8 within 3½ hours · 6 under 2 hours
San Cristóbal de las Casas is a Pueblo Mágico itself and the best base in Chiapas. Chiapa de Corzo, where the boats leave for the Sumidero Canyon, is forty-five minutes down the mountain; Comitán, with its plaza and the Montebello lakes beyond, an hour and a half south. Ocozocoautla and Copainalá, west of Tuxtla, are the gateway to the Sima de las Cotorras sinkhole and the Grijalva reservoirs. For a weekend, the Maya ruins of Palenque in the rainforest, with Tapijulapa and Teapa in Tabasco on the way.
Best months for the area: Jan, Feb, Mar, Dec (when most of these towns are dry with comfortable afternoons)
Day trips (under 2 hours) 6
Close enough to drive there and back from San Cristóbal de las Casas in a day. Closest first.
~1 h 25 min · 95 km
Best: Jan, Feb, Mar, Dec
Fiestas: Apr, May, Jul, Sep, Nov
~1 h 50 min · 125 km
Best: Jan, Feb, Mar, Dec
Fiestas: Jan, Feb, Apr, May, Jun, Sep, Nov, Dec
Weekend escapes (2 to 3½ hours) 2
Worth a night or two. Closest first.
~2 h 10 min · 145 km
Best: Jan, Feb, Mar, Dec
Fiestas: Mar, May, Aug, Nov, Dec
On the map
Getting there
San Cristóbal de las Casas has no airport with scheduled flights; the usual one to fly into is Tuxtla Gutiérrez (TGZ).
A car is the easiest way to reach most of these towns; the bigger ones also have direct buses from San Cristóbal de las Casas. 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.