8 within 3½ hours · 6 under 2 hours
Tuxtla Gutiérrez is fifteen minutes from Chiapa de Corzo, where the boats leave for the Sumidero Canyon and the Parachicos dance in January, and half an hour from Ocozocoautla and the Sima de las Cotorras sinkhole. San Cristóbal de las Casas, the highland town of markets and Tzotzil villages, is an hour up the toll road. Copainalá, on the Grijalva reservoirs, is just over an hour. For a weekend, Comitán and the Montebello lakes, or Palenque's Maya ruins in the rainforest.
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 Tuxtla Gutiérrez in a day. Closest first.
57 min · 61 km
Best: Jan, Feb, Mar, Dec
Fiestas: Mar, Apr, Jun, Jul, Oct, Nov, Dec
~1 h 45 min · 115 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 50 min · 190 km
Best: Jan, Feb, Mar, Dec
Fiestas: Mar, May, Aug, Nov, Dec
On the map
Getting there
Tuxtla Gutiérrez has its own airport, Tuxtla Gutiérrez (TGZ), so you can fly in and rent a car there.
A car is the easiest way to reach most of these towns; the bigger ones also have direct buses from Tuxtla Gutiérrez. 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.