9 within 3½ hours · 5 under 2 hours
Monterrey's mountains hold its Pueblos Mágicos. Santiago, half an hour south, is the weekend town, with the Cola de Caballo waterfall and the La Boca reservoir. Arteaga, an hour away over the pass in Coahuila, is the Sierra de Arteaga's apple and cabin country, with the Monterreal ski slope. Linares and General Terán, in the citrus belt, are known for glorias sweets and orchards; Bustamante, north, has caves and a palm-filled canyon. For a weekend, Parras de la Fuente's oasis vineyards are three hours west.
Best months for the area: Jan, Feb, Mar, Dec (when most of these towns are dry with comfortable afternoons)
Day trips (under 2 hours) 5
Close enough to drive there and back from Monterrey in a day. Closest first.
1 h 26 min · 101 km
Best: Jan, Feb, Mar, Dec
Fiestas: May, Sep, Nov, Dec
Weekend escapes (2 to 3½ hours) 4
Worth a night or two. Closest first.
2 h 4 min · 160 km
Best: Mar, Apr, Nov, Dec
Fiestas: Jan, Jun, Oct, Dec
On the map
Getting there
Monterrey has its own airport, Monterrey (MTY), so you can fly in and rent a car there.
A car is the easiest way to reach most of these towns; the bigger ones also have direct buses from Monterrey. Each pueblo's page has its own getting-there notes.
Drive times are from OpenStreetMap routing without traffic. Times marked ~ are estimated from the distance and may run longer on mountain roads.