Layout of Cuernavaca
Cuernavaca lies at 1,510 m on the south-facing slope below the Sierra de Chichinautzin, the volcanic wall that separates Central Mexico from the warm lowlands of Morelos. The ground falls away steadily from north to south, and the city is cut by deep wooded barrancas — ravines carrying streams off the sierra — which is why its streets bend and dead-end rather than following a grid. The municipality had 378,476 residents in 2020 and the metropolitan area that takes in Jiutepec, Emiliano Zapata, Temixco and Xochitepec about 1.03 million.
The centre is a pair of adjoining squares: the Plaza de Armas, the only main square in Mexico without a church on it, and the smaller shaded Jardín Juárez beside it. On the east side stands the Palacio de Cortés, begun in 1526 on top of a Tlahuica platform and the oldest surviving colonial civil building on the American mainland; it houses the Museo Regional Cuauhnáhuac and the Diego Rivera mural on the history of Morelos, painted in 1929–30. Three blocks west, the cathedral occupies the walled precinct of the Franciscan monastery founded in 1529, one of the fourteen sixteenth-century monasteries on the slopes of Popocatépetl inscribed by UNESCO in 1994; its nave carries a rediscovered mural of the martyrdom of Mexican missionaries in Japan. The Jardín Borda, laid out in the 1780s for the mining family of that name, was used as a summer residence by Maximilian and Carlota in the 1860s.
Avenida Morelos runs north–south through the middle of the city and Avenida Plan de Ayala crosses it; the 95D motorway skirts the eastern edge. There is no scheduled airport in the city itself: Cuernavaca–Mariano Matamoros (CVJ) at Temixco, 20 km south, has only limited service, and most visitors arrive on a direct coach from Mexico City airport. Buses from the capital run from Taxqueña and from MEX Terminal 1 to terminals close to the centre.
The climate is the reason the city exists in its present form. At 1,510 m the annual mean is about 21 °C and the monthly means move by only four or five degrees across the year, with rain concentrated between June and September; Humboldt's phrase "city of eternal spring" has been attached to it since the early nineteenth century. Morelos itself is the second-smallest state at 4,879 km², and Cuernavaca sits almost at its centre, an hour from every corner of it.
Distances from Cuernavaca
| Place | km | Time | How |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cuernavaca airport (CVJ) | 20 | 30 min | Hwy 95 to Temixco |
| Tepoztlán | 22 | 30 min | Hwy 95D then 115D |
| Xochicalco ruins | 38 | 45 min | Hwy 95D south, then local road |
| Cuautla | 42 | 50 min | Hwy 160 |
| Lake Tequesquitengo | 45 | 50 min | Hwy 95D |
| Taxco | 80 | 1 h 15 | Hwy 95D then 95 |
| Mexico City | 85 | 1 h 15 | Hwy 95D, bus to Taxqueña |
| Mexico City airport (MEX) | 100 | 1 h 30 | Direct coach |
| Toluca | 115 | 2 h | Hwy 55 via Ixtapan de la Sal |
| Puebla | 170 | 2 h 30 | Hwy 160 via Cuautla |
| Acapulco | 300 | 3 h 30 | Hwy 95D, the Autopista del Sol |
Neighbourhoods and surroundings
Outside the colonial core the city is a patchwork of walled gardens: from the 1930s onwards Mexico City families built weekend houses here for the climate, and whole districts consist of high walls with bougainvillea over them. Acapantzingo, south of the centre, holds the Jardín Etnobotánico in the grounds of a house Maximilian used, planted with Morelos medicinal species. Tlaltenango, to the north, grew around a chapel of 1523 and keeps a September fair. The city also has a long-established trade in Spanish-language schools, which brings several thousand foreign students a year.
The country around Cuernavaca is compact and varied. Tepoztlán, 22 km north-east under the Tepozteco cliffs, has a Dominican monastery of 1560 on the same UNESCO list as the cathedral, and a small Aztec-era temple on the ridge 400 m above the town. Xochicalco, 38 km south-west, is a fortified hilltop city of about 650–900 AD with a carved Feathered Serpent pyramid and an underground observatory, itself a World Heritage Site since 1999. Taxco, 80 km on, is the silver town in Guerrero. North of the city the Lagunas de Zempoala national park sits at 2,800 m in pine forest, and the archaeological sites map places the sites in the wider region.
Questions about Cuernavaca
Where is Cuernavaca on the map of Mexico?
85 km south of Mexico City at 18.92° N, 99.23° W, on the southern slope of the Sierra de Chichinautzin in the state of Morelos, of which it is the capital. The 95D motorway drops about 730 m between the two cities.
Why is Cuernavaca called the city of eternal spring?
Because it sits at 1,510 m, low enough to escape the cold of the highland basins and high enough to escape the heat of the coast: the annual mean is close to 21 °C and the monthly means vary by only a few degrees. The name is usually credited to Alexander von Humboldt, who passed through in 1803.
How far is Cuernavaca from Mexico City?
85 km by the 95D toll motorway, about 1 h 15 by car outside rush hours. Buses leave Mexico City's Taxqueña terminal and Terminal 1 of Mexico City airport roughly every half-hour.
What is there to see near Cuernavaca?
Tepoztlán and its cliff-top pyramid are 22 km north-east, the hilltop ruins of Xochicalco 38 km south-west, and the silver town of Taxco 80 km south-west. Lake Tequesquitengo and the Lagunas de Zempoala national park are both within an hour.