15 Best Things To Do In San Cristóbal de las Casas

San Cristóbal de las Casas is a charming city in the state of Chiapas in Southern Mexico. It’s a popular spot for tourists, especially those either heading into Guatemala afterwards or further up towards Palenque and the Yucatán.

The central area feels more like a small town, with its beautifully coloured single-story homes and cobbled streets. It’s got an interesting history, plus its a lot cooler than the other major destinations in Mexico due to its location in the mountains, which makes it a great place to explore along your Mexico itinerary.

Let’s jump in to the best things to do in San Cristóbal de las Casas:

1. Join a Walking Tour 🚶🏽‍♀️

Our favourite way to start in a new place is by joining a walking tour. It’s a brilliant opportunity to get your bearings, learn a historical snapshot of the place you’re in and discover places to go / things to see / places to eat at from a local.

Generally, we either book the best rated on Guruwalk or we’ll ask at our accommodation if they have any recommendations. While in Mexico, we’d usually default to Estación Mexico as their tours are fantastic, but at the time of our visit (and of writing) they don’t run walking tours in San Cristóbal.

Luckily, our hostel recommended a free walking tour which had amazing reviews – and it turned out to be the one that almost everyone we met that had visited San Cristóbal went on. 

You don’t need to reserve a spot; just turn up at 10am (English & Spanish) or 4pm (English only) at the wooden cross outside the cathedral in the Plaza de la Paz.

💰 Cost: Free – but tip based

2. Visit the Main Market (Mercado san Cristóbal) 🫓

Mercado san Cristóbal is a great little market that has everything. As you wander through, you’ll find indigenous women selling produce, tortillas, crafts, clothing, homeware & loads more.

The market is so colourful and bustling so it’s a great one to walk around and experience the daily life of people in the town. Make sure you keep your eyes peeled for some yummy snacks like tamales, chalupas and regional fruits.

If you’re walking here from town you will also walk past the Mercado de la Caridad y Santo Domingo which is the area outside the beautiful church with stalls full of amazing souvenirs and local produce.

💰 Cost: Free 

3. Temple de Santo Domingo de Guzman ⛪️

Temple de Santo Domingo de Guzman is a grand 16th‑century Baroque church with an intricate stone facade and golden interior.

It’s an impressive sight and certainly one to see, especially since it’s right next to the Mercado de la Caridad y Santo Domingo artisan market, so you might as well check out both when you’re in the area. Head through the nearby Mercado san Cristóbal after! 

💰 Cost: Free

4. Enjoy the Street Art 🎨

Simply by exploring on foot within the central area, you’ll no doubt see lots of incredible street art.

In San Cristóbal the street art is often community driven and feels more intimate/specific to the area, reflecting its indigenous culture, colonial history, and modern issues.

These pieces are some of our favourites – all are fairly close together so you can check them out together:

1. ‘Steal Water, Coca-cola mural’ – San Cristóbal has one of the biggest Coca Cola plants in Mexico which impacts the town both negatively and positively. You’ll see quite a lot of reference to Coca Cola in San Cristóbal.
2. Zapato murals amongst others are in this area also
3. As you turn the corner on the Avenida Pichucalco turning right, you will see lots more murals
4. On Avenida Pichucalco look out for the secret library on your left on the blue mural

💰 Cost: Free 

5. Iglesia de San Cristóbalito ⛪️

At the top of a winding, seemingly-endless set of stairs you’ll find the small Iglesia de San Cristóbalito overlooking the entire valley.

The charming little red & white church is well worth the ‘climb’ uphill for the epic views of San Cristóbal, as well as to admire the church itself, inside & outside.

Our hotel was on the opposite side of town too, so we found this to be a good excuse to explore a new area – there’s always more shops/restaurants/cafes to discover!

