Tehuacán-Cuicatlán

This is one of the driest parts of Mesoamerica and one of the most biologically remarkable, a valley of cactus forests so dense that the columnar species stand in ranks like a planted crop across whole hillsides, at a concentration found nowhere else. UNESCO listed it in 2018 for both nature and culture: the valley holds canals, wells and terraces representing some of the earliest water management known in the Americas, and it is where archaeologists found evidence of the long transition from wild to cultivated maize. The Popoloca, Mixtec, Cuicatec and other communities still farm here. Salt has been worked at Zapotitlán by evaporation in the same shallow pans for centuries.

What you actually see

• The columnar cactus forests - the densest stands of their kind anywhere.
• The Zapotitlán salt works - shallow evaporation pans worked for centuries.
• The ancient water systems - canals, wells and terraces across the valley.
• The botanical garden at Zapotitlán - the desert flora explained in one place.

When to go

October to April is the comfortable season and gives the clearest air; the cacti flower mainly between March and June, which is also when it gets hot. Community guides run trips from Zapotitlán and Cuicatlán and are the practical way to see the reserve.

Honest expectations

There is very little visitor infrastructure: no park loop road, few signs, and most of the reserve is reached with a community guide arranged locally rather than turning up. Summer heat is severe and there is no shade. This is a landscape and science destination rather than a sightseeing one.

Nearby

Tehuacán is the northern base; Oaxaca city is about three hours south.