Culiacán travel guide

From Los Mochis, it’s 214 km to Sinaloa state’s capital, Culiacán. There is a marked seaside feel to Culiacán in spite of it being more than 60 km from the ocean. One of Mexico’s oldest cities, it was founded in 1531 by Beltrán de Guzmán. Long the centre of Mexico’s drug trade, it can no longer be called a colonial city, but it is attractive and ostentatiously prosperous, and has a university, along with some noticeable displays of ill-gotten wealth in the form of casinos, flight schools, Hummer dealerships, mansions, over-the-top hotels and yacht brokers. It is also still quite dangerous; since late 2008, the city has been under the control of the Mexican Army, whose presence is markedly evident.

The centre is quite pleasant and has a number of attractive 19th-century churches, including the exceptionally beautiful Basílica of Our Lady of Rosario and two other nearby templos, those of La Lomita and Sagrado Corazón, both famed for their delicate belle epoque architecture. A stone’s throw from these churches are the Plazuela Alvaro Obregón, one of the finest examples of Porfiriato urban design anywhere on the west coast, and two excellent museums, the Museum of Anthropology and Regional History (with the world’s fifth-largest meteorite) (C Progreso 1201, T614-412 3912, Tue-Sat 1000-1500 and 1700-2000, Sun 1100-1800) and the Museum of Sinaloa Arts i calles Rafael Buelna y Paliza, T614-716 1750, Tue-Sat 1000-1500 and 1700-1900, Sun 1100-1700, features works by Diego Rivera, López Saenz, and Frida Kahlo.

Culiacán is also home to a church of a different sort, the incredible Capilla de Jesús Malverde. This chapel commemorates a semi-legendary Robin Hood-like figure in Mexican folklore, Jesús Malverde. While not a present-day narco himself (he was hung in 1909), he is nonetheless considered the informal (no Vatican approval forthcoming) patron saint of Mexico’s drug smugglers. His admirers and believers swarm the shrine erected here in his honour, papering the walls with photos of themselves (sometimes with their guns, multiple mobile phones, and snakeskin cowboy boots showing) in an effort to seek his blessing. Plaques are hung as well, entreating this ‘saint’ to protect them on their smuggling routes.

About 36 km east is the Presa Sanalona, a pleasant stopover popular for water sports. Continue south beyond Culiacán for 212 km and you’ll pass the Tropic of Cancer. The change from temperate to tropical is marked by a shift in vegetation and atmosphere, both becoming denser and wetter. Just 30 km south of the tropical divide lies the beautiful Bahía de Puerto Viejo (Old Port Bay) and fabled Mazatlán itself .

Many hotels in Culiacán have been implicated in money-laundering activities and are under careful scrutiny by the Mexican military. Be very careful and never leave your passport or other credentials with hotel staff....read more