Cuernavaca Travel Guide

For $6-10 U.S., you can take a roughly 1 hr bus ride from Mexico City to Cuernavaca, the summer home of emporer Maximilian. The busses are the nicest I've ever seen, with "in-flight" movies (English with Spanish subtitles, as often as not), a stewardess, and snacks.

Also called "The City of Eternal Spring," Cuernavaca is spring-like almost year-round. In addition to the vacation homes of the Mexico city elite, it has many immersion schools for those who want to learn Spanish. You typically go to class roughly half the day, and board with a local family (room + board in 2003 = $17/day/person) with whom you can practice what you've learned. Our family went to institute Chac-mool and had a terrific time. (See their website, and others, for details)

Cuernavaca is also a relatively short trip to many archeological sites, and to places like Mexico City and Taxco (a silver mining town).