Tapachula de Córdova y Ordóñez (Chiapas), also known as the pearl of Soconusco, has abundant riches all around it. Many of them are true high-altitude experiences, the recommendations for touring this area are:
Rambutan – Tacaná Route, Chiapas Experience
The Route begins in the municipality of Tuxtla-Chico passing through Cacahoatán until arriving at Unión Juárez. It is approximately 33 km long. The Rambután-Tacaná tourist route exalts the Cacao, Rambután, and Coffee. Icons of Chiapas and Mexico, fundamental pillars of the economy of these three municipalities. In addition to the natural beauties that are available in the area, privileging the Tacaná volcano.
This route supports the social and tourist well-being. The region has a strategic location for being the border with Guatemala. Being the intermediate point between our Chiapas coast and the entrance to Central America.
The strengths and attractions of this route is the consolidated and hard-working agricultural sector. In its extraordinary and indescribable natural beauty. In its incipient and thriving tourism infrastructure and service providers, and most importantly, in the warmth of its people.
It begins in Tuxtla Chico, the land of the Olmecs, Mayas, and the ruins of Izapa. It is the cradle of chocolate, the best chocolates in the world! The work and effort of the cocoa producers and the many artisans transform the cocoa into rich and frothy chocolate. The state of Chiapas is the second largest cocoa producer in Mexico.
Rambutan production is an exotic crop that was first introduced in the country more than half a century ago in Tuxtla Chico and Cacahoatán. They are currently exported to the United States of America, Guatemala, and on a small scale to Canada, Europe, and Japan.
Tacaná
The Tacaná is a volcano best known as the highest peak in southeastern Mexico. It is located on the border between the municipality of Sibinal in the department of San Marcos, Guatemala, and the municipality of Unión Juárez, in Chiapas, Mexico. It is the eighth-highest peak in Mexico and the second-highest in Guatemala. This volcano houses in its entrails fauna, flora, and indescribable and unforgettable natural beauties, it is a tourist potential for the geological wealth that it houses.
This route is possible thanks to the producers of this noble crop, generating thousands of foreign currencies and an enormous economic development. That is to say, thousands of direct and indirect jobs.
Coffee experience
Recently nominated for the Best of Mexico awards for Best Gastronomic Route, the Coffee Route is one of the attractions with the greatest Chiapas identity par excellence, presenting the history and process of coffee in the state. Located in the jungle mountains of the Tacaná Volcano, this tour allows visitors to get to know the coffee farms of the Soconusco region with years of history; Argovia, Hamburgo, Irlanda, and San Francisco are the 4 of the 13 farms that have facilities to receive visitors and are located between 600 and 1250 meters above sea level.
Through its farms, this aromatic route offers diverse activities framed in the dreamy landscapes such as coffee tastings, barista workshops, hiking, mountain biking, horseback riding, bird watching, site museums, and tours of the coffee production processes, as well as providing lodging services for all types of tourism, including the most demanding visitors worldwide, spa services, temazcal and beauty therapies based on organic products from the region. With these alternative tourism and nature activities, the Ruta del Café remains the favorite destination of the Southern Border of Mexico.
Chiapas Rum experience
Finca Venecia is the birthplace of Bonampak Rum. A fun and interactive experience getting to know the most awarded rums of Mexico and their producer. Delight your senses with the flavor and aromas of sugar cane and its gift, rum; the fruit of art, science, and devotion. On the visit you can learn about more than 70 years of history in the old distillery and also the current processes that allow the distillery to offer these rums in more than 30 countries. To round off the tour with a flourish, visitors can enjoy a comparative tasting of six types of rums to appreciate their differences.
Cacao experience and Izapa Archeological site
The adventure takes place in Tuxtla Chico. This is a leading municipality in the Mexican southeast in the production of cocoa and artisan chocolate. Here in Tuxtla Chico is the Izapa Archaeological Zone. Izapa foundation date is around 1500 B.C. You’ll appreciate large sculptures with commemorative and mythological ideas about human and nature. Many of these steles portrays characters that appear in the legend of the Popol Vuh. That is a book that narrates the ancient traditions of the Mayan culture.
Going to Tuxtla Chico and not tasting its chocolate is definitely like not having arrived. That is why the tour ends at the artisan chocolate workshop of the Laparra family, 3 generations of women making handmade chocolate with the original recipe. Attended by the owner, Doña Josefina Laparra, or “Chepis” as she likes to be called, visitors hear from her the importance of cocoa for the region, the artisanal process of making chocolate, and her peculiar anecdotes where her love and passion for her profession stand out. In this artisan gastronomic workshop, cocoa is traditionally processed and a delicious regional snack is enjoyed, accompanied by a frothy hot chocolate.
Banana Route
This tour begins in one of the main banana plantation cooperatives in southeastern Mexico. A community with a successful sustainable growth. Since over time they work as a team for the betterment of all its members. Here the tour coordinators facilitate familiarization with the customs and history of the locality. As well as the process of banana cultivation and harvesting.