💰 Cost: Free 

6. ‘Cooking with Sofi’ Cooking Class 👩🏽‍🍳

Cooking with Sofi is one of the best – if not the best – cooking classes we did during our 8 month tour of Central America – really! Sofi’s flyer stood out to us whilst we were enjoying our walking tour, which included a stop in her cafe La Espirituosa to enjoy a Pox tasting (read 7 for more on Pox), and booked it immediately.

Sofi is a lovely and kind local whose passion for food is no joke! Her cooking classes are intimate and she doesn’t often mix groups, so you’ll essentially get to enjoy a private class! The maximum we think she accepts is 4 people per session.

What’s the experience like? Our advice is this: come hungry and be ready to leave stuffed. You’ll get to try local cheese & cream on tostadas and enjoy cocktails while Sofi preps the session and eases you into the chilled atmosphere.

Next up you’ll try your hand at making some epic guacamole & salsa. Afterwards, you’ll prepare veggies & a delicious sauce to cook your meat in for the main event. After the class we had so much food left over that we took it home for sandwiches the next day!

You can add a market visit to the class – we didn’t do this ourselves but we’d imagine visiting a market with a proper local would be a brilliant addition to the whole experience. 

To book, drop Sofi a message on WhatsApp (+52 967 134 0429) or Instagram (@cocinawithsofi).

💰 Cost: The price in 2025 was MX $900 pp +100 for the market visit (£36 / US $48). Well worth it!

7. Try Pox 🥃

Pox (pronounced ‘posh’) is a traditional Mayan corn-based liquor from the Chiapas area of Mexico, whose name means “medicine” or “cure”.

We’re not big liquor fans, but we had to at least give Pox a go since we were in San Cristóbal – and it wasn’t bad!

Often blended with wheat, sugarcane, and sometimes fruits or herbs, each will have subtly different flavours to enjoy. The exact recipe can vary by village or distiller.

While it’s traditionally drunk straight, in its current ‘modern revival’ it’s also being used in cocktails in bars around San Cristóbal. 

Where to try Pox:

• La Espirituosa – you will often finish the free walking tour here to try some pox
• La Poshería – loads of different flavours to choose from and plenty to buy to take home after!

💰 Cost: some tastings will be free

8. Check out all the shops on the walking street 🛍️

The main walking street (aka the street with no cars yay!) can be found here.

The entire stretch is lined with shops, cafes, bars and restaurants, so it’s a great one to simply wander down and explore.

It’s along this street you’ll find a lot of our top spots for food & drink in the area – check out our recommendations below:

• Best Restaurants in San Cristóbal de las Casas
• The Best Bars in San Cristóbal de las Casas
• Best Cafes in San Cristóbal de las Casas

💰 Cost: window shopping is free!

9. Free tapas at La Viña de Bacco 🍷

Yes you read that right! Free tapas!! La Viña de Bacco is one of the most popular spots in town in the evenings, perfectly situated on the main walking street, who serve a plate of free tapas for every drink bought! 

With both inside and outside seating and opening hours from 1pm – 12am, the bar is always busy, and has an extensive wine list and delicious plate of bruschetta style tapas coming with each drink for FREE. They even keep you topped up with free popcorn as you sip and eat!

Other tapas options on the menu are available to buy. Each plate we tried was really great quality and reasonably good value.

Sit inside and enjoy the cosy bar interior, or at one of many tables made from barrels outside along the walking street. Since it’s always busy, you’ll always be amongst many cheerful new faces, no matter where you decide to sit.

💰 Cost: free tapas when you buy a drink. Glasses of red wine start at MX $35 (around £1.35 or US $1.70), and our favourite wine was the Chilean Carmenere.

10. Iglesia de Guadalupe San Cristóbal ⛪️

The Iglesia de Guadalupe in San Cristóbal de las Casas, also known as the Temple of Our Lady of Guadalupe, is a picturesque hilltop church that sits at the top of a deceptively large set of stairs. Seriously, we had to take a break halfway up the staircase!

