Day 1: You will be met at the Chihuahua Airport by your bilingual guide, and transferred to Hotel San Francisco, located right in the historical center downtown. After you check in, we will comeback to the hotel restaurant to have dinner! Welcome to México! (Dinner is optional depending on your arrival time at the airport).
Day 2: Today we will start with a buffet breakfast and a little later we will be on the road to Casas Grandes, the Archeological center of Paquime. This excursion includes a visit to the Paquime museum, and a visit to the town of Mata Ortiz where recreations of the beautiful Paquime ceramic are made. To make this tour more enjoyable we are including a lunch at the Quiote restaurant!
The impressive Paquime ruins are located at the Casas Grandes valley, 365 Km NW of Chihuahua City. This Indian tribe developed from the year 1 AC to 1340 AC. The city was an excellent example of urban planning with a remarkable hydraulic works system. A fire destroyed the city and killed a lot of people! Archeologists believe that nomadic tribes provoked the fate of the Paquime tribe!
On the way back to Chihuahua, we will have time for a short break and after, we will dine at the “Casa de los Milagros” just a few steps from our hotel!
Meals included: breakfast, lunch & dinner.
Day 3: After breakfast we will be transferred to Creel by van, along the way we will stop at the Mennonite community in Cuauhtémoc city. The Mennonites arrived in Chihuahua State in 1921 and settled in this area bringing good agriculture techniques and started production of the famous Chihuahua cheese or Mennonite cheese! We will visit their museum and then have lunch in a private home.
We will continue on the road to Creel arriving at the Hotel Sierra Lodge where we will enjoy luxurious simplicity for the next two nights! Kerosene lamps and woodstoves! The evening is free and we have some optional activities like going to Cusarare waterfall or the painted cave!
This is the place where we will go on a good hike. We will decide together as a group what hike to do based on the group’s physical condition.
Meals included: breakfast, lunch & dinner.
Day 4: Today we will have breakfast at 7:30 am, in order to start our hike early enough to come back to the hotel and have time to relax and take a break before dinner!
The hikes we recommend:
*Cusarare waterfall, easiest. You will follow a well marked road to the waterfall (2 hours round trip)
*Mesa Sur, this hike takes from 4 to 5 1/2 hours depending on the pace of the group. You climb to the Cusarare valley and complete a nice loop. You’ll pass by a saw mill, and then, you’ll visit the Cusarare mission, the Loyola Museum and end up at The Painted Cave behind the hotel! We will lunch on the trail!
*Basirecota! This is the strenuous hike, very long, hike; it takes from 8 to 9 hours round trip! Carry your lunch and two liters of water. You will climb and descend on steep trails and cross a mesa. Then drop down along switch back trails to The Basirecota Hot Springs! Here we unwind and soak our feet, but bring your swimsuit and towel if you want to go all out! We continue on the hike following the stream to The Cusarare waterfall. The falls are 30 meters (90ft.) high. After the falls, we continue for another 50 minutes back to the hotel, a rewarding accomplishment for strong hikers. Margaritas and a good dinner top off this memorable day!
Meals included: breakfast, lunch & dinner.
Day 5: After we finish breakfast, we will have time to continue packing and get ready for our transfer to the train station where we will catch the eastbound “Chepe” train, the only passenger/tour train in Mexico to our next destination, Posada Barrancas.
We will eat on the train enjoying the canyons and mountain towns along the way. Our lodging tonight will be at the Hotel Mansion Tarahumara ‘The Castle’, only five minutes away from the Canyon rim! A nice hotel with a family style ambiance!
Meals included: breakfast, lunch & dinner.
Day 6: After breakfast, we will have a driving tour to see three canyons, Urique, Tararecua and Copper from different angles! This will be a 2 hour tour. Enjoy the fantastic canyon views and natural beauty from the rim, walk around and also browse through the impressive collection of handcrafted goods for sale by Raramuri Indians and other artists. These goods include baskets, violins, flutes, drums, children’s toys, clothing, jewelry.
After the tour we need to be ready to check out of the hotel; then have lunch. The afternoon’s train ride will be the most scenic and spectacular of the journey! You will pass bridges, tunnels, canyons, falls and dramatic landscape. Our destination is the beautiful, colonial town of El Fuerte.
Our lodging will be at the Hotel El Fuerte, a captivatingly beautiful, colonial mansion. Sea food in this area is excellent. The hotel’s restaurant is well known. After you check in, we invite you to come back to the colorful dinning room of this hotel and enjoy dinner!
Meals included: breakfast, lunch & dinner.
Day 7: Today we will have a lot of activities! We have a paddle raft trip, along The El Fuerte River, a visit to the Petroglyphs, (800 to 2000 year old rock carvings of unknown origin). After this trip, we will have a short break to rest a little or do some shopping around town before lunch.
Sharing a local tradition, we will enjoy a riverside lunch!
After “your siesta” this evening, enjoy a walking tour around this beautiful and historic city!
You are invited tonight to have dinner out of the hotel in one of the best restaurants in town. Follow your guide and pick the best option for a great dinner!
Meals included: breakfast, lunch & dinner.
Day 8: Departure.
After breakfast we will transfer you to the Los Mochis Airport according to your flight Schedule!
Meals included: breakfast, lunch & dinner.
We hope you enjoyed your trip, and we thank you for choosing Cristina’s Canyon Tours.