7 days · Highlands + Palenque

7 daysBalanced pacedistance-checked ✓ · updated Jul 3, 2026

1
Tuxtla Gutiérrez
0 nights · Land at TGZ, run the Sumidero boat, then drive up to the highlands same day.
Day 1
🚗 1h — TGZ down to Chiapa de Corzo boat launch.
2
Sumidero Canyon
0 nights · Lancha from Chiapa de Corzo before heading to San Cristóbal.
Day 2
🚗 1.5h — Chiapa de Corzo up the mountain to San Cristóbal.
3
San Cristóbal de las Casas
4 nights · Base here; day trips to Chamula and general acclimatizing.
Days 3–6
🚐 30 min — Colectivo up to Chamula.
4
San Juan Chamula
0 nights · Half-day with a local guide.
Day 7
🚐 5h — Long descent to the jungle; most tours stop at Agua Azul en route.
5
Palenque
2 nights · Overnight near the ruins; hit them at opening.
Days 8–9
Reality check: That last leg to Palenque is 5 hours of switchbacks — the popular one-day round-trip tours mean 10+ hours in a van for a few hours at the ruins. Overnight instead.
By Diego RamírezBased in San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas · updated Jul 3, 2026

This is the version of Chiapas most people actually want: the cool highlands and the jungle ruins, with enough time that neither feels rushed. The one thing that ruins this trip is the Palenque day tour. You’ll see it advertised everywhere in San Cristóbal. Don’t. Ten-plus hours in a van for three hours at the ruins is a bad trade. Sleep near Palenque instead, and the whole thing relaxes.

Days 1–2 — arrival and the canyon

Land at TGZ, drive an hour to Chiapa de Corzo, and take the Sumidero lancha before the heat peaks. Then climb to San Cristóbal, an hour and a half up the mountain. You arrive at altitude, so the first night is for adjusting: a slow dinner, an early bed. Day two, just walk the town. Coffee, markets, the Santo Domingo church steps in late afternoon light.

Days 3–4 — highlands proper

With four nights here you have room. Give one morning to San Juan Chamula with a local guide, essential for reading the church correctly, where no photos are allowed inside. Use another day for one nearby trip: the waterfalls at El Chiflón or the lakes at Montebello, not both. Keep a full day unscheduled. San Cristóbal is a town you sink into, not a checklist.

What a friend who lives here would tell you: the highlands get genuinely cold after dark, down near single digits Celsius in winter. Bring a real jacket. Every visitor underpacks for this and ends up buying a wool sweater in the market, which honestly isn’t the worst outcome.

Days 5–7 — down to Palenque

The descent is roughly five hours of switchbacks, and most routes stop at Agua Azul on the way. Overnight near the ruins so you can enter at opening, around 8am, before the tour buses and the jungle steams up. Palenque’s temples rising out of the forest, with howler monkeys somewhere in the canopy, is the payoff for the drive. Add Misol-Ha, a tall single-drop waterfall nearby, before heading out.