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    A free Puebloteca guide Hidalgo's Pueblos Mágicos

    Free Hidalgo travel guide

    All 9 of Hidalgo's Pueblos Mágicos on one printable page. Free when you sign up for our weekly email.

    • All 9 Pueblos Mágicos, with a photo and what makes each special
    • A map of Hidalgo with each one on it
    • Road trips that join the pueblos close together
    • The best months to go
    • How far each is from the nearest city
    • The sights not to miss
    • The fiestas worth planning around
    • The fiestas month by month
    • Where to stay in each
    • Made to print or save as a PDF

    The 9 Pueblos Mágicos in this guide

    Most visited first. The full guide adds the sights not to miss, the fiestas, how far each is by car, and a layout made to print.

    Metztitlán9Huichapan8Tecozautla7Acaxochitlán6Mineral del Chico5Zempoala4Zimapán3Huasca de Ocampo2Real del Monte1
    1. 1 Colorful houses and the parish church climbing the hills of Real del Monte, Hidalgo

      Real del Monte

      A cold, high mining town in Hidalgo, shaped by the Cornish miners who arrived in the 19th century. They left behind steep-roofed houses, an English cemetery, and the paste, the local take on the Cornish pasty.

      When to go: Feb, Mar, Apr, May

    2. 2 Stone cross in the atrium of the Church of San Juan Bautista, Huasca de Ocampo, Hidalgo

      Huasca de Ocampo

      Huasca de Ocampo, in the mountains of Hidalgo, was the first town named a Pueblo Mágico, in 2001. Nearby are the Basaltic Prisms, tall columns of rock with waterfalls running over them, and old silver haciendas.

      When to go: Jan, Feb, Mar, Dec

    3. 3 Rooftops of Zimapán around the parish church, with mountains behind, Hidalgo

      Zimapán

      Zimapán is a mountain town in western Hidalgo, set in dry, rugged country where the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt meets the Sierra Madre Oriental. It is an old mining town with a colonial center, and it serves as a gateway to the canyons and sierra of the Moctezuma River basin. Travelers come for the quiet plaza and parish church, the mining heritage, and the mountain scenery around it.

      When to go: Jan, Feb, Mar, Dec

    4. 4 Bell tower and arcaded portico of the Todos los Santos convent, Zempoala, Hidalgo

      Zempoala

      Zempoala is a small town on the Apan plains of Hidalgo, in the heart of pulque country. Its Franciscan church and convent of Todos los Santos date from the 16th century and form part of the Padre Tembleque aqueduct system, a UNESCO World Heritage site whose tall stone arches cross the countryside nearby. Travelers come to see the aqueduct and convent, visit old pulque haciendas among the maguey fields, and taste the drink where it is made.

      When to go: Jan, Feb, Nov, Dec

    5. 5 Fountain, clipped hedges and colorful houses on the main plaza of Mineral del Chico, Hidalgo

      Mineral del Chico

      Mineral del Chico is a tiny mining-era village in the Sierra de Pachuca, Hidalgo, part of the Comarca Minera region and next door to El Chico National Park. Its main square is anchored by the neoclassical Purísima Concepción parish, with a quarry stone facade and a public clock added in 1888. People come for the mountain setting, the forest, and the calm of a town that locals simply call El Chico.

      When to go: Feb, Mar, Apr, May

    6. 6 Clock tower, palms and bandstand on the main plaza of Acaxochitlán, Hidalgo

      Acaxochitlán

      Acaxochitlán is a highland town in the sierra of eastern Hidalgo where Nahuatl and Otomí are still spoken. Its center gathers around a plaza with an art deco clock tower from the early 1930s, the tile-roofed parish of Santa María de la Asunción, and a neo-Gothic chapel on a low hill. In May the fiesta of the Señor del Colateral fills the streets with processions and carpets of sawdust, sand, and flowers, and three reservoirs lie close by.

      When to go: Feb, Mar, Apr, May

    7. 7 Stepped stone pyramid at the Pañhú archaeological site near Tecozautla, Hidalgo

      Tecozautla

      Tecozautla is a small town in the Mezquital Valley of Hidalgo, known for its hot springs and for the fruit grown around it. The center has the church and former convent of Santiago Apóstol, built in the 1690s, and a neoclassical clock tower inaugurated in 1910. Every July 25 the patron saint's day becomes the Feria de la Fruta, with crafts, rides, rodeos and displays of local fruit. Expect barbacoa, mole with turkey and, in season, escamoles and maguey worms.

      When to go: Jan, Feb, Mar, Dec

    8. 8 Arcaded stone front of the Palacio Municipal of Huichapan, Hidalgo

      Huichapan

      Huichapan is a small town in the rolling hills of the Valle del Mezquital, in western Hidalgo. It is the seat of its municipality and has its own Museum of Archaeology and History, a good starting point for understanding the area. Visitors come for a quiet historic center and a town closely tied to the story of Mexican independence.

      When to go: Jan, Feb, Mar, Nov

    9. 9 Bell gable and arcaded front of the convent of the Santos Reyes, Metztitlán, Hidalgo

      Metztitlán

      Metztitlán, "place of the moon" in Nahuatl, is a small town in Hidalgo's Sierra Baja, set inside the Barranca de Metztitlán Biosphere Reserve. Above it rises the 16th-century Augustinian monastery of the Santos Reyes, with a Plateresque facade, a barrel-vaulted church, altarpieces and mural paintings; friars still live there. The town also keeps La Tercena, a rare 16th-century civic building with polychrome murals. The feast of the Virgen del Refugio is held on July 4.

      When to go: Jan, Feb, Mar, Dec

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