If you’re considering a Copper Canyon trip, you may be wondering if it’s worth exploring Urique, a small village right down at the bottom of the ‘Barranca de Urique’ (the Urique Canyon). I hope this article can help you figure out if it’s a journey worth making for you.

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Where Is Urique?

Urique is a small village at the deepest point of the Copper Canyon in the Chihuahua region of North Mexico.

Located at the bottom of ‘Barranca de Urique’, it’s off the beaten path — even more so than other towns surrounding the Copper Canyon, like Creel, El Fuerte, Bahuichivo and Cerochaui. It’s a picturesque little town that you visit when you want to appreciate nature and do a little bit of nothing, as we quickly discovered on our three-night visit.

What Is Urique, Mexico Famous For?

Urique, if famous for anything at all, is famous for being home to the ultra-marathon first organised by El Caballo Blanco (Micha True) in 2003. You can read more about El Caballo Blanco, the local (Raramuri) runners and the marathon in ‘Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen‘ by Christopher McDougall, if you’re so inclined. I found it to be an entertaining read.

How Long Should You Spend in Urique?

We spent three nights in Urique. You don’t need to, it would be a perfect day trip from Cerochaui. We actually planned to spend five nights there but when we arrived the first thing the owner of the hotel said to us was, ‘I really don’t know what you think you’re going to do here for five nights. You’re welcome to stay fewer if you prefer’. She was right.

Urique is not like other parts of the Copper Canyon where they’re completely set up for tourists. Urique, in the word of our hotel owner, is ‘basically a small ranch’.

I know it’s meant to be a bit more lively around Santa Semana (Easter) when locals get together for a big celebration but the rest of year, it’s quite quiet.

Urique: What We Expected And What We Got

We expected Urique to kind of be like Creel, if I’m honest. We figured we’d do some exploring, sort out a couple of tours and spend time hanging out. What we discovered is that Urique is way smaller than Creel (Creel has a population of around 7,000 and Urique around 1,000) and not really set up for tourism. Even when the ultra-marathon runners come, they run, they eat and sleep and then leave.

If you’re interested in Creel, why not read more about it in my recent article all about it?

This doesn’t mean we didn’t enjoy our time in Urique. We truly did. We felt incredibly welcomed by the village. Everyone was extremely kind without being intrusive. People stopped to chat, everyone said hello and our kids were extremely well-received too. I’m pretty sure we were the only foreigners in town for the three days we were there.

We enjoyed seeing cows and horses wandering around the streets but we enjoyed it less when a horse decided to wait for us outside our hotel room and then follow us down the road. Can you tell we’re city people at heart?

Is It Safe To Visit Urique As A Tourist?

Apart from the creepy horse randomly following us we never felt anything but safe in Urique. We saw no suggestion of anything unwelcoming or scary and again just like everywhere else in the Copper Canyon, locals with whom we spoke were lamenting the bad reputation of their area.

My 2016 Lonely Planet specifically says that the local economy is marijuana-fueled though so either things have changed or it’s well enough hidden not to matter too much. We did ask in Cerochaui about the safety of Urique and were assured it was perfectly fine to visit.

How To Get To Urique

If you fancy Urique as an interesting stop along your Copper Canyon route then Chepe riders will need to alight at Bahuichivo and get either the local bus or a private car down into the valley.

The local bus meets the train and then takes around four hours to descend. A private car will take around three hours but won’t be cheap (to take a car from Urique to Bahuichivo cost us $2,500 pesos).

We actually spent five days exploring around Cerochaui before we headed down into the valley, which we loved and would highly recommend.

The journey down to Urique is nothing short of spectacular. The road is not paved all the way (pictured above), in fact, most of it remains unpaved. You drive over the highest pass on some extremely narrow roads. I spent quite a lot of time with my heart in my mouth and holding my breath trying very hard to put my trust in our unknown driver (we survived, he was fine).

It’s well worth stopping off at Mirador De Cerro De Gallego, one of the most astounding viewpoints you’ll probably ever find.

