Cost of Living San Cristóbal de Las Casas

Stay tuned until the end for our AirBnb tour, top recommendations, and cost breakdown for our 28 day stay in San Cristóbal de Las Casas.
Come along with us as we explore Pueblo Mágico number 73. We show you our favorite spots to buy coffee, drinks, and of course to eat. San Cris is known to be a touristy area, so they have a good mix of international cuisines, and they are doing them right - for a great price too!
There are some great museums to stop by in town including the Jade and Amber museums. Fun fact, Chiapas has one of the largest caches of amber in the world.

[randigomez]

I'm from San Cristóbal and I hadn't watched this video before, and everything that I want to say is that I enjoyed everything that you shared. Beautiful video by the way.

[EllaTravels]

All the museums and churches were awesome. Much respect to the indigenous ladies keeping the traditions alive in customs, food, and their artist crafts. Thanks so much for sharing!

[teteflores-]

Georgia y David, muchísimas gracias por compartir este hermoso video de San Cristóbal de las Casas. Este lugar, lleno de ricas tradiciones y exquisita artesanía, cobra vida en este bello video. Además, los lugares que nos indican en este video son muy recomendables.

[The_Endless_Summer]

I love San Cristobal! It's such a romantic place!

[williamwoods]

Hola Georgia and David. I really liked this video, since I also spent about four weeks in Las Casas, but that was 50 years ago. I realize you are in Villahermosa for maybe three more days, so I'll comment about that now and leave comments re this excellent video later. Once you reached Champoton you could have continued on to Villahermosa via Candelaria or via Ciudad del Carmen. 50 years ago Champoton was sort of a south seas small town, with a deteriorating colonial era fort. I think Cortez acquired Malinche there. When I left Villahermosa for Campeche I went by way of Ciudad del Carmen. To cross the Rio Usumacinta it was necessary to take the first of four ferries, arriving at Frontera after a short wait. Frontera was sort of picturesque, but I didn't stay long. There was another ferry at the Rio San Pedro. There were two additional ferries at either end of Isla del Carmen. There was a two hour wait at Zacatal to get the ferry to Ciudad del Carmen. Ferries aren't as fast as bridges but they are a lot more romantic and fun. Ciudad del Carmen was a decent size town with the south seas atmosphere typical of most of the towns and villages in the area back then. The entrance to Isla Aguada had a wonderful old light house next to a big coral tree.
After visiting the Yucatan I left Chetumal and headed for Palenque and Villahermosa. When I arrived at Francisco Escarcega I tried to buy gas but there was none to be had. I originally had planned to explore the area up river from the highway along the Rio Candelaria. The best map I had showed a gravel road extending along the river for maybe 30 kms but no settlement was shown on the map. 50 years ago Candelaria was a village with shacks built with unpainted mahogany boards. Short on gas I decided to go on to Palenque. Today the road continues past Candelaria towards Monclova and the archaeological site of El Tigre/Itzamkanac.
Somewhere before reaching Palenque I found some gas but it was only 81 octane (Mexico used to have three grades of gas: red pump was 81 octane, green pump was 90 octane, and Pemex 100 was from a silver pump). I drove as far as the Rio Usumacinta on the way to Tenosique, but decided not to take the ferry, because my car was pinging with the 81 octane gas and the bank on the far side of the river looked kind of steep. I'll comment on Palenque when I get to that video.
Villahermosa was hot and humid in May. Hopefully it is a bit cooler for you. Over the years it has had several names, including Villa Felipe II and San Juan Bautista. In 1909 it had a population of about 10, 600. The best hotels were $3-$5 USD American plan. There were no roads to speak of or trains. Transportation was by steamship along the coast and smaller boats along the rivers. Even 50 years ago there were several other ferries besides the four I've already mentioned that crossed the numerous rivers in the state of Tabasco.
The thing to see in Villahermosa, as I'm sure you know, is the outdoor La Venta museum, and the indoor air-conditioned archaeological museum. There isn't much to see at the original La Venta site (compared with the Maya ruins in the Yucatan). There may be some new museums in Villahermosa, and 50 years ago the Rio Grijalva was picturesque. There are some old churches in the city but many were remodeled in the first half of the 20th century and aren't that interesting. For some reason the States of Tabasco and Veracruz are not blessed with significant colonial era churches.
When I arrived in Villahermosa on the way back to Las Casas my plan was to resupply in the market and continue on. As I mentioned before it was hot and humid and I needed a shower, which I found in the market. $1.50 pesos. Not great but wet. The "shower" consisted of oil drums filled with water and oil cans used to dip out water to wash oneself. My best memory of Villahermosa was a couple of weeks earlier, when I spotted two Lacandon Indians (the Na Bolom museum had a room dedicated to the Lacandon) walking about Villahermosa very late at night, taking in the sites. They were wearing their traditional gown-like garb.
The best ruin in the area is Comalcalco. 50 years ago the road to the ruins consisted of fine powder, which resulted in a huge dust cloud when driven on. All of the trees and bushes along the road were covered with dust. There were 3-4 mounds that were partially restored. Lacking anything else to build their ruins the local Maya made and used bricks. The day I visited the ruins I stopped in the nearby town of Comalcalco for the fiesta of San Isidro, hoping to see the blessing of the animals, but I didn't see any. Perhaps I was too late, or maybe the carnival rides in front of the church were the new substitute. Nearby, on the coast, the small town of Paraiso continued the south seas theme. Between Villahermosa and Cardenas the area was brightly lit at night by the flaring of the numerous oil wells in the area. Some of the flares could be seen from 10 miles away.
South of Cardenas is a road to Raudales de Malpaso, where there is a large dam with a big tile mural, and nearby the archaeological ruins of Malpasito, but I doubt you have time for this side trip. There are several pueblos magicos in the area. Probably the best is Tapijulalpa, which seems to be the most picturesque. Nearby, in Oxolotan, is the 1633 Franciscan convento of Santo Domingo de Guzman. It has had a hard life. During the anti-religious fervor of the 1920's part of the convento was dynamited, but some has since been restored, and it is a rare example of a church and convento being built with river cobblestones. Compared to most exconventos it is rather primitive. If I remember correctly the ruins at Zempoala also were built with river cobblestones.
There are several ruins, mostly minor compared with what you saw in the Yucatan, near Tenosique. Pomona (between Emiliano Zapata and Tenosique), with a small museum and one of six groups more or less restored; San Claudio, southeast of Tenosique; Panhale (Panjale), 5 km from Tenosique and 10 km from Pomona, but I don't think anything has been restored; Santa Elena, 95 km southeast of Balancan, in the vicinity of Tenosique; and Moral Reforma, probably the best of this last group, 35 km northeast of Tenosique, 20 km east of Balancan and 5 km west of El Triunfo.
Leaving Villahermosa for Las Casas I passed through Teapa, which didn't impress me much, but I can't say I gave it a fair opportunity to show its best self. When i reached Pichucalco I took a wrong turn and wound up at the bottom of a dead end street on a steep hill. I still had a lot of that 81 octane gas in my tank, and it took three running tries to get to the top, with an enormous amount of pinging. I'm lucky the engine survived. I spent the night camped at the highest mirador on the road over the mountains to Chiapa de Corzo. Well, so much for this area. I'll try to send something re Orizaba sooner than later. Stay safe and have a good time.

