Discovering a new place, especially when it isn’t a typical tourist trap, can be such a find. We welcome writer Carl Nivens who found just such a place, Valle de Bravo in Mexico. Lucky us, he doesn’t mind letting us in on the secret. 

Photo by Barbara Rosner, Pixabay.

A year and a half ago I was introduced to a small vacation town located two hours west of Mexico City that is a little hidden gem known as Valle de Bravo. The first time I went I stayed for two months and have been back a half a dozen times since. I travel there for work but it’s a real pleasure since the food is delicious and cheap, while the people are always friendly and welcoming.

Getting to Valle de Bravo

I live in Florida and its pretty easy for me to get there. There’s a daily flight out of Orlando that is just under three hours to Mexico City. From there, I hop in a Uber to the bus station and on a bus that takes about two hours to get to Valle de Bravo. The Uber and the bus ticket are less than $20! The bus station is just a five minute walk to the town’s center where you can find all of the action.

The food in Valle de Bravo is so fresh – the restaurants in Valle are getting meat and produce from local farmers on a daily basis. Of course, it’s not labeled farm to table – it’s just how it is.

When you arrive at the center (El Centro) you can find dozens of vendors on the streets selling some of the best tacos you’ve ever had – street corn, tortas, churros, and more. My favorite are Al Pastor and Arrachera. They are cooked to order and I usually get three if I’m hungry. Each is garnished with fresh onion and cilantro.

They also have fresh limes, radishes, and a variety of salsas to load up your taco. Careful with the sauces though because they are much hotter than what you get in the U.S. They only cost about $15 pesos each…less than $1 U.S. They also come on corn tortillas which I never order back home, but again, there is such a difference when you can see them making the tortillas in front of you.

Tacos are not the only great food item in this town. I’ve also had great pizza, burgers and even sushi! There are also quite a few Italian restaurants around town. Once I ordered a mushroom risotto that was really well done. It would have easily been $25-30 at a nice restaurant back home but I paid $10!

Here are some of the meals I had during my travels in Valle de Bravo:

Pizza.

Sushi.

Guacamole with Chapulines (grasshoppers).

A Cowboy Burger.

The Culture in Valle de Bravo

As I mentioned, the people here are always friendly. It’s a tourist town so they are used to visitors. However, keep in mind that less than 5% or so of the population here speak English so it definitely helps to know some Spanish. I am nowhere close to being fluent however I know enough to order food, order a cab and ask for directions. That’s enough to get around but I do wish I knew a little more to have more in-depth conversations with the locals.

There is one cafe there, Cafe Italik, that we normally work at. We usually only order a coffee or two and they don’t mind even though we sit there for a long while to work. One time, I left my computer charger there and didn’t realize it until the next morning. Certain it was gone, I rushed over as soon as the cafe opened. With my limited Spanish speaking abilities, I told our server I left it yesterday and was going to check where we were sitting.

She let me look for a minute and then when I turned around she was waving it at me almost like a friendly taunt to say “you might not get so lucky next time.” Needless to say, I let out a huge sigh of relief and was very grateful to her.

Maybe Valle de Bravo will become your new, hidden treasure. In addition to the great food, it’s well known for paragliding if you are brave enough. It’s also near the national park where the Monarch butterfly migration ends if you go during the right time. I usually go once a month, so who knows, we might bump into each other!

— Story and photos, except where noted, by Carl Nevins of KtchnDad

If you’re lucky, you’ll see Monarch butterflies in Valle de Bravo during their stopover. Photo courtesy Pixabay.

Hungry for more? Expand your journey in Mexico with suggestions from these articles: Meet an award-winning chef in Playa del Carmen: attend a class at the El Pueblito Cooking School; have some beach time at Quivira Los Cabos; and do every one of the 5 Things to Do in Mazatlan.