our night there. All the guides are great, but if you get Claudio you’ll be in for a wild and eccentric adventure, that’s for sure. Say hi from me! 

Enjoy, and don’t forget to tip your guide.

The unmissable day tours

I am not someone that would typically recommend a tour if a place can be experienced with more flexibility and significantly cheaper doing it myself, however these are two popular tourism locations where I highly recommend a tour – each for different reasons.

Sumidero Canyon

Cañon del Sumidero is a stunning canyon a few hours away from San Cristobal, 13 km long and up to 1000m high. It is filled with wildlife including birds, monkeys and crocodiles, and stunning formations and caves.

A typical tour will take you to the miradors where you can see the Río Grijaval far below, on a boat trip through the canyon to see the formations and wildlife, and then will stop in Chiapa de Corzo for a late lunch and to explore the town.

Why I would do a tour: after lots of research on costs to do it myself, it would’ve turned out to be almost as expensive, with a lot more hassle. I do recommend booking the tour in person at one of the many travel agencies that line Andador de Guadalupe. The tours cost about $500-600 per person, which is significantly less than if you book online.

Read my post about Sumidero Canyon here

The Indigenous Town of San Juan Chamula

Chamula is an autonomously run Indigenous town about 45 minutes away from San Cris. They have their own laws, own leaders, and their own police and jail to deal with any wrong doers. The reason why the town is so special and popular for cultural tourism is because of the community’s determination to stick by their traditions.

Their main church, Templo de Jan Juan Bautista, is one of the most interesting cultural spaces in the whole of Mexico. Unfortunately you cannot take pictures inside at the request of the community, however the images will always stay with you. 

Its dark inside, lit only by candles on the ground. There’s no pews, no priest speaking his sermon. Families huddle in groups in front of the different saints that line the walls, singing and dancing to their musical prayers. The prayers can also involve pox, chickens, pine needles and end with fireworks being set off outside.

The tour I took also allowed us to enter one of the many homes that have shrines dedicated to one of the Saints. The caretaker of the shrine gave us pox which is an important part of their ceremony, and welcomed us to return the following day. 

We also visited the neighbouring Indigenous town of Zinacantan which is known for its large production of flowers and the textiles.

Why I would do a tour: While going to Chamula by colectivo by yourself is entirely possible, it can be difficult to understand what is going on without the in-depth explanations of the culture. 

Our guide was able to speak Tzotzil and knew the locals well. This also made the experience more significant to me as I then found it easier to connect with the individuals the tour guide introduced us to, and made me feel comfortable that I was being respectful. 

Our guide, Alex, has been doing tours to Chamula with his father since he was a child and is respected by and respectful of the community. I highly recommend booking a tour with Alex and Raúl for only $350 MXN.

Sunrise hiking options

Because San Cristobal is nestled in the mountains, it can make for some absolutely stunning sunrise adventures, especially watching the morning fog slowly clear.

I was volunteering there for 7 weeks so had ample opportunity to check out the best places for sunrises.

Montekik

Montekik lies just outside of the city and was my favourite place to watch the sunrise. The first part of the walk is along a road, and then turns into the forest on the right and weaves amongst the trees. It was beautiful to walk back through there on the way back.

🚶 Getting there: The easiest way to get there is to organise a taxi the night before. You can then catch a colectivo back to San Cristobal from the highway or organise for the taxi driver to return and pick you up after. 

🕰️ Timing: Leave around 1.5 hours before sunrise. It takes the taxi about 20-25 minutes to drive you to the access spot, and about an hour to walk up to the mirador. If you are getting the taxi to pick you up, I recommend leaving at least 2.5-3 hours so you’re not in a rush to get back down.

💰 Costs: You can pay the entrance free to Montekik of $50 MXN at the entrance when you are leaving. Taxi cost approx $400 each way.

Don Lauro

The Mirador at Don Lauro is just as stunning, however this viewpoint gives you the view over San Cristobal. This is a favourite of most of the locals. There are signs most of the way up with motivational phrases and red arrows, making it clear which way to go. When there were two options, we chose to take a left to Ruta del Aguila (Eagle Rock). This was the most recommended viewpoint.

