Chiapas & Tabasco — Destination Guide: Overview

Chiapas and Tabasco offer a tantalizing melange of ancient history, fabulous ruins, spectacular nature, great wildlife watching, and the beguiling colonial town of San Cristóbal de las Casas with surrounding medieval-style Mayan villages. Straddling the Gulf coast, steamy, flat Tabasco has wetlands, lakes and emerald jungles. Seek out the oversized Olmec heads in the capital Villahermosa's Parque Museo La Venta. Chiapas has ocean rather than gulf beaches, cloud forests, misty highlands and dramatic waterfalls. Its undoubted jewel is the jungle-wrapped Mayan site of Palenque with beautifully-proportioned temples. Less-visited ...

Chiapas and Tabasco offer a tantalizing melange of ancient history, fabulous ruins, spectacular nature, great wildlife watching, and the beguiling colonial town of San Cristóbal de las Casas with surrounding medieval-style Mayan villages. Straddling the Gulf coast, steamy, flat Tabasco has wetlands, lakes and emerald jungles. Seek out the oversized Olmec heads in the capital Villahermosa's Parque Museo La Venta. Chiapas has ocean rather than gulf beaches, cloud forests, misty highlands and dramatic waterfalls. Its undoubted jewel is the jungle-wrapped Mayan site of Palenque with beautifully-proportioned temples. Less-visited Yaxchilán is set on the massive Usumacinta River that separates Mexico from Guatemala. Here howler monkeys add to an eerie lost-world ambience. At the heart of Chiapas, San Cristóbal de las Casas casts a spell due to a combination of climate, an otherworldly highland setting and large numbers of indigenous peoples clad in brightly-colored traditional outfits. It has a thriving cultural scene, excellent restaurants and nightlife and several language schools. The beautiful, pink-hued Santo Domingo church bustles with indigenous folk selling their handicrafts from a multitude of stalls outside.

About the Expert

John Noble and Susan Forsyth are coauthors of Lonely Planet's Spain, Andalucia, and Mexico as well as many other LP titles from Indonesia to Belize to Brazil.