Real de Catorce sits at about 2,750 metres in the Sierra de Catorce, in the state of San Luis Potosi, and it is the most complete ghost town in Mexico that is still inhabited. At the height of the silver boom in the nineteenth century something between fifteen and forty thousand people lived here. When the silver price collapsed around 1900 the town emptied almost completely, and what is left is a few hundred residents living among the roofless shells of everybody else's houses.
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What Is Here
THE WAY IN IS A SINGLE-LANE TUNNEL 2.3 KILOMETRES LONG AND IT SETS THE TONE FOR EVERYTHING. The Ogarrio tunnel is a former mine working, unlit for most of its length, barely wider than one vehicle, and traffic runs ALTERNATELY IN EACH DIRECTION with a keeper at either end deciding when a convoy goes. You wait, you go in, and you come out in a different century. There is no other road. If you are claustrophobic, know this before you commit to the trip.
THE RUINS ARE THE TOWN AND THEY ARE NOT FENCED OFF. The Pueblo Fantasma on the slope above the inhabited streets is a field of stone walls, doorways and the shell of the old bullring and the cemetery, and you walk through it. The image with the horses is that landscape: animals grazing among house walls that were lived in a hundred and twenty years ago.
THE TEMPLO DE LA PURISIMA CONCEPCION HOLDS ONE OF MEXICO'S GREAT FOLK ARCHIVES. The parish church is a serious pilgrimage site for San Francisco de Asis, and the room beside it is lined with RETABLOS and MILAGROS: hundreds of small painted panels and hand-written notes left by people thanking the saint for a specific rescue, a car crash survived, a child's illness ended, a border crossing made. They are dated, they name the person, and they are far more affecting than anything in a museum. The church floor itself is laid with wooden panels over the crypt.
The Casa de la Moneda was a mint, striking coin here in the 1860s because the silver was on the spot, and it now holds exhibitions.
THE WILLYS JEEPS ARE THE LOCAL TRANSPORT AND THE LOCAL ECONOMY. Open-topped 4x4s, most of them very old, run visitors up to the Cerro del Quemado and out across the high desert, and horses do the shorter trips. The third image is one of those vehicles under the Milky Way, which is the other thing this place has: at 2,750 metres with almost no light pollution the night sky here is as good as anywhere in Mexico.
THE CERRO DEL QUEMADO IS A SACRED SITE AND NOT A VIEWPOINT, and this is the most important thing to understand before coming. Real de Catorce sits inside WIRIKUTA, the desert territory the Wixarika people, often called Huichol, have walked to on pilgrimage for centuries from Nayarit and Jalisco, hundreds of kilometres west. The Quemado is one of its principal sacred places and offerings are left there. Visitors are generally tolerated and guides take people up, but you are a guest at somebody's altar rather than a tourist at a lookout: do not move, touch or photograph offerings, do not climb on the stone circles, and follow what your guide tells you.
PEYOTE IS A PROTECTED SPECIES, A SACRAMENT, AND NOT YOURS. Hikuri, the peyote cactus, is the centre of Wixarika religious practice and it grows in this desert. It is protected under Mexican environmental law, its possession and consumption are ILLEGAL FOR NON-INDIGENOUS PEOPLE, the plant takes decades to reach maturity so harvesting by visitors is straightforwardly destroying it, and the Wixarika have campaigned for years against the drug tourism that has grown up around this town. People will offer. The answer is no, and the reasons are legal, ecological and a matter of basic respect, in that order of increasing importance.
When to Go
March to May and September to November are the best months: dry, clear, warm days and cold nights.
EARLY OCTOBER IS THE FEAST OF SAN FRANCISCO and the town fills with pilgrims. It is the most interesting time to be here and the hardest to find a bed, so book months ahead or stay in Matehuala.
June to September is the rainy season, with afternoon storms and a greener desert. The dirt tracks beyond the town get difficult.
December to February is cold, with nights regularly below freezing and occasional snow at this altitude.
IT IS COLD AT NIGHT IN EVERY SEASON AND THIS IS THE PACKING MISTAKE EVERYONE MAKES. At 2,750 metres in a high desert, the temperature falls twenty degrees or more after sunset even in May, and many of the small hotels have no heating beyond a blanket and a fireplace. People pack for Mexico and then sit in a stone room at eight degrees.
Getting There
By road from Matehuala, which is the gateway town on Highway 57, about an hour and a half: a paved road to Cedral, then a long stretch of rough stone road up the mountain, then the tunnel.
By bus, first-class services run to Matehuala from Mexico City, Monterrey, San Luis Potosi and Saltillo, and a local bus or a shared taxi covers the last leg. The last service up is in the afternoon.
By air, San Luis Potosi is about three hours away and Monterrey about four.
THE TUNNEL CLOSES AT NIGHT, which decides your day. Opening hours are set locally and change, so confirm them with your accommodation before you drive, because arriving after closing means sleeping in Cedral.
