Chiapas and Tabasco: Places to Explore

The town of Chiapa de Corzo (then known as Chiapa de los Indios) was founded in 1528 by Diego de Mazariegos, who one month later fled the heat and mosquitoes and settled instead in San Cristóbal... Read more

Although Ocosingo is on the tourist trail, most people pass right by on their way to San Cristobál or Palenque. That's a shame, because Ocosingo sits in one of the prettiest valleys in Chiapas. It's... Read more

Palenque Town's days as a sleepy little village are far behind. Locals have obliged the needs of travelers in search of the ruins at Palenque, Bonampak, and Yaxchilán by opening a string of restaurants... Read more

As you head toward the Gulf of Mexico coast and Paraíso, stop at one of the cacao plantations and chocolate factories. On the coast you'll get a glimpse of small-town life. Climb the Cerro Teodomiro... Read more

From the looks of this thoroughly charming city you'd never know that Chiapas is one of Mexico's poorest regions or that it was the locus of the 1994 Zapatista rebellion. San Cristóbal is the perfect... Read more

In 1939 writer Graham Greene characterized Tuxtla Gutiérrez as "not a place for foreigners—the new ugly capital of Chiapas, without attractions." The accuracy of that bleak description is slowly... Read more

The capital city of Villahermosa epitomizes the development of Tabasco, where the airplane arrived before the automobile. Thanks to oil and the money it brought in, the cramped and ugly neighborhoods—in... Read more