Do note that if you are staying in Urique you’ll need to ask if your hotel can arrange transport if you don’t fancy the elderly public bus. Our hotel wasn’t actually planning on picking us up until I explained about my small and carsick children. It certainly isn’t a free transfer as it is in other parts of the Copper Canyon. If you’ve first stayed in Cerochaui then you’ll need to either arrange with one of your hotels to transport you there, or get someone to confirm bus times for you.

Alternatively, you can drive to Urique via Creel, keeping in mind that the last part of the road is not paved and you will need a pick-up or SUV, ideally with a manual transmission. It’s a beautiful drive but not for the faint of heart. If you go for it, make sure to avoid driving at night.

What Are The Best Things To Do In Urique?

That’s a good question! Truthfully, the list of things to do in Urique is quite small. This is not a village people visit to DO but rather just be.

Nevertheless, here are a few of the things we found to do during our three nights in Urique.

Stroll through the village

A good time to do this is either early morning or late afternoon/early evening. We went out around 3 pm on our first day and I swear I could feel my shoes melting on the road. We live in Merida where it is hot and humid and we struggled a bit with the summer heat in Urique.

Our kids very much enjoyed being able to walk in the road. They also loved heading to the tiny plaza where, every night we were there, they played for an hour or so. They thought seeing local kids riding horses and driving quad bikes through the village was absolutely incredible.

Head to the river behind Urique

People swim and wash their clothes in it. We did neither but we did enjoy crossing the two bridges, playing pooh-sticks, clambering over the rocks and walking through the sand on the far river bank. It didn’t particularly look like somewhere we would want to swim.

Walk out of town to the swimming bath

This collection of three pools is about a twenty-minute walk out of the village straight along the road. There’s no sign but basically on the right-hand side before the road turns to the left you can enter the compound. I imagine if you’re there at the weekend it would be pretty busy but we went twice during the week and had all three pools to ourselves. When we visited, it cost $50 pesos per person and was open daily 11am to 8pm but I recommend checking with your hotel before making the walk.

The owner of the pools was also the owner of our hotel (a little fact she tried to disguise for some odd reason). She kept telling us how clean the water was and how clean the pools were. I’d dispute this. They weren’t to the level where we wouldn’t swim in the pools but we did spray our ears with Earol as a precaution. We were pretty strict about not letting the kids in the biggest pool because it really wasn’t as clean as we’d have liked and our son has a propensity for drinking dirty pool water (sigh) and then getting croup – see my article about Chihuahua to read all about our 4 am dash to the emergency room following a day at a water park there.

Although the pools won’t be winning any ‘cleanest water awards’, they were clean enough and it was nice to sit around the pool having a drink and snacking (on food we took with us) whilst enjoying the magnificent views.

Hiking

We didn’t do any hiking while in Urique but there are trails available. Just be sure to speak to the locals first to ensure you’ve chosen a safe route.

Bird-watching

The Copper Canyon is one of the best spots in Mexico for bird-watching and the area around Urique is no exception. This isn’t something we find easy as a family with smallish kids but since it’s one of the top things to do in Urique, it had to make the list!

If you’re looking for great adventure spots in Mexico, how about Tapalpa or Comala?

Where To Stay in Urique

There are a few hotels in Urique, though don’t expect 5-star accommodation. Instead, the hotels in Urique are family-run and often with basic amenities. The hotels that do exist aren’t really on hotel booking sites but need to be found by staring at maps and searching Facebook.

Entre Amigos

We seriously considered staying here and honestly, I wish we had but I was a bit nervous about taking the kids to a hostel in case there were lots of people there and it was very noisy. Normally you can’t book to stay here but you’re pretty much guaranteed a spot according to their website. I got in touch and explained that I wasn’t keen on not having a reservation and they immediately offered to sort us out. A room costs $50 USD a night.

Hotel Restaurant Bar Barrancas De Urique

This is where we did stay. We have mixed views about the place. They were very kind to us when it came to sorting out our accommodation and transport. In fact, I’d go so far as to say they bent over backwards to be helpful. But once we arrived we had a different experience.

