Experience the best of Ciudad Valles

Ciudad Valles lies on the eastern side of San Luis Potosí, on the lowlands of the Huasteca, where the Sierra Madre Oriental drops toward the Gulf coast. It is a hot, busy market town on the main road, with sugar cane, citrus and cattle country around it, and it is the practical base for the region's rivers, waterfalls and caves.

The Tamul waterfall, more than a hundred metres high, plunges into a river canyon that visitors reach by boat. Other falls and turquoise pools lie at Micos, Minas Viejas, Tamasopo and the Puente de Dios, a natural limestone bridge over a bright pool. The Sótano de las Golondrinas, a vast cave shaft where swifts spiral out at dawn, lies near Aquismón. Xilitla, with its surreal sculpture garden, is further south.

Huasteca cooking centres on zacahuil, an enormous tamale cooked slowly for hours, enchiladas huastecanas, bocoles, small stuffed maize cakes, and strong coffee. From late October into early November, the Xantolo festival fills villages with masks and altars for the Day of the Dead. The heat is intense in spring, the rains fall in summer, and the water runs clearest in the drier months.