Valle de Bravo

Valle de Bravo is a charming little hamlet, whith white stucco colonial houses adorned with wrought iron balconies and red-tiled roofs. It is also a mountain villages rising up on the shores of the lake and surrounded by pine trees and mountains. Just an hour away from Toluca, it has become a popular tourist resort because of its numerous attractions and the places of interest in its surroundings.

Originally called San Francisco del Valle de Temascaltepec, for overthree centuries, it was primarily dedicated to agriculture and horticulture. In 1946, however, both the scenery and people's lives were transformed when the valley was flooded as part of the Miguel Aleman hydroelectric project.

Nowadays, Valle de Bravo's lake offers a range of water sports such as skilling, sailing, canoeling and fishing while the village boasts steep, narrow streets, numerous stalls selling traditional appetizers under the archways in the plaza, an unusual wood and tile bandstand, a handicrafts market and the parish church of San Francisco, the local patron saint, with 16th century bell towers.

Avándaro, a neighboring village that has now been incorporated into Valle, has luxury housing developments as well as a deluxe hotel, and riding and golf clubs.The surroundings are also ideal for mountaineering, rock climbing, cycling, cross-country motor cycling, gliding and hang-gliding.