Valle de Bravo - The Valley of Braves

Hola Psyched, Como estas?

Anjuri and I have been busy in opposite parts of the globe (sadly), trying to figure out how to manage Psyched staying in different countries. It’s not a cake walk, but we are trying to figure things out. Meanwhile, I thought let’s show you guys a beautiful, magical town here in Mexico, one we visited a couple of months back.

One fine Saturday, we were up really early for our schedules, so we decided to visit Valle de Bravo for a day trip.

We had heard so much about this place from the locals and expats, it would not be wrong to call it their favourite weekend spot and we were intrigued so we just took off.

It is a two hour drive from Mexico City and the place is really saturated over the weekend due to all the traffic from neighbouring cities, mostly Mexico City and Toluca.

As soon as we entered VdB the ambience struck us with awe. Cute is the only word, that best describes this little town; a town that was developed ashore lake Avandaro which was filled with beautiful sail boats, big and small.

There were Fishing Boats, Bow-riders, Ski and Wakeboard Boats, Pontoons and it was a wonderful sight. VdB is the perfect place for parasailing, water skiing, boating and fishing.

Also, there were restaurants in between the lake, with beautiful walkways leading to the entrance. We, however, could not explore those as they were mostly for sea food and I am a vegetarian, so yes, I spoilt the party for Anjuri ;)

We started with a boat ride that lasted an hour.

The town looked completely different from the lake, with houses on the edge that directly open their gates onto the lake. The villas, hotels and the city itself looked breathtaking from the other end of the lake.

 We were so hungry after this that we headed straight through the cobbled streets, into the Centro (Central area of the town), past the lovely church, looking for a restaurant that would fit both our palettes.

However, we couldn’t walk past the Clamato booth and ended up having a belly full of Micheladas – thus forcing us to do some more exploring before we could finally sit down for lunch.

We kept walking the narrow lanes to find a number of furniture stores, with intricately detailed furniture - even though we didn’t have anything to buy, we spent a lot of time window shopping for those beautiful Parota (type of wood) furniture pieces. 

Well it was not just furniture but wooden objects, basketry, pottery, textiles, silver jewellery and so much more. 

We heard that there were a number of beautiful waterfalls and a Buddhist monastery just a few miles away from the city.

How could we have missed all of this. We had a lot of fun at Cascada Avandaro (cascada is spanish for waterfall) with our little buddy Pancho, who by the way, hates to be in or around water.

Cascada Velo de Novia (Bridal Veil Falls) was another beautiful waterfall. We had to walk for around fifteen minutes from the parking lot to reach there. This one is not to be missed.

We did not have enough time to cover everything in VdB, as much as we would have loved to go hiking or parasailing, we were really short of time. So clearly one day is not enough but we did not want to miss the Stupa de la Paz, a Buddhist Monastery located in between the greens of the city, an oasis filled with peace.

Such was the silence and calm of the place, we could hear the air shushing around and it was amazing to be there in that moment.

It was getting late and we had to start for Mexico City soon but we had to eat, given we had read and heard much about the many beautiful restaurants in VDB.

It was getting late and we had to start for Mexico City soon but we had to eat, given we had read and heard so much about so many beautiful restaurants in VDB.

We stopped by at 'Trattoria Toscana' and ordered a little too much for just two people. Please don’t judge us ;) Pizzas, pasta and soup along with wine was how we ended that beautiful day at Valle de Bravo.

Clearly we were not satisfied with the time we had and were not willing to go back, but we had to. So most certainly we’ll be visiting again and with more time in hand so we can go hiking and parasailing and do all the stuff we missed this time. :)