You cannot usefully drive inside the town. The streets are steep cobble, most are too narrow, and visitors park and walk. There is no petrol station and the nearest fuel is well down the mountain.
Is Real de Catorce Safe for Women?
Real de Catorce is a tiny, close-knit town with an established visitor trade and is safe. The FCDO does publish advised-against areas for Mexico, and being precise about them matters more here than almost anywhere, because the country is large and the restrictions are specific rather than general. It advises against all but essential travel to the cities of Tijuana and Tecate in Baja California, to the areas of Guanajuato south-west of road 45D, to most of the state of Michoacan with named exceptions for Morelia and Patzcuaro reached by toll road, to the parts of Jalisco south and south-west of Lake Chapala and eleven northern municipalities, to the state of Colima except Manzanillo reached by air or sea, to the state of Guerrero except Zihuatanejo and Ixtapa reached by air, to a 40km strip of the Guatemalan border in Chiapas, to one stretch of Federal Highway 199, and to the city of Acapulco. That last one appears on the safety and security subpage rather than in the landing page list, which is exactly why you should read both. None of those areas includes this destination. Read the current advice yourself before you travel, because the list is revised regularly.
SAN LUIS POTOSI CARRIES NO FCDO ADVISED-AGAINST AREA, and the restrictions named for Mexico lie in other states. What applies here is the ordinary national advice about road travel, which matters more than usual because the approach is long, remote and partly unpaved: travel in daylight, use first-class buses between cities, and do not drive the mountain road at night.
ALTITUDE IS THE FIRST REAL RISK. 2,750 metres is high enough to cause headache, breathlessness and poor sleep in people who have come from sea level that day, and the walk up to the Quemado adds several hundred metres on top. If you have flown into Mexico City or driven up from the coast, give yourself a quiet first afternoon and drink more water than you want to.
The streets are the second, and they are worse than they look. Everything is steep, uneven, rounded cobble, often wet from an afternoon storm, and the ruins have unprotected drops, open shafts and loose walls. THE OLD MINE WORKINGS ARE NOT ALL SEALED. Stay on the paths your guide uses and do not explore a shaft.
The horses and the open 4x4s are the third. There are no helmets and no seat belts, the tracks are rough, and the drivers go faster than you would. You are entitled to say slower.
The desert sun at this altitude burns very fast and there is no shade at all once you leave the streets.
There is effectively no medical facility in the town, and the nearest hospital is an hour and a half down the mountain, which is the single thing that should make you cautious rather than nervous.
The Real de Catorce Packing List
High desert: fierce sun, freezing nights, steep cobble and a lot of dust.
Our merino base layers are 100% Australian merino at 17.5 micron, and a long sleeve merino wool base layer for women is close to the ideal garment for this destination: the swing between a 25 degree afternoon and a near-freezing night is the largest in this batch, you cannot easily do laundry, and wool holds warmth without bulk and does not stink after three days of dust and horses. Add a heavyweight merino base layer and Smartwool merino base layer bottoms for the nights, which matter because many rooms are unheated stone.
A Columbia Powder Lite insulated jacket, which in December and January is not optional, and a merino beanie, because most of what you lose standing outside under that sky you lose off your head.
Waterproof hiking boots rather than shoes. The cobbles are rounded and steep, the ruins are loose stone, and the Quemado walk is a real ascent on scree.
A rechargeable headlamp. The streets have minimal lighting, power cuts happen, and the tunnel is unlit, which you will notice as a passenger.
Not linked and worth packing: A WIDE BRIM HAT, since high-desert sun at 2,750 metres burns in minutes and there is no shade; SUNGLASSES; LIP BALM AND MOISTURISER, because the air here is extremely dry and this is the complaint visitors actually make; CASH IN PESOS, because there is no bank and no reliable cash machine in the town; A REFILLABLE BOTTLE, since tap water is not drinkable; A DUST SCARF for the open 4x4; and ALTITUDE PATIENCE rather than a pill.
Recommended Tours and Experiences
Essential Resources for Women in Real de Catorce
Emergency numbers: 911 for police, ambulance and fire, the single national number, free from any phone. English-speaking operators are available in the tourist states but are not guaranteed everywhere.
Two things decide this trip before you arrive. The first is the OGARRIO TUNNEL, 2.3 kilometres of unlit single-lane former mine working that is the only road in, running alternating one-way convoys and CLOSING AT NIGHT, so confirm the hours with your accommodation rather than assuming. The second is that IT IS COLD AFTER DARK IN EVERY MONTH at 2,750 metres and many rooms are unheated stone. THERE IS NO BANK AND NO RELIABLE CASH MACHINE, so bring pesos, and no petrol station. THE OLD MINE SHAFTS ARE NOT ALL SEALED and the ruins have unprotected drops. THE CERRO DEL QUEMADO IS A WIXARIKA SACRED SITE inside the pilgrimage territory of Wirikuta: do not touch, move or photograph offerings. PEYOTE IS A PROTECTED SPECIES AND ITS USE IS ILLEGAL FOR NON-INDIGENOUS PEOPLE, whatever anybody offers you in the street. EARLY OCTOBER IS THE FEAST OF SAN FRANCISCO and every bed in the town is taken.
