Cuernavaca Travel Guide
From Wikitravel
Cuernavaca [1], City of Eternal Spring, is the capital of the Mexican state of Morelos. It is a city of 500,000 located 52 miles (84km) south of Mexico City.
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Understand
A famous vacation place among tourists due to its comfortable year-round climate, beautiful parks and gardens, as well as its convenient location within the country.
Get in
By Car
- Take the Mexico-Acapulco expressway south from Mexico City for an hour and a half from the international airport. The toll road costs $85 pesos or there is a free road which is less well maintained and is primarilly single-laned.
By Bus
- Several bus companies operate routes to Cuernavaca. Busses run from Mexico City's main bus stations in the North, South of the city and Airport. Busses run on average every 20 minutes and tickets cost around $68 pesos. Pullman de Morelos runs the most frequent routes. Busses are modern and safe and come equipped with air conditioning, toilets, and a movie during the trip. When there is no traffic the trip takes around 1 hour.
Get around
Busses cover most of the city and surrounds and cost about $4 pesos per trip. These are not particularly comfortable, but are relatively safe and regularly used by the many foreign language students in the city. Alternatively, there are many taxis which can be hailed on the street or ordered by phone. The largest radio taxi firm in Cuernavaca is Citlali, and all radio taxis are safe, independent taxis are slightly more risky. Taxis in Cuernavaca do not have meters and prices need to be arranged before getting in the taxi. Most destinations during the day will not cost you more than $45 pesos. At night prices sky-rocket and trying to get a taxi in the early hours of the morning will often charge substantially more. Try and get some idea of how much a trip will cost from locals beforehand once you get an idea of the prices you will be able to haggle and bring them down to reasonable fares.
See
- Teopanzolco Archaeological Site. Open 7 days, 10am - 5pm.
- Palace of Cortes. Also known as the Cuauhnahuac Regional Museum. Built in 1533 and used by Hernan Cortes as a summer residence. Open Tu-Su, 9am - 5pm.
- The Cathedral. During a recent remodelling, murals and paintings, some dating back to the 17 century, were found.
- El Castillito. Home of the Photographic Museum of Cuernavaca. Open M-F, 9am - 3pm and Sa-Su, 10am - 4pm.
Do
Cuernavaca has many local and nearby tourist attractions. Water parks are very popular and range from basic water holes such as "Las Huertas" with thermal waters, natural rivers as "Las Estacas" and large, multi-facility parks as "El Rollo". You can also camp in many parks and they feature other sevices as hot baths, cabins and restaurants. About 10 miles from the city is Xochicalco, a rather large and beautiful archeological site. The nearby Tepozteco mountains and the Tepoztlan town, are a very popular destination for locals and tourists with attractions that include a XVI century Dominic convent, museum, many restaurants and handcrafts.
Learn
- Instituto Cha-mool teaches Spanish.
- UNINTER
Buy
- Palacio de Cortes Market
To one side of the Palacio de Cortés is a market selling a variety of Mexican artefacts. Among the cheap artefacts aimed at tourists there are some pleasant items to take home with you.
- Galerías Cuernavaca
Opened in October November 2005 this mall, just off the motorway, contains a variety of shops, restaurants and a cinema and is proving popular and is often very busy.
- Plaza Cuernavaca
On Plan d'Ayala this open air mall is still going strong and has a variety of shops and restaurants.
Eat
- Tacos
If you are looking for a true Mexican meal be sure to try tacos where the locals eat them. Important to remember that not all taquerias are particularly hygienic. Try the calle de los tacos (street of tacos), Nueva Inglaterra. This street is lined with taquerias with Grano del Oro being particularly good. On Plan d'Ayala try the tacos at Los Orientales or have a torta (sandwich) at La Cubana. La Gringa is also very good and popular with foreign language students due to it's proximity to the UNINTER language school. A taco al Pastor (pork) will cost between $3 and $6 pesos.
- Pozole
Pozole is a rich broth with meat, corn, and other vegetables. Pozolería El Barco, one block away from the cathedral, serves very good green pozole (with pipián sauce). Try their tostadas de pata as well (crispy tortillas topped with pickled pig's feet).
- High-end
The centre of town has a number of world-class restaurants. Las mañanitas is a relais chateaux hotel with excellent cuisine. Famous for it's large garden with free-roaming peacocks, las mañanitas is well worth a visit. La Gaia just off the Zocalo serves excellent food in a comfortable environment. On the main square facing the Palacio de Cortes it Casa Hidalgo also serving excellent food. All three restaurants serve a variety of dishes consisting of traditional Mexican and international fare. Trattoria Marco Polo, across the street from the cathedral, serves excellent Italian food and pizza.
Drink
- Bars
Los Arcos on the Zocalo is popular on Tuesdays when students converge on the open bar/cafe with live salsa music and cheap drink. For a more sophisticated evening try Reposado with it's comfortable lounge beds in a beach-style setting with a restaurant on the ground level. La Bola is a typical Mexican cantina with live Norteno and Mariachi music every night between 7 and 10pm. 2 for one promotions daily between 2 and 9pm and very cheap food/drink packages. On average $400 pesos buys a generous plate of food for the table to share and a bottle of alcohol or 20 bottles of beer. Nachos is another example of a cantina famous for it's very large glasses also try Clamatoria. La Taurina and Crudalia are very simple bars that sell cheap booze by the litre. Expect plastic tables and chairs and very few frills but a good atmosphere.
- Night Clubs
On the weekends an influx of visitors arrive in Cuernavaca from Mexico City and head to the night clubs. El Alebrije is a chain of nightlubs with a branch in Cuernavaca. It is frequented primarilly by a wealthy and young crowd. Cover is $100 pesos with prices for bottles starting at $700 pesos. The door staff at high-end clubs are often quite difficult. Men arriving without female companionship at a club will generally have trouble getting although foreigners are often given preference. Alebrije is open on Fridays and Saturdays, doors open at 10pm. Barbazul is a large indoor/outdoor venue with a cf $100 after midnight. Like Alebrije it is frequented by a young and wealthy crowd and many foreigners. Taizz is is the highest end club with a cover of $200 pesos. As with the previous two it is frequented by a similar crowd. All the clubs have valet parking and taxis outside, however these tend to charge a lot. Bottle prices are generally the same in the 3 venues. It is is usual to order a bottle and occupy a table and few people buy individual drinks at the bar. Tipping the waiter is essential and problems may arise if the waiter feels he has been undertipped 10% is the accepted amount. These three clubs play an eclectic mix of music from 80's Mexican music to American Hip Hop. Mambo cafe is open Wednesday to Saturday with Salsa sance classes on Wednesdays between 6 and 9pm. The most popular night for Mambo cafe is Thursday when it is often very full. The Store is a new club and very different from the first three. Very basic the club has no waiters and is self service from the bar. It is popular and well attended. In all the clubs either inside the grounds or directly outside are stalls selling hotdogs and hamburgers and tacos are never far away. Most clubs close their doors at 3am and do not allow access after this hour. However it is usual for the last person to leave the clubs at around 5 or 6am. In most clubs in Cuernavaca women do not pay cover.
Sleep
Get out
Taxco, the famous silver town, is about 30 minutes drive outside Cuernavaca. This town used to survive on silver mining, now it survives on the tourist industry with almost everybody involved. Taxco is full of silver shops and a very large silver market. Silver is often sold by weight in the markets, be sure it carries the .925 stamp and is not silver plated.
Tepoztlan is about 15 minutes outside Cuernavaca and very pleasant to visit particularly on market day. A must-see is the Tepoztec pyramid at the end of a rather long and steep walk up a mountain but the reward is well worth it.
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