22 within 3½ hours · 8 under 2 hours
Orizaba is itself a Pueblo Mágico, and its neighbours Córdoba and Coscomatepec are both half an hour away: the first a coffee town where the treaty ending Spanish rule was signed, the second a mountain village of bakeries under the Pico de Orizaba. Over the sierra are the coffee towns of Xico, Coatepec and Naolinco, and across the plateau Tlaxcala's Huamantla and Ixtenco, all within about two hours. For a weekend, head down into the Sierra Mazateca to Huautla de Jiménez.
Best months for the area: Feb, Mar, Apr, Dec (when most of these towns are dry with comfortable afternoons)
Day trips (under 2 hours) 8
Close enough to drive there and back from Orizaba in a day. Closest first.
~1 h 20 min · 90 km
Best: Feb, Mar, Apr, May
Fiestas: Apr, May, Sep, Nov, Dec
Weekend escapes (2 to 3½ hours) 14
Worth a night or two. Closest first.
~2 h 15 min · 155 km
Best: Feb, Mar, Apr, May
Fiestas: Jan, Mar, Apr, Jul, Aug, Dec
~2 h 30 min · 170 km
Best: Jan, Feb, Mar, Dec
Fiestas: Feb, Mar, Apr, Jun, Aug, Sep, Nov
On the map
Getting there
Orizaba has no airport with scheduled flights; the usual one to fly into is Veracruz (VER).
A car is the easiest way to reach most of these towns; the bigger ones also have direct buses from Orizaba. Each pueblo's page has its own getting-there notes.
Drive times are from OpenStreetMap routing without traffic. Times marked ~ are estimated from the distance and may run longer on mountain roads.