We had a nice couple of nights in Palenque. The ruins were magnificent, and the Palenque town center was fun and filled with tasty eating opportunities. But after 48 hours of high-speed tourism, we were eager to get to our final destination and settle down – in San Cristobal de las Casas!
San Cristobal de las Casas (SCC) is considered to be the most “magical” of Mexico’s “pueblos magicos”. A colorful Spanish-colonial mountain town nestled in the highlands of the Mexican state of Chiapas, SCC is known for its winding cobblestone streets, town squares, cathedrals, markets, and artisan culture. Backpackers often make SCC a destination, and it is common to see tourists intermingling with the locals in the most popular areas of the town.
At an elevation of around 7,200 feet (2,200 meters), the temperatures are much cooler here, with January daytime highs at around 70 F and nightly lows in the upper 40s F. It is kind of nice to be wearing long pants and layers again!
For us, one of the biggest draws for us coming here is that we knew we’d need a break from big city living. So staying in SCC for a month will be a nice change, allowing us to decompress and enjoy a slower pace for a spell. Day trip opportunities and outdoor activities abound in the area. There are even some hiking trails nearby, so we will check those out!
Getting From Palenque to our Airbnb in San Cristobal de las Casas
As has been typical of our time in Mexico, relocating to a new place was pretty easy.
Since we were in Palenque, we just purchased (weeks in advance, online) two 7:45 am ADO bus tickets from there to San Cristobal de las Casas. One-way tickets were $456 MEX ($26.64 USD) per person.
We woke up bright and early Friday morning and WhatsApped a taxi to take us to the Palenque ADO bus station. The fare was only $40 MEX ($2.35 USD), $30 MEX less than when we arrived! This confirmed our suspicion that the taxis that wait at the Palenque bus station to pick up inbound tourists are more likely to try and rip you off.
Waiting at the ADO bus station in Palenque.
When you look at the distance between Palenque and San Cristobal de las Casas, it doesn’t seem like our ride should take very long. But it ends up being 9 hours because a safer, less direct route is preferred by buses.
Oh well. At least we had lots of time!
And a happy chance meeting happened during our trip. We met two solo travelers – Sara and Ashley, both originally from the USA. We all hit it off and made plans to meet up while we were staying in San Cristobal de las Casas!
Our bus ride was fine.
But our bus ended up being operated by OCC, which is a subsidiary of ADO. Sadly OCC bus seats were a little less cushy and the bathroom was a little more scary, but the buses still had AC and TV to help you deal with the trip duration.
We ended up rolling into the San Cristobal de Las Casas ADO bus station at around 5 pm, sore but happy to be there.
We then exited the bus station and walked to our Airbnb, which was only about 8 blocks away.
Welcome to Our Airbnb in San Cristobal de las Casas!
Our Airbnb is in the Santa Lucia barrio, which is a residential area a little bit away from the hustle and bustle of the town center. There are lots of little tiendas and local restaurants here, so it looks like it will be a good match for us.
Our Airbnb is on the second floor of a well-attended building.
Let us show you around!
Walking into our Airbnb from the entry stairs, you immediately see our kitchen/living room area. There is a love seat and coffee table, and you can see the gas range (yay!), bar seating, microwave, and cabinets. And the kitchen is well-appointed with all of the utensils and cookware that make Rhonda happy.
At the far end of our kitchen is our bathroom. All of the normal things you would expect are here.
Turning back toward the apartment entrance, you can see the refrigerator and our bedroom door.
Our bedroom is pretty nice! There is only a twin-sized bed, but it works fine for us since there is no footboard. And the nightstands are very much appreciated.
There is also a nice side alcove for our larger things, a mirror, a bureau, a comfy chair, a TV, as well as a rack to hang clothes. And the mounted TV is a nice touch.
As a general observation, our Airbnb is really clean and well cared for! It looks as good in person as it does (we hope) in the photos.
So for all of this, including utilities and 50 Mbps download speed internet, we are paying $22.04 USD/night (including a 41% long-stay discount that offsets the 19% Mexican government Airbnb tax add-on).
We’ll miss having a washer and dryer, but we will manage! 🙂
No question, this will be one of the best bang-for-buck Airbnbs we book in Mexico.
Until next time…
Thanks for reading!
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One thought on “Moving Day – Our New Airbnb in San Cristobal de las Casas (Mexico)”
Amazing!!