Experience the best of Xilitla

Xilitla sits in the green foothills of the Sierra Madre Oriental in San Luis Potosí, a small town of steep streets and bright houses among coffee fields and orchids. A sixteenth-century Augustinian convent stands in the centre. The surrounding hills hold cloud forest, rivers and caves.

Las Pozas, on the edge of town, is a garden of concrete sculptures built from the 1940s by the English poet and patron of surrealism Edward James. Staircases lead to nowhere, columns look like trees, and pools and waterfalls run among the structures. Nearby lie the Sótano de las Golondrinas and the waterfalls of the Huasteca, including Tamul, and the Sierra Gorda reserve begins to the south.

Huasteca food includes zacahuil, a giant tamale, along with coffee grown on the hills and fresh fruit. The region is humid and green, with misty mornings among the trees, and rain is frequent in summer and autumn. The drier winter and spring suit the garden and the falls.