San Juan Bautista monastery

Morelos is a state in Central Mexico. Morelos is a perfect place to learn about Mexico's history and culture, visit the Xochicalco archaeological site, and the 16th-century monasteries on the slopes of Popocatepetl, which have been declared World Heritage Sites by the UNESCO.

Cities

• 1 Cuernavaca — the state capital has a comfortable year-round climate, beautiful parks and gardens, and is home to many foreign people who come to learn Spanish
• 2 Cuautla — a tourist-friendly place with abundant hot springs and health spas/resorts, many archeological sites such as Chalcatzingo, and indigenous communities
• 3 Oaxtepec — a great little town which thrives on the tourism brought by its waterpark
• 4 Tepoztlán – Charming small Pueblo Mágico with historical spots and site of El Tepozteco National Park
• 5 Tlayacapan — This Pueblo Mágico is filled with historic museums and ruinas.
• 6 Zacualpan de Amilpas — A tiny village with a handful of 16th century buildings.

Other destinations

• 1 Xochicalco – World heritage listed pre-columbian ruins
• 2 El Tepozteco National Park — rugged park with an Aztec temple and 16 mountains
• 3 Lagunas de Zempoala National Park — highland forests with seven natural lakes

Get in

There are some bus lines such as ADO, Pullman de Morelos and TER that leave the Taxqueña bus station in Mexico City to the different cities of the state of Morelos. If you arrive at the Mexico City International Airport, you can take buses that leave for Cuernavaca.

See

The state has several places to visit. In the city of Cuernavaca is the Palacio de Cortes which is a 16th-century New Spain palace that was the residence of Hernán Cortes and his family. It includes the Cuauhnahuac Regional Museum where objects from the region are exhibited. The Borda Garden is a beautiful house built by the Taxco miner Juan de la Borda, although later it was also inhabited by Maximiliano I of Mexico. There you can see the flora and fauna of the City of Cuernavaca. It also has the Cathedral of Cuernavaca which was the fifth church to be built in New Spain. It was built as a convent, but it was elevated to a Cathedral in the 18th century. The Robert Brady Museum on one side of the Cathedral is a Franciscan temple is where the collector Robert Brady placed his entire art collection.

You can also visit Tlayacapan, a town of pre-Hispanic origin found on the slopes of Tepozteco. It has many small museums that explore the culture of the Chinelos.

Itineraries

• Ruta de los Conventos del Popocatépetl — A challenging week long bicycle tour visiting the earliest 16th-century monasteries on the slopes of Popocatépetl. Along the way you‘ll cross two national parks, an active volcano, and more historical sites than any reasonable person would ever want to visit.

Eat

Although each town has different dishes to offer, some of the culinary experiences that are representative of Morelos are Tacos acorazados, cecina from Yecapixtla, Morelos-style green pipián, and artisan ice cream from Tepoztlán.