Sights in Chiapas
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El Panchán
El Panchán is a legendary travelers’ hangout, set in a patch of dense rainforest. It’s the epicenter of Palenque’s alternative scene and home to a bohemian bunch of Mexican and foreign residents and wanderers, including a number of archaeologists and anthropologists. Once ranchland, the area has been reforested by the remarkable Morales family, some of whom are among the leading archaeological experts on Palenque. El Panchán has several (fairly rustic) places to stay, a couple of restaurants, a set of sinuous streams rippling their way through every part of the property, nightly entertainment, a meditation temple, a temascal (pre-Hispanic steam bath) and a constant strea…
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Museo del Ámbar de Chiapas
Chiapas amber – fossilized pine resin, around 30 million years old – is known for its clarity and diverse colors. Most is mined around Simojovel, north of San Cristóbal. The Museo del Ámbar de Chiapas explains all things amber (with information sheets in English and other languages) and displays and sells some exquisitely carved items and insect-embedded pieces.
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Cathedral
On the north side of the plaza, the cathedral was begun in 1528 but wasn't finally completed till 1815 because of several natural disasters. Sure enough, new earthquakes struck in 1816 and 1847, causing considerable damage, but it was restored again in 1920-22. The gold-leaf interior has five gilded altarpieces featuring 18th-century paintings by Miguel Cabrera.
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Grutas de San Cristóbal
The entrance to this long cavern is among pine woods. The first half kilometer of the cave has a concrete walkway and is lit. The Mexican army took control of the land around the caves in 2003, though visitors are still welcome.
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Museo de la Medicina Maya
The award-winning Museo de la Medicina Maya introduces the system of traditional medicine used by many indigenous people in the Chiapas highlands. It's a 15-minute walk north from Calle Real de Guadalupe or around $18 by taxi.
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Templo de las Inscripciones Group
As you walk in from the entrance, passing to the south of the overgrown Templo XI, the vegetation suddenly peels away to reveal most of Palenque's most magnificent buildings in one sublime vista. A line of temples rises in front of the jungle on your right, culminating in the Templo de las Inscripciones about 100m ahead; El Palacio, with its trademark tower, stands to the left of the Templo de las Inscripciones; and the Grupo de las Cruces rises in the distance beneath a thick jungle backdrop.
The first temple on your right is Templo XII, called the Templo de La Calavera (Temple of the Skull) for the relief sculpture of a rabbit or deer skull at the foot of one of its pil…
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Grupo de las Cruces
Pakal's son, Kan B'alam II, was a prolific builder, and soon after the death of his father started designing the temples of the Grupo de las Cruces (Group of the Crosses). All three main pyramid-shaped structures surround a plaza southeast of the Templo de las Inscripciones. They were all dedicated in AD 692 as a spiritual focal point for Palenque's triad of patron deities. The 'cross' carvings in some buildings here symbolize the ceiba tree, which in Maya belief held up the universe.
The Templo del Sol (Temple of the Sun), on the west side of the plaza, has the best-preserved roof comb at Palenque. Carvings inside, commemorating Kan B'alam's birth in AD 635 and accession…
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Palenque Northeastern Grupos
East of the Grupo Norte, the main path crosses Arroyo Otolum. Some 70m beyond the stream, a right fork will take you to Grupo C, a set of jungle-covered buildings and plazas, thought to have been lived in from about AD 750 to 800.
If you stay on the main path, you'll descend steep steps to a group of low, elongated buildings, probably occupied residentially around AD 770 to 850. The path goes alongside the Arroyo Otolum, which here tumbles down a series of small falls forming natural bathing pools known as the Baño de la Reina (Queen's Bath). Unfortunately, one can't bathe here anymore.
The path continues to another residential quarter, the Grupo de Los Murciélagos (Bat G…
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El Palacio
Diagonally opposite the Templo de las Inscripciones is the Palace, a large structure divided into four main courtyards, with a maze of corridors and rooms. Built and modified piecemeal over 400 years from the 5th century on, it probably really was the residence of Palenque's rulers.
