Layout of Durango
Victoria de Durango, as the city is formally called, stands at about 1,890 m on the Guadiana plain, with the Sierra Madre Occidental rising to the west and open rangeland to the east. Francisco de Ibarra founded it in 1563 as the capital of Nueva Vizcaya, the province that then covered most of northern Mexico. The centro histórico is a grid around the Plaza de Armas, where the cathedral — begun in 1695 and consecrated in the 1750s — faces a bandstand and the Palacio de Gobierno, itself a mining family's mansion taken over by the state in 1860. The Teatro Ricardo Castro of 1900 stands a block away, and a walk-through mining tunnel runs under the plaza.
Avenida 20 de Noviembre is the through street of the old centre and the address of most of its historic buildings; Calle Constitución, crossing it, is pedestrianised. Boulevard Felipe Pescador follows the line of the old railway on the eastern side and carries traffic to the central de autobuses, about 3 km out; Boulevard Domingo Arrieta runs north towards the airport road. Guadalupe Victoria International (DGO) is about 20 km north-east on the Gómez Palacio highway, with flights to Mexico City, Tijuana and a few US cities. Immediately north of the built-up area rises the Cerro del Mercado, a hill of iron ore first described in 1552 and quarried since 1828 for the steelworks of Monterrey and Monclova.
Distances from Durango
| Place | km | Time | How |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chupaderos and Villa del Oeste film sets | 12 | 20 min | MX-45 north |
| Durango airport (DGO) | 20 | 25 min | Taxi, Gómez Palacio road |
| Nombre de Dios | 60 | 50 min | MX-45 south |
| Torreón | 250 | 2 h 30 | MX-40D north-east |
| Zacatecas | 290 | 3 h | MX-45 south-east |
| Mazatlán | 320 | 3 h | MX-40D motorway west |
| Saltillo | 510 | 5 h 30 | MX-40D via Torreón |
| Guadalajara | 560 | 6 h | MX-45 and MX-54D |
| Monterrey | 595 | 6 h 30 | MX-40D |
| Mexico City | 910 | 10 h | MX-45, overnight bus |
The two roads to the Pacific
Durango is the eastern end of the only crossing of the Sierra Madre Occidental between Chihuahua and Tepic. The old free road, federal highway 40, climbs from the plateau into pine forest and then drops 2,000 m to the coast, and the ridge section known as the Espinazo del Diablo — the Devil's Backbone — runs along a knife-edge with drops on both sides; allowing six or seven hours for the 320 km is realistic. The motorway MX-40D, opened in October 2013 after twelve years of work, does the same journey in about three. It carries 61 tunnels, one of them 2.8 km long, and 115 bridges, the largest being the Baluarte, a cable-stayed span whose deck sits about 400 m above the river and which was the highest of its type in the world when it opened. Both roads reach Mazatlán; the road map and the Sierra Madre map show how they fit into the network.
Districts and surroundings
Analco, across the small Río del Tunal on the south side, is the oldest barrio outside the Spanish grid and keeps its 18th-century church. The Parque Guadiana on the western edge is planted with ahuehuete trees more than a century old, and the Parque Los Berros, laid out in the 1860s, is the oldest public garden in the city. Growth has run north and east along the airport and Torreón roads, where the industrial parks and the newer housing are.
The country around Durango explains the film industry: dry plains, mesas and canyons within half an hour of the plaza. El Saltito, a waterfall on the Río Chico about 40 km south, and the reservoirs at Peña del Águila and Guadalupe Victoria are the usual local excursions. Nombre de Dios, 60 km south, was founded in 1562, a year before the capital. Nuevo Ideal, about 100 km north, holds the largest Mennonite colony in the state, whose 123,364 km² also contain the Zona del Silencio in the Mapimí desert to the north-east.
Questions about Durango
Where is Durango on the map of Mexico?
In the south-east of Durango state, at about 1,890 m on the inland side of the Sierra Madre Occidental, roughly halfway between Torreón and Zacatecas. Mexico City is about 910 km south-east and the Pacific at Mazatlán 320 km west.
How long does it take to drive from Durango to Mazatlán?
About 3 hours on the MX-40D motorway, which opened in 2013 with 61 tunnels and the Baluarte bridge. The older free road over the Espinazo del Diablo covers similar ground in 6 to 7 hours and is the scenic option, not the quick one.
What was filmed in Durango?
Dozens of westerns from the 1950s onward used the plains and canyons north of the city; two standing sets, Chupaderos and Villa del Oeste, sit about 12 km out on the Parral road and are open to visitors.
Is Durango safe to visit?
The US State Department has kept Durango state at a raised advisory level for several years, with the warnings directed at rural and mountain areas rather than the capital. Check the current State Department advisory before travelling.