Grutas de Cacahuamilpa

The Grutas de Cacahuamilpa are one of the largest and best-known caves in Mexico, about 30 kilometers north of Taxco. The tourist route follows a single enormous gallery for roughly two kilometers, 30 to 80 meters wide and in places some 70 meters high, divided into about twenty chambers by curtains of stalactites and stalagmites. The salons carry names inspired by their shapes, such as the Throne, the Palms, the Sheep and the Cathedral, and the cave is still alive: water keeps seeping in and the formations are still growing.

The gallery is an old channel of the San Jerónimo River, which now runs about 100 meters below. Chontal peoples used the caves for ceremonies long before the Spanish arrived; the modern story begins in 1834, when a man hiding from the authorities in them led to their discovery. Emperor Maximilian visited in 1866, and in 1936 President Lázaro Cárdenas made the area a national park.

The park also protects two underground rivers, the Chontalcoatlán and the San Jerónimo, which join near the caves at a spot called Dos Bocas to form the Amacuzac River. Outside the caves there are walking paths through dry tropical forest, a small botanical garden, and limestone walls popular with rock climbers.