Parque temático Villas del Oeste

Twelve kilometers north of the city, on the road to Parral, stands a Wild West town that never had real residents. Actor Billy Hughes built it in the 1960s as a film set, about a kilometer from the village of Chupaderos, in the dry plains and bare hills that had been drawing Western productions to Durango since the 1950s. The first feature shot here was Buck and the Preacher (1971), with Sidney Poitier and Harry Belafonte. The Mask of Zorro (1998), Bandidas (2006) and the miniseries Texas Rising (2015) followed, and counting short films the set has hosted more than 150 productions.

After some quiet years without shoots, the set was refurbished and opened as a theme park; the state government announced a rescue in 2012, and it now runs as the Paseo del Viejo Oeste. Several times a day a troupe of actors, some of whom have worked as stunt doubles, re-enacts gunfights on the main street, with bandits, heroes and horses, and stays around afterwards to chat; now and then someone from the crowd gets pulled into the scene.

Beyond the show there is a small film museum, a shooting range, horseback rides, saloons serving food and souvenir stalls, where cash is handy. In the dressing rooms the cast can put you in period costume within minutes for photos. The last show of the day ends as the sun drops behind the hills, so arrive early. It is the easiest way into Durango's long history with the movies: the set is a quarter of an hour from downtown, and during school holidays free buses run out from the Plaza de Armas.