SUMIDERO CANYON EXPERIENCE
Trekking
Homestay with Farming Families
Daily Life
A three-day journey through mountains, river, and rural wisdom
This experience invites you to encounter Sumidero Canyon from within — not as a distant landscape, but as a lived territory shaped by footsteps, crops, stories, and rivers. Over three days, you journey on foot from the highlands down to the deep waters of the Grijalva River, guided by local knowledge and accompanied by campesino families. This is a slow descent — geographic and inner — where trekking becomes listening, and hospitality becomes a doorway into rural life. You share meals, work, laughter, and silence, discovering that the canyon is not only a geological wonder, but a living home woven by human presence and complex relationship with nature.
Your positive impact
-Supports rural farming families and community-based livelihoods
– Encourages dignified, non-extractive rural tourism
-Preserves campesino knowledge and daily practices
– Fosters intercultural exchange through homestay experiences
– Creates economic opportunities rooted in community autonomy
-Honors Sumidero Canyon as a living, sacred territory
-Nurtures personal resilience through immersion in nature and simplicity
Itinerary
DAY 1 · Trekking the Highlands & Community Welcome
Leaving San Cristóbal de Las Casas behind, you travel toward the highlands surrounding Sumidero Canyon. On the way, you stop at a local market and bakery to purchase a small gift — a simple yet meaningful gesture of gratitude for your host family.
Your journey begins with an 8 km hike, guided by a local expert who knows every curve of the trail. The path rises and falls through forested mountains, opening onto expansive panoramas that hint at the immense canyon still hidden below.
By afternoon, you arrive in a small farming community, where our partner organization Maya-Be supports locally driven development projects. Your host family welcomes you not as a visitor, but as a guest — into their home, their kitchen, and their daily rhythm.
Later, a short walk leads to a viewpoint overlooking Sumidero Canyon, offering a first encounter with the monumental stone corridor you will navigate from the river the following day. As evening falls, you take part in a hands-on cooking experience, learning to prepare traditional dishes before sharing dinner with your host family. The day closes with stories, laughter, and a warm cultural exchange by candlelight.
DAY 2 · Daily Life with a Farming Family
This day unfolds at the pace of rural life. There is no fixed schedule — only presence and participation. Alongside your host family, you may take part in:
- Preparing breakfast together
• Walking children to school
• Helping in the fields and gardens
• Baking traditional bread
• Learning basic embroidery techniques
Each activity becomes a lesson in resilience, cooperation, and care for the land. In the evening, you might join a friendly basketball game on the village court — or surprise your hosts by preparing a dish from your own country, turning the kitchen once again into a place of exchange and joy.
DAY 3 · Descent to the Canyon & Sacred Waters
After a nourishing homemade breakfast, you begin a 10 km descent toward the Grijalva River, following narrow forest paths that slowly guide you downward. A support horse accompanies the group, carrying supplies along the trail.
Reaching the river’s edge, you board a private boat and enter the heart of Sumidero Canyon. Towering walls rise up to one kilometer high, enclosing you within a world of stone, water, and silence. Along the way, you encounter caves, sculpted rock formations, spider monkeys, birds, butterflies, and sometimes even crocodiles — all part of this vibrant and sacred ecosystem.
As the boat glides through the canyon, the journey settles into your body. When you return to San Cristóbal de Las Casas later that day, you carry more than photographs — you carry lived experience, shared humanity, and a deeper understanding of place.
” A journey that stays with you — long after the canyon disappears from view“
PRICE per person:
From 5060 MXN peso with local Spanish speaking guide only
From 6330 MXN peso with professional English speaking guide
Includes:
- Accommodation: homestay
- All activities and workshops listed in the itinerary
- Meals: 2 breakfasts- 3 lunches – 2 dinner
- Regional transportation from start to finish, departing from your hotel in San Cristóbal de Las Casas
- Community donation
- Professional local Spanish-speaking guide
- Private boat tour through Sumidero Canyon
- Entrance fees
Excludes:
- Travel insurance
- Personal expenses such as souvenirs
- Optional activities not listed in the itinerary
- Tips for guides, hosts, and driver
Good to know:
- Best travel season: November to May, as well as July and August
- This is a community-focused, rural itinerary with simple homestay accommodation
- The hikes requires to be in shape
- Dietary requirements can be accommodated with advance notice
