# Copper Canyon



## Guategringo (Nov 9, 2012)

I publish tourist guides, but this is not soliciting anyone's business, just anyone's opinion who might know about a certain location in Mexico. I am currently in the editorial stage of a tour guide about different places to visit in Mexico and was invited by the owners of a hotel to go and stay for a week in Copper Canyon, in the state of Chihuahua in the Sierra Madres. 

Giving it a quick look on internet I discovered it was considered by one website as one of the ten most remote places on the planet. You can reach it by burro and train? Has anyone been there? Is it worth visiting?


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## Anonimo (Apr 8, 2012)

We visited there 3 separate times in the '90s by Chepe train and bus. The first time was enthralling, the second time o.k. and the third time, I would say "ho-hum".

Now, not any any time did we venture deep into the cañon. But on the last visit we did take a truck over a bad road to an overlook of the Urique cañon area. What we saw was spectacular. 

I am convinced that most of the train ride is overhyped, (with a very few exceptions), but the really worthwhile areas are in the canyon bottoms and on the way down. Note that summer temperatures in the bottom are quite high.

It's not an area to which we would want to return, but it may appeal to others.


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## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

I've always wanted to visit Copper Canyon (Barrancas del Cobre in Spanish) but have never made it that far north. I found this website sponsored by the State of Chihuahua Tourist Board:

DIRECCION DE TURISMO


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

Anonimo said:


> We visited there 3 separate times in the '90s by Chepe train and bus. The first time was enthralling, the second time o.k. and the third time, I would say "ho-hum".
> 
> Now, not any any time did we venture deep into the cañon. But on the last visit we did take a truck over a bad road to an overlook of the Urique cañon area. What we saw was spectacular.
> 
> ...


I like the area a lot. I was there a few years ago and have plans to return. Last time we walked down in the canyon from Areponapuche. This next time we are going to walk from Batopilas to Urique. The train ride was interesting to see once. Now I just see it as a way to get into the canyon country. The scenic part is between Creel and Los Mochis.


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## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

TundraGreen said:


> I like the area a lot. I was there a few years ago and have plans to return. Last time we walked down in the canyon from Areponapuche. This next time we are going to walk from Batopilas to Urique. The train ride was interesting to see once. Now I just see it as a way to get into the canyon country. The scenic part is between Creel and Los Mochis.


I wish I had the energy and physical stamina to walk the canyon instead of just seeing it from a train window, though I do love traveling by train.


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## chicois8 (Aug 8, 2009)

They seem to be turning into a theme park with the new zip lines and a tram line with probably none of it benefiting the poor indians...


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## mes1952 (Dec 11, 2012)

The Copper Canyon used to be a great place to go and get away from the commercialism but I've read that has changed. So glad I went in the early 2000's. If you go in the UNtourist season in January, February or March there are less people and prices less. I went from Chihuahua to El Fuerte and return back to Chihuahua (before Chihuahua became dangerous). If you go during the summer tourist season, as one person aptly stated on a travel review site "You will be faced with hordes of elderly American tourists being hauled around like cattle". It's not a cheap travel destination; back then I paid almost $3,000 for 8 nights but it was a once in a lifetime thing to do. I went alone and had a great time and met a lot of Mexicans and Europeans on the train that became friends.


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## Guategringo (Nov 9, 2012)

chicois8 said:


> They seem to be turning into a theme park with the new zip lines and a tram line with probably none of it benefiting the poor indians...


I am debating whether to go, on the one hand the landscape and canyon scenery must be absolutely impressive, but I am completely against any form of exploitation of any indigenous group(s) and I fear that is behind some of the tours to the area.


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

mes1952 said:


> The Copper Canyon used to be a great place to go and get away from the commercialism but I've read that has changed. So glad I went in the early 2000's. If you go in the UNtourist season in January, February or March there are less people and prices less. I went from Chihuahua to El Fuerte and return back to Chihuahua (before Chihuahua became dangerous). If you go during the summer tourist season, as one person aptly stated on a travel review site "You will be faced with hordes of elderly American tourists being hauled around like cattle". It's not a cheap travel destination; back then I paid almost $3,000 for 8 nights but it was a once in a lifetime thing to do. I went alone and had a great time and met a lot of Mexicans and Europeans on the train that became friends.


The tourist industry there does seem to focus on tour groups being driven out to sites. It is difficult, but not impossible, to make your way around on your own and just go for walks or hikes in the canyons. There were next to no signs marking the trails. Creel, the center of the tourism, is quite a ways from the canyon rim. There are big hotels built on the rim where, for a price, you get a great view. But it is also possible to find cheap places to stay. We stayed in a village called Areponapuche right on the rim of a canyon. There were several people in the village that provided beds and meals for a very reasonable cost. There were no restaurants so included meals were part of the deal.

The area was definitely not focused on people who want to walk in the canyons, but it is possible to do that anyway.


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