"Set in a gorgeous highland valley surrounded by pine forest, the colonial city of San Cristóbal (cris-toh-bal) has been a popular travelers’ destination for decades. It’s a pleasure to explore San Cristóbal’s cobbled streets and markets, soaking up the unique ambience and the wonderfully clear highland light. This medium-sized city also boasts a comfortable blend of city and countryside, with restored century-old houses giving way to grazing animals and fields of corn."
We were looking forward to the highland terrain with lower humidity and cooler temperatures than we've grown used to. It would be a brief taste of autumn -- and much cooler than winter in Belize! So, on December 13, we left Palenque behind on a bus bound for San Cristobal. Even though both cities are in the Chiapas state of Mexico, San Cristobal sits at an elevation of 7200 feet, while Palenque is only at 200 feet, so we would be doing quite a bit of climbing on this day.
We bought our tickets the day before at the ADO station, though we would actually be taking an OCC bus to San Cristobal, as OCC serves this part of Mexico. It is equivalent to the ADO first-class bus.
The walk from the bus station was little less than a mile. And as anticipated, this city was very charming, though bigger than we had realized. Including the surrounding area, approximately 250,000 people call San Cristobal home.