US State Department travel advisory: the Mexico advisory. Read the current level there directly rather than relying on a figure printed in any guide.
UK FCDO travel advice: gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/mexico, and read the safety and security page rather than only the landing page, because that is where the substance sits.
Main hospital or clinic: there is a small health centre in the town for very minor matters and nothing else. ANYTHING SERIOUS MEANS MATEHUALA, an hour and a half away down a rough mountain road and through a tunnel that closes at night, and anything specialist means San Luis Potosi about three hours further. That is the most remote medical position in this batch and it is the reason to be conservative about the horses, the open vehicles and the mine ruins rather than to worry about crime. Private facilities expect payment or a direct insurance guarantee up front. Dial 911, and tell your accommodation where you are walking. Private hospitals in the large Mexican cities are good and expect payment or a direct insurance guarantee up front, so carry your policy number where you can reach it rather than in the bottom of a bag. Public clinics will treat an emergency. Tap water is not drinkable anywhere in the country: drink bottled or purified water, which every hotel and restaurant supplies as a matter of course, and take the same care with ice and raw salad that you would with the water itself.
Official health authority: the Secretaria de Salud, Mexico's federal health ministry, covers the San Luis Potosi state health services
US Embassy: the United States Embassy in Mexico City.
Official tourism authority: the Secretaria de Turismo, Mexico's federal tourism ministry, with state information from the San Luis Potosi tourism secretariat, which publishes the Ogarrio tunnel hours and the San Francisco feast dates
Takeaways
The only road in is a 2.3km single-lane tunnel that closes at night. Check the hours.
Pack for freezing nights. It is 2,750 metres and the rooms are stone.
Read the retablos beside the church. They are the best thing here.
Peyote is protected, sacred and illegal for you. Say no.
Solo women safety assessment: Real de Catorce is a small, watchful, close-knit town where a woman travelling alone is unremarkable and quickly known, and that works in your favour: a few hundred residents, a visitor economy of guides and family-run posadas, no nightlife to speak of, and San Luis Potosi carrying no FCDO advised-against designation. The realistic crime risk is opportunistic theft from a room or a bag, and the persistent one is being offered peyote in the street, which is a legal and ethical question rather than a threat. 911 IS THE NATIONAL EMERGENCY NUMBER and English is unlikely here, so your accommodation is the fastest route to help. THE MEDICAL DISTANCE IS THE MOST SERIOUS FACT IN THIS POST AND IT SHOULD CHANGE WHAT YOU DO RATHER THAN WHETHER YOU COME. There is a health centre for minor matters and nothing more: anything real means Matehuala, an hour and a half away down a rough unpaved mountain road and through a single-lane tunnel that closes overnight, with the nearest specialist care three hours beyond that. A broken ankle here is a long, uncomfortable evening at best and an overnight wait at worst. So the sensible version of this trip declines the fast horse, asks the jeep driver to slow down on the descent, and does not go into a mine shaft to see what is in it. THE OTHER TWO RISKS ARE ALTITUDE AND COLD, and both catch people who have come from the coast that same day: 2,750 metres causes headache, breathlessness and broken sleep, the Quemado walk adds several hundred metres of scree on top, and the night temperature falls twenty degrees or more after sunset in every season while many rooms have no heating at all. Arrive, do nothing for an afternoon, drink more water than you want, and bring real warm layers. ON THE SACRED GROUND, treat the Cerro del Quemado as somebody's altar rather than a viewpoint: go with a guide, leave the offerings exactly as they are, and do not photograph them.
Reading On
Real de Catorce is the far north of the colonial silver country. South and west, the Guanajuato packing list covers the other great silver city, with the San Miguel de Allende packing list, Queretaro packing list and Bernal packing list filling in the Bajio. Further on, the Morelia packing list and Patzcuaro packing list cover Michoacan and its advisory geography, and the Guadalajara packing list the west. North and west, the Copper Canyon packing list covers the Sierra Madre railway, which is the other great high and remote Mexican journey in this library. For the capital and the centre, the Mexico City packing list and Puebla packing list. For the country, the Mexico travel guide for women and the Mexico packing list carry the transport and the advisory geography in full. For why wool is the answer to a twenty degree daily swing, read the guide to merino wool base layers for women. Every destination we cover is indexed at the travel packing guide for women, and the base layers are at the Roman Trail collection.
If the outer journey is calling you, the inner one usually is too. Explore SoulMap at romantrail.com/blogs/soulmap.