[judeskingsbury]

Great video, beautiful cinematography! I love San Cris.

[mattjoseph]

That was a great breakdown of San Cris.! Lived there for six months & brought back so many wonderful memories. La artisanal on Guadalupe for craft beer, hard to go by.

[peachabot]

This is what I am experiencing right now.😊

[aarondrysdale]

Hi. Great video. Is there any way you could let me know how to find this apartment on Airbnb? I’m going in October and I really liked the size.

[GringosRUs]

How did you have enough time to record anything here? We went into centro once 2 weeks ago to see the zocolo and cathedral and I could not get away from the numerous vendors. Every time I tried to record anything, I had to stop and repeat over and over that I wasn't interested in buying anything else (and this was after I bought a hat band, bracelets, and a scarf from literally 3 different people). One woman even followed us around for 30 minutes. I hate so much having to say gracias over and over. It felt like we was on la quinta in PDC, so we have avoided going back into centro ever since. We only have 2 more weeks left here, so I guess we will give it another try, but it's causing me anxiety even thinking about it.~Gina

[nicholasmiller]

OMG Next visit..I suggest you hire a Local to show you where to eat food every bit as good...or better...for Half of what Y'all paid I have lived here 20 yrs. and I was shocked by your prices.

[machellec]

ummm...this title is misleading. This video does NOT represent the true cost of living in San Cris. Most people would never spend what you did. What the actual hell.

[brucegelman]

The drug cartels are in San Cris now.I know the area well and everyone should do due diligence if you travel in that neck of the woods.

[AllentheBeloved]

I heard people get sick there because the water is not very good, I was there in 2000 when the zapatistas were marching, interesting place but I only stayed a couple of days on my way to Palenque

[douglaschilton]

If you are spending that kind of money and paying those kinds of prices in San Christobal de Las Casas (or anywhere in Mexico for that matter), then you clearly do not know what the hell you are doing. Furthermore, you do a disservice to the destination by giving the impression that prices are much, much higher than necessary. It appears that you are on the Gringo highway/toll road all the way. You clearly have more money than common sense. Thumbs down.