Chihuahua

The city of Chihuahua is a prosperous and surprisingly cultured oasis amid Mexico's arid northern deserts, and meeting point for cattle ranchers from around the region. For many visitors Chihuahua is simply the starting or finishing point of a ride on the Copper Canyon Railroad, which traverses the spectacular mountain country of the Sierra Madre Occidental between Chihuahua and Los Mochis, near Mexico's Pacific coast. But with a clutch of stately colonial buildings in its center, a fascinating role in Mexico's history, good shopping and a lively restaurant, music and nightlife scene, this university city is well worth a more extended visit. ...

The city of Chihuahua is a prosperous and surprisingly cultured oasis amid Mexico's arid northern deserts, and meeting point for cattle ranchers from around the region. For many visitors Chihuahua is simply the starting or finishing point of a ride on the Copper Canyon Railroad, which traverses the spectacular mountain country of the Sierra Madre Occidental between Chihuahua and Los Mochis, near Mexico's Pacific coast. But with a clutch of stately colonial buildings in its center, a fascinating role in Mexico's history, good shopping and a lively restaurant, music and nightlife scene, this university city is well worth a more extended visit. Along with the majestic 18th-century cathedral on the central Plaza de Armas, the unmissable sight is Quinta Luz, the former mansion and headquarters of legendary early-20th-century revolutionary Pancho Villa, now housing the Museum of the Mexican Revolution. Chihuahua also played key roles in Mexico's wars for independence from Spain and France in the 19th century and has monuments and museums recalling those eras too.

About the Expert

John Noble is a coauthor of Lonely Planet's Spain, Andalucia, and Mexico as well as many other LP titles from Indonesia to Belize to Brazil.