The Sierra Gorda Missions

Five Franciscan missions were built in the Sierra Gorda in the middle of the eighteenth century, and they carry a World Heritage listing because of what happened on their facades: the friars supplied the plan, but the carving was done by local Pame and mestizo craftsmen who filled every surface with a dense, brightly painted relief of saints, angels, plants, animals and symbols read differently by the two cultures that made them, producing a baroque that exists nowhere else. Jalpan is the largest, Concá the smallest and most exuberant, and the five sit within a couple of hours of each other on mountain roads. The surrounding biosphere reserve is one of the most ecologically diverse in Mexico, with cloud forest, cactus desert and a vast sinkhole called the Sótano del Barro.

What you actually see

• Jalpan and Concá - the largest and the most exuberant of the five facades.
• The carved detail - saints, plants and symbols read two ways by two cultures.
• The Sierra Gorda reserve - cloud forest, desert and canyon in one range.
• Sótano del Barro - the enormous sinkhole with macaws flying below the rim.

When to go

October to April is drier and best for the mountain roads; the sierra is green and misty in summer with heavy rain. The five missions are spread over winding roads, so allow two full days to see them all without rushing.

Honest expectations

The roads between the missions are steep, winding and slow, and a car is essential; the drive from Querétaro city alone is three and a half hours. Facilities in the villages are simple. The churches are working parishes with limited hours, and interiors are plain compared with the facades, which are the whole point.

Nearby

Jalpan is the base town; Querétaro's colonial centre is three and a half hours southwest.