Bar Hopping: San Cristóbal de las Casas
By Sergio Camalich
The moment I arrived at San Cristóbal de las Casas, I knew I had to go Bar Hopping through the city. Anywhere you look, there’s a cool bar where you can have cold beer and tasty tasty mezcal, recently one of my favorite drinks—despite its strength.
So I sacrificed myself for this blog’s sake and started walking and drinking around San Cristóbal de las Casas, so you better appreciate my efforts.
Panóptico
This bar was the first one because it looked chill and was playing nice retro music.

They sold all the national beers and some types of mezcal, but their speciality were all the house cocktails they served, mixing mezcal with coffee infusions and all sort of different ingredients.
It is a modern bar with a really nice vibe and even though I’d have loved to stay there and drink more cocktails, we had to get going.
La Surreal
A couple of blocks after we left Panóptico, we found this cute little bar called La Surreal.

Decorated with a rustic style, its friendly staff know what they say when they talk about mezcal and all the varieties you can find in the bar.
There we had a couple of beers accompanied with several mezcals I had never tried before: Tobaziche, Azul and Salmiana.
This time, it was harder to get up, but duty was calling.
Praga
This is a cuban restaurant/bar where you’ll always find a trovador or a cuban trio playing their music for your delight.
Its walls are decorated with the thoughts of poets, musicians and philosophers and they invite you to live your life to the fullest.

Though it was bigger and more crowded than the first couple of bars, their staff are always smiling and dancing around.
Bar Revolución
This is San Cristobal’s bar by excellence.

It is decorated with EZLN parafernalia, María Sabina portraits and everything that resembles a revolutionary image. They play live rock music and reggae and their cocktails are great, too.
Here, the mojitos are big and they serve a local artisanal beer called La Lucha, continuing with the revolutionary theme.
This bar is the last one to close, so it was a great place to have a last call before going back to the hotel and have a break.
It’s not mexican enough if it doesn’t have a Virgen María image on it
The empty streets of San Cristóbal de las Casas after a long night
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juanits