Off the tourist radar, and with an affable frontier feel, this region offers some of Mexico’s most important historic sights across a triptych of colonial cities (Chihuahua, Parral and Durango). The landscape itself is typified by the starkly beautiful Desierto Chihuahuense (Chihuahuan Desert), which covers most of Chihuahua, Mexico’s largest state – and while it rises in the west into the fertile folds of the Sierra Madre Occidental, you’ll be forgiven for thinking you’ve wandered into a B-grade western (Durango, incidentally, is where many famous westerns were filmed).
Tourism, unfortunately, has been ravaged by drug-gang violence, so don't venture off the beaten track without a guide. The ‘Golden Triangle’ – where Chihuahua, Durango and Sinaloa converge – is noted for its opium production and particularly high levels of violence. While there is some danger of being caught in the wrong place at the wrong time, tourists are not generally targeted.
These are our favorite local haunts, touristy spots, and hidden gems throughout Chihuahua & Central North Mexico.
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These ruins, in a broad valley with panoramas to distant mountains, contain the mazelike adobe remnants of northern Mexico’s most important trading settlement. Paquimé was the center of the Mogollón or Casas Grandes culture, which extended north into New Mexico and Arizona and over most of Chihuahua. The site’s impressive, meticulously detailed Museo de las Culturas del Norte has displays about Paquimé and the linked indigenous cultures of northern Mexico and the southwest USA.
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Chihuahua’s former Palacio Federal (built 1908–10) has been used as a mint, a monastery, a military hospital and a post office, but is now a beautifully restored cultural center full of excellent exhibits, with most explanations in English and Spanish. Modern displays concentrate on the culture and history of Chihuahua state with features on Mormons, Mennonites and the Rarámuri people. The most famous gallery is the Calabozo de Hidalgo, the subterranean dungeon where Miguel Hidalgo was held prior to his execution.
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This impressive city museum features an interesting collection of interactive exhibits, from pre-Hispanic times through colonization to the present day, and deals with Durango's economy, mining, traditions and culture. The museum has an entire section dedicated to the film industry, highlighting the more than 130 films that have been made in and near the city, including The Wild Bunch (1968), Zorro (1997) and Texas Rising (2014). Don't miss the alacraneo, a black-light-lit tank filled with scorpions.
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Flower- and fountain-filled Plaza de Armas is graced by the handsome baroque Catedral del Basílica Menor. A popular meeting spot, there's a bandstand, shade trees and loads of benches. In the late afternoon and evening, vendors do brisk business in everything from corn on the cob to crepes.
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Huápoca has trails to a triple set of cliff dwellings that the Mogollón inhabited from about 1200 to 1450. You get only distant overlooks of the first two, Cueva del Nido del Águila (Eagle’s Nest Cave) and Cueva Mirador (Lookout Cave), but you can enter houses in the Cueva de la Serpiente (Cave of the Serpent), where the restored adobe dwellings cut through to both sides of the cliff. It’s down a steep, narrow canyon, and though there are steps, it’s not an easy walk.
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Many of the big-screen cowboys have swaggered through this film set. Today the set is a souvenir-drenched theme park with mock film productions on weekends (1:30pm, 3:30pm and 5:30pm Saturday and Sunday). It's located 12km north of town; a free shuttle bus leaves for here from the Plaza de Armas 30 minutes before each show and returns two hours later (though visitors are welcome to stay longer). Great fun for families.
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This well-conceived museum, created in a traditional Mennonite architectural style, holds hundreds of household goods and farm tools from the early years of Mennonite settlement in the area. It’s remarkably similar to small-town historical museums in the American Midwest. A variety of crafts, cheeses and fruit preserves are sold here too. Signage in Spanish and English.
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Housed in a spectacular colonial mansion, this well-conceived museum pays deep homage to the Mexican revolutionary hero Pancho Villa. Sixteen rooms worth of multimedia displays, films and personal effects tell the story of Durango's most famous native son. Be sure to leave some time to check out the gorgeous murals, which depict the history of the country and state. Signage is mostly in Spanish.
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Once a locomotive maintenance and repair shop, this renovated warehouse is home to the city's small but excellent modern art museum, with one room dedicated to the fascinating history of the building, including railroad gear and antiquities. The building itself was built curved to accommodate a huge turntable that allowed one mechanic to turn an entire railcar.