Fodor's Expert Review Jardín Borda

The Borda Gardens, among the most popular sights in Cuernavaca, were designed in the late 18th century for Don Manuel de la Borda, son of Don José de la Borda, the wealthy miner who established the beautiful church of Santa Prisca in Taxco. The gardens were once so famous they attracted royalty. Maximilian and Carlotta visited frequently. Here the emperor reportedly dallied with the gardener's wife, called La India Bonita, who was immortalized in a famous portrait. Novelist Malcolm Lowry turned the formal gardens into a sinister symbol in his 1947 novel Under the Volcano. A pleasant café and a well-stocked bookstore sit just inside the gates.