Every city in Mexico has incredible tacos, and Cuernavaca is no different.
And there are so many options.
There are pork carnitas tacos, traditionally served on weekends in the mornings. There are Mexico’s iconic al pastor tacos: the orange-colored marinated pork tacos, slow cooked on a Turkish-style gyro (called a trompo in Mexican Spanish). There is barbacoa, the intricately seasoned, slow-steamed, mutton or goat tacos, traditionally cooked in a hollowed-out earth pit covered with banana leaves (see Antony Bourdain’s Puebla/Mexico episode for an insight into this unusual and fascinating cooking technique), but most often – these days – cooked in a roadside kitchen steamer, watched over by a proud abuelita.
There’s also wood smoked gyros (al carbon), as well as everythig else: suadero, cecina, carne enchilada, sesos, cabeza, ojo, lengua, and many more.
Added to that, there are northern-Mexican imports such as birria de res.
So if you are in Cuernavaca – and hungry – what to choose?
This guide is the ultimate roadmap to the best taco restaurants (taquerías) in Cuernavaca. Updated regularly for the most up-to-date recommendations.
And we know every Cuernavavca resident has their own personal favorites.
If you are from Cuernavaca and you disagree – leave a comment below.
Best Al Pastor Tacos in Cuernavaca
Al pastor tacos are arguably Mexico’s most iconic taco style. The stacks of marinated pork, slowly rotating on the vertical trompo (the Mexican-Spanish word for the Turkish-style gyro-style spit), is one of the most common sights in Mexico, visible on every street corner from Tijuana to Chiapas.
The tender cuts of pork shoulder are marinated for hours in a savoury-sweet and slightly smoky chilli seasoning. The marinade is not spicy (picante), so don’t worry if you aren’t a big fan of spicy food.
And if you are a fan of spicy food, there are are always plenty of spicy sauces (salsas) in al pastor restaurants to make your taco as spicy as you like.
Al pastor is traditionally eaten in the evenings and nights, rather than the daytimes or mornings, so expect most al pastor taco restaurants (taquerías de al pastor) in Cuernavaca to open around 5pm.
La Gringa 3, Ávila Camacho
A good rule for al pastor tacos in Mexico is this: the bigger the gyro (the trompo), the better the restaurant.
This makes sense: the bigger the trompo the more the restaurant is selling per night. The more they are selling, the more the locals like to eat there. So, the better the restaurant.
And La Gringa 3 on Ávila Camacho in Cuernavaca has one of the biggest trompos we have ever seen.
This Cuernavaca taquería is famous for a reason. The al pastor is excellent.
El Mexicano, Ávila Camacho
El Mexicano is across the road from La Gringa. They both sell similar tacos. They both have huge trompos. They are both incredibly popular Cuernavaca taquerías.
So what’s the difference?
Legend has it that the owner of El Mexicano used to work for the owner of La Gringa. Allegedly, there was a fall-out and the disgruntled employee decided to open his own restaurnat across the road from the restaurant of his former boss.
And if you speak Spanish you will know that the name El Mexicano means The Mexican, while the name La Gringa means The American. We wonder whether this was done on purpose.
For us, El Mexicano is excellent. It’s slightly cheaper than La Gringa 3, but otherwise very similar, and the quality is incredible.
The only reason that we have placed it lower that La Gringa is that the Taco Arabe con Queso in La Gringa is just slightly better.
But there’s not much in it. Both are excellent.
Best Carnitas Tacos in Cuernavaca
Carnitas are delicious pork tacos. They are cooked in a huge pot (called el cazo), full of bubbling oil, which is usually made out of copper.
These tacos are traditionally eaten on Saturday and Sunday in the mornings, but they can sometimes be ordered at other times of the day too, depending on the location.
You can order any type of the pig that you want, but if it’s your first time we recommend orderning maciza – the standard lean meat.
Once you get more adventurous you can try other cuts such as back (espaldilla), ribs (costilla), leg (chamorro), intestine (buche) and even tail (rabo).
Carnitas Uruapan, Ocotepec
Carnitas Uruapan is the only choice for number one carnitas in Cuernavaca. The tacos are incredible, the tortillas are handmade, the decoration inside the restaurant is beautiful and the service is unbeatable.
When you arrive and take your seat, they bring you free guacamole, free nachos (totopos), free Mexican pork scratchings (chicharón), free steamed potatoes (papas al vapor) with prickly-pear cactus slices (nopales). And after your meal they often bring you a free mini-desert (usually delicious stewed guavas or rice pudding) and sometimes even offer you a free mezcal liquor!