Its tower, built in the 8th century by Ahkal Mo' Nahb' III and restored in 1955, has remnants of fine stucco reliefs on the walls, but you're not allowed to climb up inside it. Archaeologists believe the tower was constructed so that Maya royalty and priests could observe the sun falling directly into the Templo de las Inscripciones during the winter solsticeThe northeastern courtyard, the Pat…
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Zoológico Miguel Álvarez del Toro (Zoomat)
Chiapas, with its huge range of natural environments, has the highest concentration of animal species in North America, including several varieties of big cat, 1200 butterfly species and more than 600 birds. About 180 of these species, many of them in danger of extinction, are found in relatively spacious enclosures at Tuxtla’s excellent zoo. The Zoológico Miguel Álvarez del Toro (Zoomat) has several innovative features, including a ‘museum’ about itself with information about the life of its pioneering conservationist founder Dr Miguel Álvarez del Toro. Beasts you’ll see here include ocelots, jaguars, pumas, tapirs, red macaws, toucans, snakes, spider monkeys and three…
reviewed
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Yaxchilán
Jungle-shrouded Yaxchilán has a terrific setting above a horseshoe loop in the Río Usumacinta. The control this location gave it over river commerce, and a series of successful alliances and conquests, made Yaxchilán one of the most important Classic Maya cities in the Usumacinta region. Archaeologically, Yaxchilán is famed for its ornamented facades and roofcombs, and its impressive stone lintels carved with conquest and ceremonial scenes. A flashlight is helpful for exploring some parts of the site and last entry is at 3:30pm. Drinks are sold at a shack near the river landing. Howler monkeys (saraguates) inhabit the tall trees here, and are an evocative highlight. Y…
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Las Guacamayas
In the small village of Reforma Agraria, 49km southwest of Benemérito, the beautiful ecolodge of Las Guacamayas is the heart of an impressive community program to protect the local population of scarlet macaws. This spectacular and endangered member of the parrot family once ranged as far north as Veracruz, but its only Mexican home today is far eastern Chiapas. Numbers at Reforma Agraria have increased to more than 100 pairs since 1991, when the 14.5-sq-km macaw reserve was founded. The birds move in and out of the reserve in seasonal pursuit of food; the best months for observing them are December to June, when they are nesting.
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Bonampak
The site of Bonampak spreads over 2.4 sq km, but all the main ruins stand around the rectangular Gran Plaza. Never a major city, Bonampak spent most of the Classic period in Yaxchilán’s sphere of influence. The most impressive surviving monuments were built under Chan Muwan II, a nephew of the Yaxchilán’s Itzamnaaj B’alam II, who acceded to Bonampak’s throne in AD 776. The 6m-high Stele 1 in the Gran Plaza depicts Chan Muwan holding a ceremonial staff at the height of his reign. He also features in Stele 2 and Stele 3 on the Acrópolis, which rises from the south end of the plaza.
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Sima de Las Cotorras
Located inside the Reserva de la Biosfera Selva El Ocote, the Sima de Las Cotorras is a dramatic 160m-wide sinkhole that punches 140m down into the earth. In the early morning, a green cloud of screeching parrots spirals out for the day, trickling back before dusk. With binoculars you can see a series of red pre-Hispanic rock paintings that decorate one side of the cliff face, and you can also hike or rappel down inside this intriguing subterranean hole. Lodging is available, as well as a good restaurant serving scrumptious tamales and handmade tortillas.
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Las Nubes
A bit of a trek but well worth it, Las Nubes is a heavenly retreat among scores of cascades and rapids on the turquoise Río Santo Domingo. Some of the river pools are great swimming spots – it’s M$10 per person to swim here if you’re not staying the night. A swinging bridge straddles a fierce section of water-carved canyon, making an excellent vantage point from which to swoon over the grandest waterfalls. There’s an adrenaline-pumping zip-line (M$50), and you can spelunk and rappel from February through June. A 15-minute hike up to a mirador rewards you with blue-green jungle views.