Despite the effort, it’s a charming church with excellent views over the city and valleys beyond. Head up at sunset for an even better view – but take a layer as soon as the sun goes down, it gets a bit chilly in San Cristóbal!

💰 Cost: Free

11. Mercado Municipal José Castillo Tielemans 🛍️

The Mercado Municipal José Castillo Tielemans is a wonderful and BIG market in San Cristóbal.

It covers everything from fresh fruit to meat, from souvenirs to clothing, and of course (if not the most important) it has lots of stalls for you to try local food and buy produce to use in your own cooking. 

Spend at least an hour walking around, soaking up the atmosphere and trying some of the yummy food on offer – we loved the tamales! Early morning is best, but the market is bustling all day.

💰 Cost: Free 

12. El Arcotete Parque Ecoturistico 🌳

Arcotete Parque Ecoturistico is famous in the area for its natural limestone arches & caves, and is surrounded by pine forest that’s popular for hikers.

We attempted a hike using Alltrails, but we ended up getting lost/couldn’t work out where the path should have been, so we went a bit off piste and made our own route around which ended with exploring the caves, traversing bridges over ravines and enjoying some excellent views.

To get there, you can take a colectivo (from this location on the side of the road) for about 20 minutes. The colectivo will drop you off/pick you up from just 100 metres up the road from the park entrance.

💰 Cost: There is a small entry fee of MX $25 and the colectivo was only MX $15 each way too, so a total of MX $40pp (£1.60 / US $2.10).

13. Enjoy a Fancy Dinner at Restaurant Tarumba 🍽️

As budget backpackers, we don’t often treat ourselves to ‘nice’ dinners – typically our criteria for choosing where to eat involves asking “what’s the cheapest?”.

However, when accommodation is only £13 per night – as it was for our hostel in San Cristóbal – we thought it’d be a lovely opportunity to splurge on a meal for a price that we’d normally spend on a week’s worth of dinners on.

We opted for Tarumba based on its excellent reviews, and let us tell you… those reviews are justified! It was likely some of the best food we’ve had in Mexico!

We enjoyed a small starter, 2 main meals, a shared dessert & an alcoholic drink each – every bite was utterly delicious! For the quality, we’d have honestly expected to pay a lot more – our ‘fancy meal’ actually ended up being pretty reasonable for only MX $1,055 (£40 / US $54) in total.

💰 Cost: as mentioned above, lovely as a treat when you’re on a budget.

14. Drinks at Ginger Lab 🍸

Ginger Lab is a hidden cocktail bar that’s an absolute MUST if you’re a fan of a cocktail. It’s situated on a rooftop too, so it’s perfect for a sunset or romantic night out! 

We had a chat with the owner of the bar, who is incredibly passionate about the bar’s theme – a scientific twist on cocktails. Your bartender will ask you what kind of cocktails you usually like (such as fruity, sweet, dry, fresh, etc) and ask you what spirits you don’t like. From this information, they’ll recommend the best matching drink from their menu (or even a custom cocktail), just for you!!

They even have tasters of the set cocktails in small bottles and pipettes (science style!) so you can try the flavours before choosing your poison!

It’s a refreshing theme and a great bar, so check it out if you get the chance!

💰 Cost: roughly MX $220 per cocktail (£8.50 or US $10.60)

15. Ecological Reserve and Orchid Garden 🌳

Reserva Ecológica y Jardín de Orquídeas Moxviquil is a 30 minute walk (or a short taxi ride) from the central area of San Cristóbal, but it’s worth a visit!

The gardens are well maintained with winding paths that lead you through the orchids and many other plant species, before leading you towards a hiking trail. The trail is only about 1-1.5 hours long with not-too-much uphill to it, so it’s possible for anyone with a base level fitness.

The woodlands you walk through are fresh and cool, offering a break from the hot sun – but don’t forget to bring your bug spray for those pesky mosquitos!

💰 Cost: MX $90 (£3.50 / US $4.80) for entrance to the orchid garden & the trail. You can purchase both separately if you only want to do one.