Grutas de García

The Grutas de García are limestone caves in the municipality of García, about 30 km north-west of Monterrey, set high on a mountainside inside the state protected area of the Sierra del Fraile. They are among the best-known excursions from the city: a cable car lifts visitors 280 meters up the cliff to the cave mouth, and for those who prefer to walk there is a footpath. The view from the entrance platform over the valley and the surrounding mountains is a highlight in itself.

The caves were discovered in 1843 by the parish priest Juan Antonio Sobrevilla, and Ignacio Marmolejo made the first speleological exploration. The rock formed on an ancient sea floor some 50 to 60 million years ago, and marine fossils can still be seen in the walls. The visitor route follows about 300 meters of galleries and reaches a depth of around 105 meters below the entrance, passing through 16 named settings. Among them are the Salón de la Luz, lit by a shaft of daylight through a hole in the roof; La Octava Maravilla, where a stalactite and a stalagmite have joined into a single column; the Salón del Aire with a 40-meter balcony; and formations named El Teatro, El Árbol de Navidad, El Gorila, La Mano del Muerto and El Infierno, many of them picked out with colored lights. There is also a small chapel to the Virgin of San Juan de los Lagos inside.

The site is run as a park with a souvenir shop, a mini-market, rest areas, a cinema that shows a short film on the caves' history, a museum with replicas of the formations and a virtual-reality version of the tour for those who cannot go inside. According to staff, it sees around 1,500 visitors in low season and about 18,000 during Easter week, and December is the busiest month. The cable car's tension cables were repaired and upgraded in 2024, but operations stop during thunderstorms or rain, winds over 40 km/h, snow or ice, and the park has closed temporarily for maintenance in some summers, so check before you go.