This section is dedicated to take away all your "I wish someone had told me that before I went!" experiences. This way, you can spend less time settling in, and more time making new friends in your chosen hostel.
San Cristobal las Casas is a beautiful town nestled into the mountains of Chiapas, Mexico. Here you will find an abundance of things to see and do during your stay; most people stay for at least three days.
The bus station that connects to San Cristobal is only a short distance from the city center. You will find that all San Cristobal hostels are within this city center region, however they are scattered around the town. The town centers around the zocalo and this is also the location of one of the most popular cathedrals within the town to visit. You can walk up the steps at the end of Real Guadalupe to the church or up the steps at the other end of the town to the San Ignacio Church for spectacular views over the city and the mountains.
There are many tour companies that run trips out of San Cristobal, the most impressive of which heads to Sumidero Canyon and the Montebello Lakes. You can also get tours to Palenque from here, but you will have minimal time at the site given the long driving times to get there; a Palenque trip from here is not really worth it. They also do tours to traditional Mayan villages, so you can see how the communities live and the practices they use in their everyday lives.
They have cooking classes, Spanish classes, and a whole range of other activities run by locals so you can get involved and learn about the communities. A word of caution, however; there are many hawkers in the streets and many of them are children. You will also find children scamming money out of tourists for "entrance fees" into places that don't charge a fee and for "books for their school." Locals advise you not buy anything from children or give these children money, as it will keep them out of school and on the streets until the late hours of the evening earning money for their keepers.
Written by local expertz for San Cristóbal de las Casas
Globetrotter
