3 within 3½ hours · 0 under 2 hours
Tampico has no Pueblo Mágico nearby, but the Huasteca Potosina is within a weekend's drive to the west. Aquismón, about two and a half hours, is the gateway to the Tamul waterfall and the Sótano de las Golondrinas, where thousands of swifts spiral out at dawn. Xilitla, in the misty sierra beyond, has Edward James's surrealist garden of concrete stairways in the jungle. Ciudad del Maíz, on the way up to the altiplano, is a quiet town of old haciendas.
Best months for the area: Jan, Feb, Mar, Dec (when most of these towns are dry with comfortable afternoons)
Weekend escapes (2 to 3½ hours) 3
Worth a night or two. Closest first.
~2 h 40 min · 180 km
Best: Jan, Feb, Mar, Dec
Fiestas: Jul, Sep, Oct, Nov
~3 h 30 min · 235 km
Best: Jan, Feb, Mar, Dec
Fiestas: Jan, Mar, Apr, Aug, Dec
On the map
Getting there
Tampico has its own airport, Tampico (TAM), 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 Tampico. 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.