Unexplored Mexico: Chiapas and Tabasco

21.07.2023 - 07:56 / roughguides.com

For many years Chiapas and Tabasco were famous for revolutionaries, chilli sauce and little else. But these neighbouring Mexican states are increasingly appearing on tourist itineraries, drawing in travellers with their magnificent ruins, colonial cities, unique indigenous cultures and lip-tingling cuisine. Shafik Meghji heads off the beaten track.

Stretched along the Guatemalan border in Mexico’s far south, Chiapas is an incredibly culturally and biologically diverse region. Its landscapes feature mountains, valleys, forests, lakes, beaches, and coffee plantations, while some twenty-five percent of its population belong to indigenous groups.

In the mid-1990s Chiapas became synonymous with the Zapatistas, a left-wing guerrilla group that launched a brief uprising against the government. Today, however, the group’s struggle is largely intellectual rather than military, and won’t impact negatively on your visit to one of Mexico’s most attractive states.

Cathedral San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas — Mexico @ Shutterstock

A glorious colonial city, San Cristóbal de las Casas is the tourist hub of Chiapas, and a tough place to drag yourself away from.

Home to a cosmopolitan community – there are sizeable expat and indigenous populations – the city is a mix of attractive townhouses, Baroque- and Moorish-inspired churches, bustling markets (where you can buy anything from silver jewellery to plates of fried ants), hundreds of restaurants, cafes and bars with tables spilling out onto the streets, and a refreshingly cool climate.

San Cristóbal is also the jumping off point for day trips to the indigenous villages of San Juan Chamula and San Lorenzo de Zincantán. The Tzotzil Maya community here have fused their traditional beliefs with Catholicism to create a unique religion that features Christian saints, animal sacrifices, and medicine men, but no priests, masses or church marriages.

For a change of pace, head southeast of San Cristóbal towards the Guatemalan border and Parque Nacional Lagos de Montebello, a beautiful reserve with more than fifty lakes surrounded by pristine forests. More reminiscent of Scotland or Maine than Mexico, the landscape, dotted with cabins and picnic spots, is ideal for hiking, swimming and horseriding.

Chiapas also has some breathtaking archeological sites. In a dramatic setting high on a hill, surrounded by insect-rich jungle and commanding views across the Yucatán plains, the ancient Mayan city of Palenque is the most popular attraction in the state.

Flourishing between 300 and 900 BC, the site is dominated by an eight-stepped, 25m-high pyramid, the Templo de las Inscripciones, and El Palacio, an impressive complex of residential and administrative buildings. If you have a head for