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Museo Arqueológico del Soconusco
The modernized, well-displayed Museo Arqueológico del Soconusco faces Parque Hidalgo. Steles and ceramics from Izapa are prominent. On these steles the top fringe represents the sky and gods, the middle depicts earthly life and the bottom fringe shows the underworld. There are also 5000-year-old stone heads and figurines from the coastal marshes, a collection of pre-Hispanic musical instruments (drums, conch trumpets, scrapers made from human bones…), and other items displaying Olmec, Teotihuacán, Maya and Aztec influences.
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Yaxchilán
Jungle-shrouded Yaxchilán has a terrific setting above a horseshoe loop in the Río Usumacinta. The control this location gave it over river commerce, and a series of successful alliances and conquests, made Yaxchilán one of the most important Classic Maya cities in the Usumacinta region. Archaeologically, Yaxchilán is famed for its ornamented facades and roofcombs, and its impressive stone lintels carved with conquest and ceremonial scenes. A flashlight is helpful for exploring some parts of the site.
reviewed
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Grutas de San Cristóbal
The entrance to this long cavern is situated in pine woods 9km southeast of San Cristóbal, a five-minute walk south of the Pan-American Hwy. The first 350m or so of the cave is lit and open for viewing, with a concrete walkway threading through a dazzling chasm of stalagmites and stalactites. An extensive army base buffers the caves, but visitors are still welcome. Horseback riding is available from the parking area, where you’ll also find comedores.
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Café Museo Café
This combined café and coffee museum is a venture of Coopcafé, a grouping of more than 17,000 small-scale, mainly indigenous, Chiapas coffee growers. The museum covers the history of coffee and its cultivation in Chiapas, from highly exploitative beginnings to the community-based indigenous coffee production that’s increasingly well marketed today. The information is translated into English and you can taste some of that flavorful organic coffee in the café.
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Maya Ruins
These Maya ruins feature three ball courts, a 20m tiered pyramid and other structures rising from a terraced, wooded hillside. Like Chinkultic Tenam Puente was one of a set of fringe Classic Maya settlements in this part of Chiapas that (unlike more famed lowland sites such as Palenque and Yaxchilán) seem to have survived in the post-Classic period, possibly as long as AD 1200. It has a pleasant rural setting and good long-distance views.
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Plaza Cívica
Bustling and broad, Tuxtla's main square Plaza Cívica occupies two blocks flanked by an untidy array of concrete civic and commercial structures. At its southern end, across Av Central, you'll find nice hill views in front of the whitewashed modern Catedral de San Marcos. The cathedral's clock tower tinkles out a tune on the hour to accompany a kitsch merry-go-round of apostles' images that emerges from its upper levels.
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Misol-Ha
Just 20km south of Palenque, spectacular Misol-Ha cascades 35m into a wonderful wide pool surrounded by lush tropical vegetation. It’s a sublime place for a dip when the fall is not excessively pumped up by wet-season rains. A path behind the main fall leads into a cave, which gives a great close-up experience of the power of the fall. Misol-Ha is 1.5km off Hwy 199 and the turnoff is signposted.
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Casa Museo Dr Belisario Domínguez
Casa Museo Dr Belisario Domínguez is the family home of Comitán’s biggest hero and the site of his medical practice. It provides (in Spanish) fascinating insights into the state of medicine and the life of the professional classes in early-20th-century Chiapas (with a reconstruction of the onsite pharmacy), as well as the heroic tale of Domínguez’ political career, ending in his assassination.
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Templo de Santo Domingo
The 16th-century Templo de Santo Domingo is San Cristóbal’s most beautiful church, especially when its facade catches the late-afternoon sun. This baroque frontage, with its outstanding filigree stucco work, was added in the 17th century and includes the double-headed Hapsburg eagle, symbol of the Spanish monarchy in those days. The interior is lavishly gilded, especially the ornate pulpit.
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Centro Cultural El Carmen
The Arco de El Carmen, at the southern end of the Andador Turístico on Hidalgo, dates from the late 17th century and was once the city’s gateway. The ex-convent just east is a wonderful colonial building, with a large peaceful garden. It’s now the Centro Cultural El Carmen, hosting art and photography exhibitions and the occasional musical event.
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