Feb/Mar 2023 - Prepare to be Charmed - San Cristóbal de las Casas

This is a blog entry that maybe I shouldn’t write. San Cristóbal de las Casas (or just San Cristóbal) is a quaint, entertaining, small city, but best of all, it’s pretty much a secret! It’s not on most people’s travel paths and takes a little bit of effort to get to.

All of that said, we had learned about San Cristóbal online. Yes, the secret is getting out, but its remote location has kept the number of visitors down. We continue to drive around Mexico with our car, but travelers can also fly into nearby Tuxtla or take a bus to reach San Cristóbal. The town sits in the mountains between Tuxtla and Palenque at an altitude of about 7,000 feet, almost as far south as you can go in Mexico before reaching Guatemala. In fact, there are numerous tour companies in town providing shuttles and overnight stays to Guatemala. As a mountain town, the weather in San Cristóbal is very pleasant. We woke to temps around 50, reaching a high of 70-75 most days. It took us a few days to get used to the comparatively cooler weather, but we all (including Gunner) really enjoyed the mild weather during our stay. San Cristóbal does have a rainy season in the summer, but the temperature doesn’t really vary that much throughout the year.

Mountains + jungle on the road

Forest at the Arcotete

Condo and courtyard

When looking for lodging, we debated between something in town, within easy walking distance of the centro vs. a house in the hills east of town with a larger lot for Gunner to roam around. We settled on a place in town and were very happy with the spot we found. It was one of eight rooms surrounding a large garden full of flowers and trees. Gunner was able to stretch out in the yard or explore a bit when we would sit outside with him. Our condo had a king-sized bed, as well as a couch and sitting area in a small upper loft. The furnishings were very modern, and we agreed that the mattress was the most comfortable that we’ve had in Mexico. The kitchen was well-furnished, especially for a couple that continues not to cook very much. The wifi was great and the shower had plenty of hot water. The only thing missing was a washer and dryer. But we managed to find a good laundromat a few blocks away for the super-low price of 12 pesos per kilogram (we’ve typically paid 20-30 pesos per kilogram in other cities).

The neighborhood surrounding our condo was a collection of shops and homes, with typically narrow cobblestone sidewalks. In addition to being narrow, we have found sidewalks in Mexico to be inconsistently modified for access to each building. Some will have ramps, some will have steps, and there seems to be little concern with modifying the public sidewalk to meet individual needs. As a pedestrian, you have to be vigilant to avoid tripping or twisting an ankle (or stepping in random gifts from stray dogs!). On our first night in town, we did a quick google search for “pizza” and were pleasantly surprised when we walked a few short blocks to the restaurant and found a clean and modern walking mall connecting our neighborhood to the centro. Our daily routine quickly came to include both a morning and evening walk for Gunner, down the mall to the centro, around the small central park, then back to our condo. To be honest, we really lucked out with the nearby walking mall. Gunner loved the walks, and we found that we rarely needed to use our car. We also felt very safe in these areas, often walking at night, which we often try to avoid in Mexico.

Our well-traveled walking mall

Lights and entertainment

Gunner loved his walks

San Cristóbal is large enough to have a Walmart, Sam’s Club, and the Chedraui grocery store chain for us to stock up on basics. Mostly cereal, milk, toilet paper, and some fruits and vegetables. Mango season started while we were there, so we made sure to get lots of them – much better than the frozen variety we lived on through the winter!

We found quite a good variety of restaurants in San Cristóbal. Surprisingly, there are a large number of Italian/pizza places, and tapas/botanas are also quite popular. At many of the botanas restaurants, you get a free snack plate for each wine or beer you buy. But realistically, unless you plan to sit a while, it’s easier to order a specific dish or a sampler plate. The best tapas sampler we found was at El Cau, whereas the best house wine was at La Viña del Bacco. We also found a modern food mall south of the centro that we visited multiple times for Japanese or Thai food (at Maho and Bangcook). The food mall also had a French restaurant and a Peruvian restaurant that we did not try. Along or near the walking mall, we found an Argentinian place, a good Indian place, many local spots for burritos, alambres, tamales, and tacos, and some serving more Yucatecan/Mayan style Mexican food. One of the local restaurants, Los Pinchanchas, had a nightly performance of traditional Chiapanecan dances. We also found a decent microbrewery and a restaurant specializing in local craft beers and pub food (La Artisanal).