The downstairs rooms are modern and have aircon. Upstairs does not have aircon as far as we could tell. The rooms aren’t large but they have two double beds, a tv and a bathroom. They have clearly been decorated recently but sadly some interesting decisions were made: the beds are all a concrete base with a mattress on top. Generally, this isn’t a good idea but in a tropical climate, this is a terrible plan. We found cockroach pouches on pillows and then, when we inspected further, found dozens of baby cockroaches…in every room. Our room was immediately deep cleaned and sprayed and since we couldn’t find any other hotels that were open, we stayed.

The restaurant attached to the hotel was odd too. They went out of their way to be kind when it came to breakfast: they bought fruit loops as a special treat for our kids, and fruit for us. Truly kind. But the rest of the food was just not tasty and service was definitely lacklustre.

Price: I can’t even give a straight answer here as we went back and forth for so long about what was a sensible price for a room and breakfast for us all that I have no clue what we paid. I do know you can haggle though. Just be careful if you end up staying here as we had the price for our transport out of Urique changed at the last minute when it was too late for us to do anything but pay up. I actually think they were right to change the price but that they did it in a really underhand manner.

Hotel Villa de Urike

This is a new accommodation option in Urique, offering up modern rooms, a swimming pool, and on-site restaurant. If you want something a little nicer than the other hotels, this is a good choice. The smallest rooms start at $49, so it’s still a great budget option too.

Where To Eat In Urique

We saw a few restaurants around but our favourite was definitely India Bonita along the main street. There is one shop selling ice creams by the plaza  – the shop is called ‘Oso’. You won’t find anything that isn’t typical Mexican fare. We ate burgers and tacos and a lot of guacamole. India Bonita makes really good salsa and chips (fries) that taste as good as English chip shop chips.

There are a couple of other small food shops along the main street where you can get basics such as pasta, rice, bananas, bread, jam and biscuits. You’ll be fine looking for snacks as long as you’re not after anything too out of the ordinary.

Other Useful Urique Facts

Here are a few helpful things to know before your visit to Urique, Mexico.

Expect slow internet. Not everywhere has internet and the places that do…well, remember you’re at the bottom of a valley in a very tiny town. Be prepared for slow, spotty internet access and you may find yourself pleasantly surprised if it’s working at a normal speed.

Be prepared for power outages. We experienced a large storm whilst in Urique. The storm itself was exciting but it knocked out the electricity in the whole village for a good 18 hours. When the electricity goes in the valley life gets hot and hard. With no aircon and no ceiling fans, everyone hits the streets in the hope of a slight breeze. Our hotel room was pretty unbearable and we had a difficult and sweaty night. Of course, power cuts are no one’s fault and are absolutely to be expected, but it still doesn’t make them easy in such a tropical place.

Continuing along the Copper Canyon via train? The next stop is El Fuerte.

More Copper Canyon Towns

If you’re visiting Urique, you’re likely also visiting other towns along the Copper Canyon. Or maybe you’ve decided Urique is just a little too small for you and need an alternative or two. Either way, here are some other towns along the Copper Canyon worth checking out.

• Bahuichivo and Cerochaui. These two small towns are right next to each other. Bahuichivo is where the train stops by Cerochaui is likely where you’ll want to look for accommodation. You’ll find some stunning miradors, waterfalls, and more here. It’s a great base if you plan on doing some hiking or enjoy long walks.
• Creel. Creel is the first real stop along the Copper Canyon train route and it’s probably the best town to base yourself for day trips and tours in the area.
• Chihuahua City. Before heading out on your Copper Canyon adventure, consider spending a night or two in Chihuahua City. As the capital of Chihuahua, it may surprise you with the number of interesting things to do.
• El Fuerte. El Fuerte is a small city not too far from Los Mochis and the last stop on the Copper Canyon before Los Mochis. Definitely a town worth spending a few nights in.

Ready to start planning your Copper Canyon adventure? Be sure to check out my Copper Canyon packing list.

If you have any specific questions about Urique, Mexico, feel free to get in touch in the comments section or by email. I’ll always try to answer anything I can.

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