The generosity and hospitality here is unrivalled.
The restaurant is popular, especially on weekend mornings, and on the weekends there are often live bands performing traditional Mexican music.
For carnitas in Cuernavaca, Carnitas Uruapan is the undisputed champion.
El Agasajo, Teopanzolco
Located on Avenida Teopanzolco, this is also a solid choice.
Not quite as good as Carnitas Uruapan, in our opinion, but closer to the center and very popular with locals, so it can be a great alternative if you don’t want to travel so far.
The tacos are great quality, but slightly smaller than Carnitas Uruapan, and you don’t get so many free extras.
A good second choice, but only worth it if Carnitas Uruapan is closed or too far.
Best Al Carbon Tacos in Cuernavaca
Al Carbon is like Al Pastor, but the meat isn’t marinated. It is still slow cooked on a traditional trompo. But it is doesn’t have the red/orange color of al pastor.
It is typically smoked over a charcoal grill, which gived the meat a unique smokey flavor.
Tacos Charming, Nueva Inglaterra
This taco restaurant located on Nueva Inglaterra is famous for its tacos al carbón.
When you are approaching the restaurant from the street you can smell the aromatic wood smoke in the air.
They do lots of different dishes but one thing that we always enjoy ordering here is the baked potato with al carbón taco meat on top (the papa al carbón). Especially if you order sides of smoked onion (cebolla asada) and avocado slices (aguacate), and mix all that in with the potato, al carbón meat and the sour cream.
Follow it up with a horchata or a freshly made hibiscus-flower drink (jamaica)
Delicious.
La Gringa 3, Ávila Camacho
This restaurant is making a second appearance on this list because its al carbón tacos are just as good (if not better) than their al pastor.
If you are in La Gringa in Cuernavaca, you have to order the Taco Árabe con Queso.
Trust us. It’s worth it.
Best Suadero Tacos in Cuernava
Suadero tacos are beef tacos slow-cooked in oil.
They are cooked in a traditional wide circular pan called a comal choricero.
And they are delicious.
Here are our top picks for Cuernavaca.
Taquería Lety, Nueva Inglaterra
This small taquería is quite far from the city centre, but it’s authentically family owned and the suadero tacos are incredible.
It’s worth the trip. The definition of a hidden gem.
The restaurant is run by a local Cuernavaca family who put their heart and soul into creating delicious traditionally-cooked tacos.
They are not expensive either.
You can either sit inside or stand at the bar – near the comal choricero – but either way the tacos are going to be incredible.
Tacos El Chino, Teopanzolco
This place is an unusual recommendation. It is not in the centre. It is not in a good-looking part of Cuernavaca. There are not even any tables – it’s a street stall with standing room only.
But the tacos are excellent.
This is street-food at its finest.
A small stall in an ordinary neighborhood with a massive queue. The universal Mexican sign of quality.
Best Birria, Birria Tacos and Quesabirria in Cuernavaca
Birria is not a typical central-Mexican food. Birria is a stewed-beef barbacoa, most commonly found in the north of Mexico, far from Cuernavaca. But it is delicious. And Cuernavaca has some exemplary resaurants that sell it.
We personally think that it is best served in a cheese-birria quesadilla combo (called a quesabirria), rather than a taco, but the tacos are incredible too.
You can also buy the birria in a bowl. Eaten like this, it becomes a unique and tradtional type of Mexican slow-cooked beef stew.
However you like to order it – birria is always delicious.
These tacos are usually only ordered in the daytime, not at night, so be aware that the restaurants will often close before 5pm.
Tijuanita Birria, Teopanzolco
Our favorite option in Cuernavaca. The restaurant is set in a tropical garden, with palm trees, banana plants and outside seating.
There is a play area for kids, including a trampoline, and a nice relaxed atmosphere for the adults to sit and chat.
And the food is excellent.
Las Hamacas, Río Mayo
Another great option in Cuernavaca. Located on Río Mayo, this restaurant serves some excellent birria, in all its different forms.
Highly recommended.
Best Barbacoa Tacos in Cuernavaca
Barbacoa is a type of stewed meat, traditionally either made from mutton (borrego) or goat (chivo).
Historically, barbacoa was always cooked in a hole in the ground, stewed for hours with a covering of aromatic banana leaves on top.