Traditional dancing

Most of the restaurants along the walking mall had outdoor café-style seating, which was very nice though often crowded. At the local Mexican restaurants, the variety of salsas was quite good. In many places that we’ve visited, we get just a couple of basic mild to medium salsas, but in San Cristóbal we often got some hot habanero salsas, with a great combination of flavor and kick. Food costs in San Cristóbal were generally less than our other destinations in Mexico, with meals typically between 150-200 pesos per person. All-in, for 2 people plus drinks, we would typically spend around 500 pesos. While this is typically a good price for our meals, the dollar has been devaluing against the peso this winter, so our food costs ended up about 10% higher during our stay. On a couple of occasions, we didn’t finish our meal and had the remainder packed up for takeaway. San Cristóbal is the first place we’ve been where children on the streets would ask us for our leftovers. Of course, we gave them our food.

Textiles in Zinacantan

Traditional street vendor

Hand-embroidered outfit

San Cristóbal’s tourism is based on its local culture, the various cultures of the surrounding towns, and organized tours near and far. Textile-weaving is popular, with many stores or street vendors selling hand-woven and hand-embroidered products. Many of the surrounding towns do the same, but most have a style, pattern, or colors unique to the town. During our stay, we took an organized tour to the local villages of Zinacantán and Chamula. In Zinacantán, we visited a textile shop and ate some locally-prepared breakfast tacos. Zinacantán is also known regionally for its flower growing, but we weren’t able to see much of that. We visited Chamula towards the end of Carnaval. Most of the residents were gathered in the town square, wearing traditional clothing or performing traditional dances. Most of the residents also object to having their picture taken, so visiting Chamula to see the people first-hand is a must. Chamula is also known for its church, which is reported to be the only one in Mexico that blends Catholic and Mayan traditions. During our visit, we saw some rituals that included candles and beverages, but we missed seeing the somewhat-famous rituals that include sacrificing chickens.

Many of the tours around San Cristóbal are to natural sites, like parks, lakes, waterfalls, or the giant Sumidero Canyon. We drove to the nearby town of Chiapa de Corzo and organized our own boat tour through the canyon. On our 2-hour tour, we rode past huge canyon walls and saw lots of wildlife, including monkeys, cranes, and crocodiles. Talking with others, getting our own tour was much better than taking one of the organized groups from town. The organized tours try to hit more stops, so we got more time on the boat / in the canyon and much less time in a car. The tour itself cost 280 pesos, or about $15, each. We visited two local parks, with lots of trails to walk around, and lots of space for Gunner to explore. Both parks had a low admission fee of 20 pesos ($1) per person, and an additional fee of 20-30 pesos to explore some caves. At Arcotete, we had to take turns exploring the cave because Gunner was not allowed inside. There were many narrow or steep areas to navigate, and he would have had a tough time with the slick limestone floors. At Grutas de Mamut, we walked through multiple connected rooms with high ceilings and multiple stalactites. At these caves, Gunner was even permitted to wander with us on a leash. In town, we took a couple of city tours, visited some local museums, and even found a couple of salsa classes.

Sumidero Canyon

Cave at the Grutas de Mamut

Gunner at the Arcotete

San Cristóbal has its share of expats but, as I mentioned in the beginning, is largely undiscovered. Most of the expats appeared to be European, and most of the tourists appeared to be Mexican. There are a few resources for non-natives, such as language schools, but they’re not as prevalent as we’ve seen in Chapala or San Miguel. The overall city is decent-sized, but we stayed entertained near the centro, giving San Cristóbal a not-crowded, small-town feel.

After multiple months in the high-cost Mexican Riviera, it was nice to spend some time in a much more affordable town. Our condo cost $850 for 4 weeks, with all utilities included. We spent about $150 on our entertainment, including multiple city tours, the Sumidero boat ride, parks, dancing, etc. With almost all of our activities in town, we only bought ½ of a tank of gas during our stay, far less than everywhere else we’ve stayed. Our food costs were the only excess – approximately $28 per day to eat out, and another $10 per day for all other food and drinks. But as I mentioned before, inflation is hitting Mexico the same as the US, and food prices have risen at least 10% in the past year (based on some photos of older menus that I found on Google Maps). All-in, we managed to keep our daily costs at $80 per day in San Cristóbal – very similar to Puebla, and a bit more than Manzanilla, both of which we ate more meals at home rather than out.

Adios, San Cristóbal!

We really enjoyed our time in San Cristóbal. There are many things about it that make it our favorite spot in Mexico – nice weather, small-town feel, good food, and the clean, walkable malls around the centro. We could easily see ourselves living there for multiple months at a time. But as a long-term destination, San Cristóbal is missing some of the comforts and robust medical facilities found in other expat-hotspots like Chapala and San Miguel. Will we return – most likely, perhaps even multiple times.