Batopilas

Batopilas sits on a river at about 500 metres, at the bottom of a canyon whose rim stands more than a kilometre above it - which is why the descent, on a road of endless switchbacks through pine, then oak, then cactus and mango, is half the experience and takes hours. The town was one of Mexico's great silver camps: strikes here in the 1600s and again in the 1800s produced fortunes, and the American owner Alexander Shepherd built an industrial estate and one of the first electrified towns in the country, whose ruined hacienda still spreads along the river. Today a few hundred people live among the remains - cobbled lanes, painted facades, a plaza with mangoes and bougainvillea, the museum of silver, and the aqueduct and mine mouths in the hills. The famous excursion is the "Lost Cathedral" of Satevo, a large adobe mission church of uncertain origin standing alone in the river valley some seven kilometres downstream. Rarámuri communities live throughout the canyon; the climate at the bottom is subtropical, warm in winter and fierce in summer.

What you actually see

• The canyon descent - switchbacks from pine to palm.
• The Shepherd hacienda - ruined silver works along the river.
• The town lanes - cobbles, mangoes and painted facades.
• Satevo's mission - the lost cathedral downstream.

When to go

October to April, when the canyon floor is warm rather than punishing; summer temperatures at the bottom are extreme. The road is best driven in daylight, always.

Honest expectations

The road is long, narrow and vertiginous - passengers prone to motion sickness suffer, and drivers need full attention. Services are minimal, cash only, and connectivity is patchy. Ask locally about current road and area conditions before travelling.

Nearby

Creel and the Divisadero rim lie back up the mountain; the canyon's Rarámuri settlements spread along the river.