Things to Do in Taxco

Taxco is a silver-mining town stacked up a steep hillside in Guerrero state, approximately 3 hours south of Mexico City. Its white-painted buildings with terracotta roofing tiles, narrow stone streets (too narrow for conventional traffic in most of the centre), and the pink Churrigueresque facade of the Santa Prisca church make it one of the most photogenic towns in Mexico. The silver trade has been continuous since the Aztec period, and the town remains the country’s silver capital.

Activity overview

Activity	Cost	Duration	Notes
Santa Prisca church	Free	30–45 min	Churrigueresque masterpiece, gilded interior
Silver shopping	Free to browse	2–3 hours	Hundreds of workshops, .925 certified
Teleférico	~MXN $100 return	1 hour	Cable car to Monte Taxco, panoramic views
Museo Guillermo Spratling	~MXN $60	45 min	Pre-Hispanic art, silver history
Museo de la Platería	~MXN $30	30 min	Silver techniques, notable pieces
Callejón walking	Free	1–2 hours	Steep lanes, views, local atmosphere
Grutas de Cacahuamilpa	~MXN $170	Half day	Mexico’s largest accessible caves, 40 km
Casa Borda	~MXN $30	30 min	Colonial mansion, cultural centre

All prices approximate, as of 2026.

Santa Prisca church

The definitive building in Taxco: built 1748–1758 by silver magnate José de la Borda, whose mining fortune funded every detail. The facade is late Churrigueresque — the most ornate variant of Spanish Baroque, reaching its Mexican peak here. Carved saints in niches, relief panels depicting biblical scenes, and twin pink-stone towers rise above the Plaza Borda. The level of detail in the stone carving is extraordinary — spend time looking up.

The interior has twelve gilded altarpieces in the same ultra-ornate style — floor-to-ceiling gold leaf covering carved wooden retablos with saints, angels, and scrollwork. The sacristy (ask the sacristan for access) contains paintings by Miguel Cabrera, one of the most important colonial-era painters in Mexico. Free entry. Open daily.

Silver shopping

Taxco has been a silver centre for five centuries. The modern silver industry was revived in the 1930s by American architect and designer William Spratling, who established workshops and trained local artisans — creating the contemporary Taxco silver tradition. Today the town has hundreds of workshops and shops at every price point.

Shopping guide:

• Look for .925 — sterling silver (92.5% purity). Certified pieces carry the mark. Cheaper silver-plated or alpaca-metal pieces exist at the lowest price points.
• “Hecho en Taxco” — a local certification mark indicating the piece was made in the town by verified craftspeople
• Mercado de Artesanías (craft market, below the Zócalo) — the widest range at multiple price points. Good for browsing and comparing. Jewellery from approximately MXN $100 for simple rings to MXN $2,000+ for necklaces and elaborate pieces
• Calle de los Plateros (Silversmiths’ Street) — established galleries with higher-quality, unique pieces. Prices are higher but provenance is confirmed
• Workshop visits — several workshops welcome visitors to watch the silversmithing process. The Escuela de Platería (silversmithing school) sells student pieces at good value
• Bargaining — expected at the market and street stalls, less so at established workshops and galleries. Start at 70–80% of the asking price in the market

The best pieces are found at individual workshops off the main streets, where master silversmiths produce limited-run designs. These are the pieces worth paying for — unique, well-crafted, and direct from the maker.

The streets and views

Much of the pleasure in Taxco is topographical — the town is built on a near-vertical hillside and the streets are accordingly steep, narrow, and irregular. Callejones (narrow lanes) too tight for vehicles wind between houses, opening suddenly to views over rooftops to the valley below.

Plazuela de San Juan and Plazuela Bernal — smaller squares away from the main plaza, quieter, with local cafés and less tourist traffic.

Moto-taxis and the famous peseros (shared VW Beetles used as local taxis, approximately MXN $10–15 per ride) navigate the main routes. Walking up is the exercise; the VW Beetles take you back down.

The best views of the town come from two vantage points:

Teleférico — the cable car connecting the lower town to Monte Taxco hill (approximately MXN $100 return). The panoramic views over the town — a cascade of white buildings with the Santa Prisca towers at the centre — are the classic Taxco image. The Hotel Montetaxco at the summit has a restaurant and a pool accessible for a day fee (approximately MXN $150).

