Geography
Durango covers 123,364 km², fourth-largest of the 32 states, and holds only 1,832,650 people — a density of about 15 per km². Roughly two-thirds of the surface is Sierra Madre Occidental. The range runs the length of the western side in a plateau of pine and oak between 2,000 and 3,000 m, cut by deep barrancas draining to the Pacific; this is the southern end of the same forest belt as the Copper Canyon and it makes Durango the country's largest producer of sawn timber. The highest ground, in the western sierra, reaches about 3,300 m.
East of the range the land drops to the Valle del Guadiana, where Durango city stands at 1,890 m beside the Cerro de Mercado, an iron ore hill that has been quarried since the sixteenth century and still feeds Mexican steel mills. Further east again the state runs out into the Bolsón de Mapimí, a closed desert basin shared with Chihuahua and Coahuila and known popularly as the Zona del Silencio. The Mapimí Biosphere Reserve protects the bolsón tortoise there.
The north-east corner is the Comarca Lagunera, an irrigated cotton, forage and dairy district on the Nazas river that Durango shares with Coahuila; Gómez Palacio and Lerdo sit on the Durango bank and Torreón directly opposite. The Nazas and the Aguanaval both end in the desert without reaching the sea, and the Presa Lázaro Cárdenas dam regulates the Nazas above the Laguna.
The capital was founded in 1563 as Villa de Durango and its historic centre, built around a cathedral begun in 1695, was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list in 2010 as part of the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, the colonial silver road from Mexico City to Santa Fe. The dry light and the desert-and-sierra scenery around the city drew film crews from the 1950s onward; more than a hundred westerns were shot here, and the standing sets at Chupaderos and Villa del Oeste, 12 km north of the city, are still open.
Main cities
Municipal populations, INEGI census of 2020. Three municipalities hold two-thirds of the state's people, and the rest of Durango is thinly settled: most of its 39 municipalities count under 30,000 inhabitants.
| City | Population (2020) | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Durango | 688,697 | Capital, Victoria de Durango, 1,890 m |
| Gómez Palacio | 369,820 | Laguna metro with Torreón |
| Lerdo | 163,614 | Laguna metro, on the Nazas |
| Pueblo Nuevo (El Salto) | about 52,000 | Sawmill town on Highway 40 |
| Santiago Papasquiaro | about 46,000 | Northern sierra foothills |
| Guadalupe Victoria | about 36,000 | Bean and oat farming |
| Cuencamé | about 33,000 | Highway 40 towards the Laguna |
| Canatlán | about 32,000 | Apple orchards |
| Nuevo Ideal | about 28,000 | Mennonite colony |
| Mapimí | about 26,000 | Old silver town by the bolsón |
Neighbouring states
Durango has five neighbours. Chihuahua runs along the north, Coahuila adjoins the north-east across the Laguna, Zacatecas the east and south-east, Nayarit the south-west corner, and Sinaloa lies west beyond the crest of the sierra — the boundary the Highway 40D toll road crosses at the Baluarte bridge. Durango has no coast and no international border.
Getting there
Guadalupe Victoria International (DGO) is 15 km north-east of Durango city, with domestic flights and seasonal services to the United States; the Laguna cities use Torreón (TRC), about 20 minutes from Gómez Palacio. The airports map shows both.
Federal Highway 40 and its toll twin 40D form the state's main axis, running from Torreón and Gómez Palacio through Durango city and over the Sierra Madre to Mazatlán on the Pacific — the crossing that used to take a full day now takes about three hours. Highway 45 links Durango city south-east to Fresnillo and Zacatecas, Highway 23 runs north through Santiago Papasquiaro, and Highway 49 connects Gómez Palacio with Zacatecas and the Bajío. Durango city is about 900 km from Mexico City, ten to eleven hours by 57D and 45; Mazatlán, on the coast, is closer than the capital. See the road map.
The Highway 40D crossing is the single change that reshaped travel here. Before it opened in 2013 the only way west was the Espinazo del Diablo, the free road over the crest, which takes six hours or more and is still driven for the views; the toll road replaced it with 61 tunnels and 115 bridges and put the Pacific within a morning of the plateau. Durango to Torreón is about 250 km east on Highway 40, roughly two and a half hours, and Durango to Zacatecas about 300 km south-east on Highway 45.
Questions about Durango
Where is Durango on the map of Mexico?
In the north-west interior, between the Sierra Madre Occidental and the desert. It is the fourth-largest state, landlocked, and sits between Chihuahua to the north, Sinaloa to the west and Zacatecas to the south-east.
How long is the drive from Durango to Mazatlán?
About 320 km, roughly three hours on Highway 40D, the tolled Durango–Mazatlán road opened in 2013. The old free road, the Espinazo del Diablo, takes six hours or more over about 300 hairpin kilometres.
What is the Baluarte Bridge?
The Puente Baluarte Bicentenario on Highway 40D, on the Durango–Sinaloa boundary. Its deck stands about 403 m above the river, which made it the highest cable-stayed bridge in the world when it opened in 2012, and the main span is about 520 m.
What is Durango known for?
Silver and iron mining, timber from the sierra, and westerns: more than a hundred films were shot around Durango city from the 1950s on, and the standing sets at Chupaderos and Villa del Oeste are still there. The state's emblem is the scorpion.
Is Durango safe to visit?
Durango city, the Mazatlán highway and the film sets are travelled routinely; the US State Department advisory singles out parts of the western sierra rather than the state as a whole. Check the current advisory before you travel.