Malpica

Malpica is a small village in the municipality of Concordia, in southern Sinaloa, at the foot of the Sierra Madre Occidental. It sits right on Federal Highway 40, the road that leaves the coast at Villa Unión and climbs toward Concordia and Durango, about 7 km in a straight line west of the town of Concordia, so anyone driving from Mazatlán to Concordia or Copala passes through it. The village was founded more than two centuries ago, and its streets of low brick and adobe houses with tile roofs, painted in strong oranges, pinks and greens, still have a quiet, rural feel.

Malpica lives largely from its crafts. Its workshops make mosaic tiles by hand, in a way that local press describes as unique in the state, along with wooden articles and pottery, and visitors on guided tours can watch the tiles being made. The village is also known for its pan dulce, baked in home ovens inside family houses and considered some of the best sweet bread in Sinaloa. A small community museum displays old objects found around the village. In March 2026 tourists from cruise ships calling at Mazatlán were brought here to tour the bakery, the mosaic workshops and the museum, part of an effort to spread visitors' spending into the rural towns.

The village's best-known event is its Viacrucis Viviente, a living re-enactment of the Passion of Christ staged on Good Friday, which reached its 60th year in 2026. It is regarded as one of the most important Holy Week events in the state, known for its realism and for the dedication of the villagers who take part; it is also seen as a tradition that joins generations of villagers through their faith. At other times of year Malpica is mostly a stop of an hour or so on the craft-village circuit east of Mazatlán, combined with the furniture workshops of Mesillas, the baroque church of Concordia and the old mining village of Copala.