🚶 Getting there: Again, the easiest way to get there is to organise a taxi the night before. You can then catch a colectivo back to San Cristobal or organise for the taxi driver to return and pick you up after. 

🕰️ Timing: Leave around 1 hour before sunrise. It takes the taxi about 15-20 minutes to drive you to the access spot, and about 45 mins to walk up to the mirador. If you are getting the taxi to pick you up, I recommend leaving at least 2 hours so you’re not in a rush to get back down.

💰 Costs: Taxis cost approx $175 each way.

San Cristobalito

San Cristobalito is the name of the little hill that rises in the middle of San Cristobal, making it the perfect place for sunrise. It has many many steps to scale to get to the top, but you will often find locals doing their morning exercise there.

🕰️ Timing: Check the route from your accommodation for the most accurate timing you’ll need.

Once the sun has risen, I highly recommend exploring the paths around the hill too. You can also head down the hill towards the Boulevard de las Americas, cross the road, and walk down the Camino a la Iglesia beside the river to reach a pretty park. There are so many birds to find in this area: I’ll be writing a blog post about what you can find here soon.

For more info on how to get to each sunrise spot and the costs, see my sunrise hike post.

The local Ecoparks: Arcotete, Encuentro and the Moxviquil Orchid Garden

San Cristobal is surrounded with so many stunning ecoparks that have been designated for tourism, hikes, picnics and other activities.

Arcotete Ecopark

Arcotete is known as a portal and is a place many of the spiritual residents of San Cristobal are very drawn to. Nestled in a pine forest and boasting multiple activities and a cave system, Arcotete is a great place to spend a sunny day. 

💰 Costs: There is a very small fee of $10 MXN to enter the park.

There are many things to do at Arcotete. Aside from admiring the huge arch (portal), you can:

• Explore the cave system including some interesting formations – $15 MXN

• Ziplining – $150 MXN
• Have a picnic
• Explore the trails and suspension bridges
• Rock climbing the arch – you’d need to bring your own gear 

Getting there: 

• 🚕 You can take a taxi which costs about $200 MXN.
• 🚌 Taking a colectivo is very simple. To get there wait on the corner of Calle Nicolas Ruiz and Avenida Remesal for a colectivo that says Arcotete on the front. It should cost $10 MXN and come very frequently. There’s a bus stop in the park for an easy return.

El Encuentro Ecopark

Encuentro is another ecopark closer into the city with many hikes you can find on AllTrails. There are often music events held here on major festivals and on Sunday afternoons. 

💰 Costs: There is a $10 MXN entrance fee.

Getting there: 

• 🚶 The walk there was very nice and meant we got to walk through some of the nice and richer areas of San Cristobal. There are two options, walking through Prol. San Nicolas and turning left when you get on the highway (this is the way we took), or walking along Francisco Leon and turning right at the highway. It takes just under an hour.
• 🚌 You can take a colectivo from Calle Chiapa de Corzo, next to Plaza del Cerillo for $10 MXN.

Moxviquil Orchid Garden and hike

The Jardín de Orquídeas Moxviquil is a lovely place to visit on a sunny day. The orchid garden has a number of sections including two greenhouses, and from the garden you can take a hike up the hills behind the garden and back down. The hike is relaxed, has places to stop for a picnic and also passes by a cave which you can explore.

💰 Costs: Entry to visit just the orchid garden is $50 MXN and to do the hike is another $50 MXN.

Getting there: 

• 🚶 It’s easy enough to walk to the garden from the Mercado Viejo, it takes about 25 minutes. Walking along Avenida Yajalón is very nice. Just take care when walking along the highway as there’s no footpath. 
• 🚕 You can hail a taxi which shouldn’t cost more than $100 MXN. 
• 🚌 To catch a colectivo costs $10 MXN. Take one that says x from Mercado Viejo and one that says Centro for the return.