Cuernavaca

The Palacio de Cortés reopened after earthquake restoration as the Museo Regional de los Pueblos de Morelos, run by INAH, open Tuesday to Sunday 09:00 to 18:00, with free entry for over-60s, under-13s, disabled visitors and students and teachers with credentials. Entry was reported at MX$90 in the coverage of the reopening.

We could not read that figure on INAH's own page on 30 August 2026, and INAH reset its national tariff on 1 January 2026 — which for a Category II or III museum would be MX$155 for a foreign visitor and MX$85 for nationals and residents. So take MX$90 as reported rather than read, carry a little more, and check the board at the booth. The tickets page explains the two-tier system.

The Palacio de Cortés and the Rivera mural. Cortés built the palace on a Tlahuica platform in the 1520s — the archaeology is exposed inside the building — and in 1927–30 Diego Rivera painted the east terrace with the history of Morelos from the conquest to Zapata, commissioned by the US ambassador Dwight Morrow. It is the best Rivera outside Mexico City.

The cathedral, a fortified sixteenth-century Franciscan complex with sixteenth-century murals of the Japanese martyrs uncovered in the 1950s. Jardín Borda, the eighteenth-century garden where Maximilian and Carlota summered. Robert Brady Museum, an American collector's house left as he arranged it, with Kahlo and Rivera pieces among the folk art — small, personal and usually empty.

Coaches leave Terminal Central del Sur (Taxqueña) for Cuernavaca constantly and take about 1 hour 15 on the motorway; by car the same road. It is the shortest journey of any day trip in this guide except Teotihuacán, which is why it works as a half-day if you leave early.

Pairing it with Tepoztlán, 25 km away on the same road, makes a full and satisfying day by car — the pyramid climb in the morning and the mural in the afternoon. On public transport that combination is possible but tight.

The September 2017 earthquake hit Morelos hard, and Cuernavaca's historic centre took serious damage: the Palacio de Cortés closed for years and reopened restored, and several churches and civic buildings are still in various stages of repair. It is a working restoration site as much as a museum town, and some things are closed without notice.

That is a reason to check before travelling for one specific building, and not a reason to skip the city: the mural, the cathedral and the gardens are open, and the restoration itself is part of what the place is now.

Cuernavaca is the easiest day out from the city and the least essential: take it on a fifth or sixth day, ideally paired with Tepoztlán by car, or as a half-day if the Rivera mural is specifically what you want. The day-trips page compares the options, and the city itself is on the Mexico City city guide.