San Luis Potosí

The state

Get to know San Luis Potosí

San Luis Potosí crosses Mexico from the dry plateau to the green mountains that descend toward the Gulf. The state has two faces: the colonial capital and the desert in the west, and the Huasteca Potosina in the east, a region of jungle, rivers and turquoise waterfalls that has become one of the country's most sought-after nature destinations.

In the Huasteca, the base is Ciudad Valles. Nearby are the Tamul waterfall, which drops about 100 meters into the Santa María River and is reached by canoe; the Micos and Minas Viejas cascades; and the Tampaón River. In Aquismón, the Sótano de las Golondrinas is a vertical sinkhole in the forest, from which flocks of birds usually emerge at dawn and return in the late afternoon.

Xilitla, in the mountains, preserves Las Pozas, the surrealist garden created by the English artist Edward James between the 1940s and 1980s, with staircases that lead nowhere, columns and natural pools amid the jungle.

The capital, San Luis Potosí, has a historic center of plazas and baroque churches, connected to the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, a World Heritage Site. In the desert, Real de Catorce is a former mining town accessed through a tunnel. On the table, enchiladas potosinas made with red dough, and zacahuil, a large Huasteca tamal.