Cerro del Huixteco — a viewpoint above the town accessible by a short but steep walk or taxi. Less visited than the teleférico and equally dramatic.

Museo Guillermo Spratling

The museum (Calle Porfirio Delgado, approximately MXN $60, Tuesday–Sunday) is dedicated to William Spratling — the American who revived Taxco’s silver industry. The collection includes Spratling’s own pre-Hispanic art collection (jade, obsidian, ceramics) and silver pieces from his workshops. The museum provides essential context for understanding why Taxco looks and functions as it does.

Museo de la Platería (Silver Museum)

A smaller museum (approximately MXN $30) documenting silver mining and silversmithing techniques through the centuries — the extraction, smelting, and crafting processes. Competition-winning pieces from the annual Silver Fair are displayed. Worth 30 minutes for context before shopping.

Grutas de Cacahuamilpa

40 km north of Taxco — Mexico’s largest accessible cave system. Multiple chambers, the largest reaching over 80 m high and 200 m long. Guided tours through the main cavern last approximately 2 hours (departure every hour, entry approximately MXN $170). The formations — stalactites, stalagmites, flowstone columns — are impressive in scale rather than delicacy. The cave has been a tourist attraction since the 19th century; Maximilian I visited in the 1860s and carved his name on a wall (still visible).

Outside, the Dos Ríos picnic area — where the Chontalcoatlán and San Jerónimo rivers emerge from the cave mouth — is a pleasant stop. Basic food stalls at the entrance.

Combinable with Taxco as part of a day trip from Mexico City or Cuernavaca.

Semana Santa

Taxco’s Holy Week celebrations (March/April) are among the most intense in Mexico. Nightly processions of penitentes — figures in dark hoods carrying heavy wooden crosses, with some engaging in ritual flagellation — pass through the cobblestone streets lit by torches and candles. Elaborate theatrical productions of the Passion play run throughout the week. The atmosphere is deeply solemn and visually extraordinary — the combination of the narrow colonial streets, candlelight, and religious intensity is unlike anything else in the country.

The town fills completely during Semana Santa — accommodation books up months in advance and prices rise significantly. If this is your target, plan early.

Eating

Spot	What to try	Approx. price
El Adobe	Regional Guerrero cuisine, mole	Mains MXN $100–180
La Hacienda de Taxco	Mole, pozole, enchiladas	Mains MXN $120–200
Pozolería Tía Calla	Pozole (pork hominy stew)	MXN $60–100
Zócalo cafés	Coffee, light meals, views	MXN $40–80
Market fondas	Budget comida corrida	MXN $50–70

Pozole (hominy and pork stew, served with radish, lettuce, oregano, and tostadas) is the essential Guerrero dish — Thursday is traditional pozole day. Mole rojo (a simpler mole than Oaxaca’s, with dried chiles, sesame, and chocolate) appears at traditional restaurants.

Getting there and practicalities

• From Mexico City: Buses from Taxqueña (Central del Sur) terminal with Estrella de Oro or Flecha Roja — approximately 2.5–3 hours, frequent departures, approximately MXN $200–300
• From Cuernavaca: 1–1.5 hours by bus
• Day trip vs overnight: Most visitors come as a day trip from Mexico City. Staying overnight is worth considering — the town empties after 4 pm when day-trippers leave, and the evening atmosphere (quiet cobblestone streets, the church lit up, far fewer people) is a different and more atmospheric experience
• Feria Nacional de la Plata (Silver Fair, November–December): silverwork competitions, exhibitions, and events. A more relaxed time to visit and see the craft at its best

Plan your trip: tours in Taxco · skip-the-queue tickets · travel insurance.

More Taxco Guides

• Back to Taxco Guide
• Mexico City Travel Guide — 3 hours north by bus, the most logical base for a Taxco day trip
• Puebla Travel Guide — another colonial city reachable from Mexico City
• Pueblos Mágicos — Mexico’s heritage town programme, of which Taxco is a member
• Festivals and Events in Mexico — Semana Santa and the Silver Fair in national context