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.
History
Zimapán grew up as a mining town in the colonial period, working the silver, lead, and other ores of the surrounding sierra, and mining shaped its economy and its streets for centuries. The town earned a place in the history of science in 1801, when the mineralogist Andrés Manuel del Río, studying a lead ore from the Zimapán mines, identified a new element that would later be known as vanadium.
Today Zimapán is the seat of its municipality in the state of Hidalgo. It was declared a Pueblo Mágico on October 11, 2018.
Climate mild
Best months to visit: Jan, Feb, Mar, Dec (driest months with comfortable afternoons)
Average daily high and low (°C) and monthly rainfall, 2020–2024.
Plan your trip
Links open a partner site. We may earn a commission if you book, at no cost to you. Hotel names from OpenStreetMap.
Photos
Where it is
Zimapán within Mexico
The town up close · Open in Google Maps
Getting there
- Fly into QRO: Querétaro Intercontinental Airport, about 85 km away in a straight line
Drive times are estimates from OpenStreetMap routing, without traffic.
Nearby Pueblos Mágicos
27 km away
35 km away
46 km away
49 km away
Sources: population from Wikidata (may count the whole municipality) · elevation and climate from Open-Meteo · airports from OurAirports (straight-line distance).