Looking for must sees in Cuernavaca, as well as recommended day trips. Also would appreciate feed back on the best way to travel from DF into cuernavaca. Thanks

We didn't visit Cuernavaca, but its easy just to get a bus from the DF. About 2 hours, and the buses are really nice.
But we did visit a number of places in easy each of there (all less than an hour or so away). You have to take a trip to Tepoztlan and climb up to the mountain ruins. Its a tough hike, about an hour or so each way ..... and the views are amazing.
You must also visit Taxco, the silver town. Beautiful location, great photo ops .... and silver of course.
Close by there are also the massive limestone caves ... Las Grutas. Tours are every hour on the hour. And finally!! ... visit Xochicalco ..... amazing ruins with incredible views.
Enjoy.

As DUB said, the bus from DF gets you there quickly. In town the Palace of Cortes has a small museum with a collection of Indian and early European artifacts, concluding in a hall with an excellent Diego Rivera mural of the region's history.

The Cathedral compound -- there are two other churches -- is worth exploring. The day we were there a town First Communion was going on, the churches all bedecked with flowers, the kids in their finest, tamales, corn-on-the-cob and cake for sale.

Robert Brady museum -- an over the top collection of folk art from around the world, some great, some pure kitsch. Frida Kahlo painting in the living room. Said to be an artist himself. From what I could make out, he was a rich dilettante with charm and (usually) good taste whose brother took care of the banking. A bachelor for most of his life, he undertook a marriage of convenience with Josephine Baker. Lot's of photos of him with his famous friends. A glimpse into a rather bizarre world.

The zocalo is very lively and full of people eating corn-on-the-cob, which seems to be the local delicacy, and cones of flavored ice, scraped from a block while you wait. (I stay away from street food in Mexico, but you may be braver.) In the evening Los Arcos, off to one side, sometimes has live music and is a good place to have a drink after dinner.

If you are at all interested in the ancient Indian cultures a visit to Xochicalco, as mentioned, is a must. You can learn a bit about in the Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City. On the outskirts of Cuernavaca itself is a small ruin where work stopped as the Aztecs were enclosing an earlier temple with one larger, just as the Spanish arrived.

If you admire Malcolm Lowry's great novel <i>Under the Volcano</i> there are a number of sites to see. The Borda Gardens, certain squares, Jacques Laruelle's house, etc.

Try to get a hotel with a garden and pool. The city is a series of secret gardens, so you should have one of your own. You get into the swing of things with a place to hang out in the afternoon.

At the restaurant 1521 across from Cortes' Palace try a metate. It's a stone bowl they heat in the oven, then fill with meats and veggies and sauce, tortillas on the side. Goes great with a bottle of Montejo beer.

Hope you enjoy your trip.

Cuernavaca sure isn't my favorite place in Mexico and its not what, in my opinion, it used to be even a few years ago. Nevetheless, as above, I think the Brady musuem is not to be missed as well as a look around the Cathedral area. Taxco is well worth a visit in a long day trip or, better, an overnight. Tepotzlan is around 30 minutes or so by Taxi and is a great day trip. As far as Mexico City there are lots of buses from the La Selva terminal in Cuernavaca direct to Tasquena Terminal in Mexico City. A few years back in a long day trip we did the Zocalo in Mexico City, then took the metro to Indios Verdes, took a bus and went out to and spend quite abit of time at Teotihuacan, back to Mexico City, a stop at la basilica de guadalupe then back to Cuernavaca. Another must in Cuernavaca, El Palacio de Cortez, particularily the Rivera murals on the seond level. Also, if you are facing the Palacio there are some stairs off to your left, go down those and look for the Italian restaurant on the left. Pretty pricey, but really good. Also, where there, the Borda Gardens are well worth a look. One last thing, if you get bored the second class bus trip from Cuernavaca to Toluca, about three hours, has some of the most amazaing mountain scenery I have ever seen in Mexico. This is the route that does not cross the mountains back toward Mexico City, but goes up on the Cuernavaca side and passes through a national park. All in all there is plenty to do.

Thanks for your input. Does anyone know if it is possible to fly directly into Cuernavaca?

No, but it is possible to take a bus directly from the MC airport. Do not be afraid of deluxe Mexican busses. They're very comfortable (better than any plane I've ever been on), quick and cheap.

above is right and I think it is the easiest way to do it.