San Cristóbal de las Casas
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Overview
Set in a gorgeous highland valley surrounded by pine forest, the colonial city of San Cristóbal (cris-toh-bal) has been a popular travelers’ destination for decades. It’s a pleasure to explore San Cristóbal’s cobbled streets and markets, soaking up the unique ambience and the wonderfully clear highland light. This medium-sized city also boasts a comfortable blend of city and countryside, with restored century-old houses giving way to grazing animals and fields of corn.
Attractions
Must-see attractions
San Cristóbal de las Casas
An atmospheric museum-research center, Na Bolom for many years was the home of Swiss anthropologist and photographer Gertrude Duby-Blom (Trudy Blom; 1901…
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Templo & Ex-Convento de Santo Domingo de Guzmán
San Cristóbal de las Casas
Located just north of the center of town, the imposing 16th-century Templo de Santo Domingo is San Cristóbal’s most beautiful church, especially when its…
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Museo de Sergio Arturo Castro Martínez
San Cristóbal de las Casas
The story behind this extraordinary collection – that's overseen by an even more extraordinary person, Don Sergio – is as interesting as the museum itself…
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Centro de Textiles del Mundo Maya
San Cristóbal de las Casas
Upstairs inside the Ex-Convento de Santo Domingo, this excellent museum showcases over 500 examples of handwoven textiles from throughout Mexico and…
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San Cristóbal de las Casas
On the north side of the plaza, the candy-colored cathedral was begun in 1528 but wasn't completed until 1815 because of several natural disasters. Sure…
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San Cristóbal de las Casas
This combined cafe and coffee museum is a venture of Coopcafé, a grouping of more than 17,000 small-scale, mainly indigenous, Chiapas coffee growers. The…
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San Cristóbal de las Casas
The leafy main plaza is a fine place to take in San Cristóbal’s unhurried highland atmosphere. Shoe-shiners, newspaper sellers and ambulantes (mobile…
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San Cristóbal de las Casas
Chiapas amber – fossilized pine resin that's around 30 million years old – is known for its clarity and diverse colors. Most is mined around Simojovel,…
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