Current Time in San Cristóbal de las Casas, Mexico

San Cristóbal de las Casas is a historic highland city in the state of Chiapas, Mexico, situated in a mountain valley called the Valle de Jovel at an elevation of approximately 2,100 meters in the southern Sierra Madre highlands. With a population of approximately 215,000, it serves as the most important cultural and commercial center of the Chiapas highlands and is one of Mexico's most distinctive and fascinating cities — a place where Spanish colonial architecture, indigenous Tzotzil and Tzeltal Maya culture, bohemian international atmosphere, and dramatic natural surroundings converge in an unusually compelling combination. The city's cool, misty climate, its cobblestone streets, and its living indigenous traditions give it a character unlike any other city in Mexico.

San Cristóbal was founded by the Spanish conquistador Diego de Mazariegos in 1528, originally as a military and administrative base for the subjugation of the surrounding indigenous population. It was named in honor of the Dominican friar Bartolomé de las Casas, the first Bishop of Chiapas and one of the earliest and most passionate defenders of the rights of indigenous peoples against the violence and exploitation of the colonial system — a legacy that gives the city its distinctive name and a symbolic connection to a tradition of advocacy for indigenous rights that continues to this day. Under Spanish colonial rule the city became the administrative capital of the province of Chiapas and developed an elaborate system of colonial churches, convents, and civic buildings that still define the historic center.

The indigenous Maya communities of the surrounding highlands — primarily Tzotzil and Tzeltal Maya speakers — give San Cristóbal its most distinctive cultural dimension. The city serves as the commercial hub for dozens of highland indigenous communities, and on any given day its markets and streets are filled with Maya women in the brilliant traditional textiles of their specific village communities — each village identified by its unique pattern of weaving, color, and design. The Santo Domingo market, adjacent to the Church of Santo Domingo de Guzmán, is one of the most vibrant and colorful artisan markets in Mexico, selling the highland textiles, amber jewelry, wood carvings, and handicrafts produced by indigenous artisans throughout the region.

The Church of Santo Domingo de Guzmán, built in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in an elaborate indigenous-influenced Baroque style, is the city's most important monument. Its facade, profusely decorated with carved stone reliefs incorporating both Christian and indigenous motifs, represents one of the most interesting examples of the cultural synthesis of the Spanish colonial period in architecture. The former monastery adjacent to the church now houses the Na Bolom Museum, an anthropological research center and museum established by the Danish archaeologist Frans Blom and his Swiss wife Gertrude Duby Blom, devoted to the study and preservation of the Lacandon Maya, one of the last traditional indigenous forest communities of the Americas.

San Cristóbal became the unexpected center of world attention on January 1, 1994, when the EZLN (Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional), an indigenous rights guerrilla movement, occupied the city and several other Chiapas towns in a coordinated uprising timed to coincide with the entry into force of NAFTA. The Zapatista uprising, which demanded indigenous autonomy, land rights, and democracy, briefly but dramatically brought Chiapas into international headlines and initiated a political process that continues today. The Zapatista movement maintains a strong cultural presence in the city and the surrounding region.

San Cristóbal's restaurant and café scene reflects its large international community of artists, writers, NGO workers, and long-stay travelers. The city has a lively nightlife and arts scene, with independent cinemas, live music, and cultural events. The surrounding highlands offer hiking and visits to the spectacular Sumidero Canyon, the indigenous villages of San Juan Chamula and Zinacantán with their syncretic religious traditions, and the lagoons of Montebello. San Cristóbal is accessible by road and by domestic flights from Mexico City and other cities to the small Ángel Albino Corzo International Airport near Tuxtla Gutiérrez.