These days it is usually cooked in makeshift tents in plazas or on the roadside that are set up on Saturdays and Sundays.
And it is always delicious.
The best thing about barbacoa, in our opinion, is the consomé: a bowl of goat/mutton broth made with the meat juices, chickpeas, rice, spices and other condiments. Perfect for dipping your tacos in.
If you are hungover on a Saturday or Sunday morning, a few barbacoa tacos with a warm consomé is a magical restorative potion.
Barbacoa Díaz, Ahuatepec
This barbacoa taco restaurant for us is the gold-standard in Cuernavaca.
Located far from the center, in Ahuatepec, but it’s worth the journey.
The tacos are made using the highest-quality blue corn. The meat is flavorsome, perfectly cooked and of the very best quality.
And you can get cold beers along with your tacos and consomé.
A perfect Saturday/Sunday morning plan.
Barbacoa Calle Casandra
Most barbacoa restaurants aren’t restaurants. They are temporary street stalls that appear on Saturday morning and are gone by Sunday afternoon.
It’s a Cuernavaca tradition.
And, in our opinion, the small temporary stall that appears on the corner of Calle Casandra and Avenida San Diego is one of the best street-stall options in the city.
Located in quite a posh neighborhood of Cuernavaca, just off the upmarket avenue called Avenida San Diego, this is a barbacoa street stall with prestige.
The prices are low but the quality is not. The consomé is perfect and the tacos are some of the most well-regarded in the city.
Barbacoa Yuli, San Antón
This barbacoa street-stall is worth the recommendation just for its selection of home-made sauces.
The family that own this street-stall make four different chilli-sauces every day.
If you don’t like spicy food, then this place isn’t for you. But if you do, then it’s a great option.
Their sauces are made from six different types of Mexican chilli-peppers.
There is a yellow sauce, made from a combination of habanero and manzano peppers, a green sauce made from serrano and jalapeño peppers, a brown sauce made from pasilla peppers and a yellow-brown sauce made from árbol peppers.
A true showcase of the wonderful variety of Mexican gastronomy.
Best Bistec de Puerco/Carne Enchilada/Cecina
Many taco street-food stalls in Cuernavaca sell varieties of pork, cooked on a large griddle/flat-top pan called a comal.
You often have the option of diced lean pork steak (bistec de puerco), lean pork steak marinated in chillis and garlic (carne enchilada) or cured-salted pork (cecina). You can also get a mix of all three – called campechano.
These tacos are usually served with sliced prickly-pear cactus pads (nopales), stewed onions and/or fried potatoes (papas fritas).
The Corner of San Jerónimo and Ávila Camacho
One of the best street-food stalls of this category is located right near the Iguana Abroad Spanish school, on the corner of San Jerónimo and Ávila Camacho.
It is a small humble place, but very popular with locals and tourists.
There are two types of pork – bistec and carne enchilada – as well as a type of Mexican seasoned sausage called Longaniza. The meat is cooked on the comal with slices of onion, potato and Mexico’s famous prickly-pear cactus – nopal.
You can choose the meats separately, or try them all mixed together: campechano.
Subida a Chalma con Río Tenango
This is another hidden gem.
This street-stall is locaed on a normal-looking carpark in front of an OXXO, but the quality of the tacos is very high.
The family that run this street-stall is from the village of Ocuilán, which is on the way to Malinalco, one of the pueblos mágicos (Mexico’s oficial Magic Towns) that we visit on our Iguana Abroad Spanish immersion courses. A local family, with some great local recipes.
We always like ordering the tacos de bistec, and the quesadillas. They also do some other great non-taco classics, such as tlacoyos with blue corn and quesadillas.
Local food, done well.
Best Taquería for Cabeza, Lengua & Sesos
This type of taco isn’t for everyone.
Cabeza means head. Usually cow head. Lengua means tongue. Seso is brain.
For American and European travellers, this can be quite unnerving if you haven’t been to Mexico before. But it’s a big part of Mexican culture.
And in some taquerías in Cuernavaca, the cabeza/lengua/sesos tacos really are excellent.
If you’re brave enough, we highly recommend trying them.
Taquería Lety, Nueva Inglaterra
The cabeza, lengua and seso tacos served here are well known for being high quality.
The lengua, in particular, is served in thick slices and is one of the restaurant’s specialities.
It’s a popular place with locals.
Are you brave enough to try this Mexican-Cuernavacan tradition?
