Culiacán

Culiacán (Culiacán Rosales) is a city of slightly over 1 million people (2019) in Sinaloa. Lying in the center of the state, Culiacan is the center of the distinctive Sinaloense culture. It is best known, however, as the nexus of narcotics trafficking and narco culture in Mexico.

Understand
Culiacán sits almost in the geographic center of the state of Sinaloa, about 1450 km (900 miles) south of the U.S.-Mexico border. Its citizens are known as culichis. Almost no guide books on Mexico cover Culiacán, or if they do, they give a very brief one-paragraph description at most. It is rarely visited by tourists. Among Mexicans, however, Culiacán is well known for its distinct sinaloense culture and for producing some of the best known norteño and banda musical groups in Mexico, including Los Buitres de Culiacán, Los Bukanas de Culiacán, Larry Hernandez, and Los Buchones de Culiacán.

Chinese miners brought opium poppies to the hills of Sinaloa around the turn of the 20th century, and during World War II, Sinaloa supplied the United States military with opium for medicinal painkillers. Following the demise of the French Connection heroin smuggling route to the United States in the 1970s, Sinaloa emerged to fulfil the United States' demand for the drug, and Culiacán became the center of the North American heroin trade. What was then a ragtag group of heroin traffickers from the hills surrounding the city began an evolution into what is, in the 2020s, arguably the most sophisticated and powerful criminal organization in the world: the Sinaloa Cartel. Although ostensibly a normal, perhaps even boring, capital city, Culiacán is inseparable from its narco underpinnings. Narcotics production and trafficking, now consisting of amphetamines and synthetic opioids rather than heroin, contribute enormous amounts to the economy. Safe houses, which are unrecognizable to the tourist eye, dot the suburbs. Stories abound of drug lords who, before dining at local restaurants, send their entourages ahead to collect the phones of each patron with the warning that no one can leave but the promise that all bills will be settled. Thousands celebrate the anniversary of the death of Jesús Malverde, the so-called "narco-saint", at his shrine in the city each year.

Culiacán is the center of buchona culture, the flamboyant style of dress and body modification popular among narco wives and girlfriends (where the narco men are referred to as buchones). In Culiacán the gaudy narco style is paradoxically subtle: there is nothing ostentatious about the city on the surface, but dig deeper into the culture — potentially at your peril – and it's there, everywhere from the nightclubs to the cemeteries (the infamous Jardines del Humaya cemetery is as renown for its garish narco mausoleums as it is for its threatening security guards).

If all this sounds glamorous, it most decidedly is not. Setting aside the long-running disaster that is the effect of narcotics trafficking on the rest of the world – the countless deaths, the destroyed lives — and keeping the focus on Culiacán, the hazards of narco influence are apparent. The city occasionally explodes in war-zone-like violence when the Mexican military decides to do battle with the narcos, the local police waiting haplessly on the sidelines. And the police are hapless, a product of the corruption that plagues the state from top to bottom with its blight focused on the capital in Culiacán. This means city services and infrastructure are often mysteriously diminished, the money having been diverted to the hand of the strongest arm. Businesses likewise pay a fee — quarterly, as is the Sinaloa way — to merely keep their doors open. Drug consumption increasingly affects Mexican society at home, and this is apparent on the streets of Culiacán, the city with the easiest access, as drug-addled locals unnervingly trudge along the downtown streets (a spectacle normally reserved for downtowns in the USA).

Sinaloense culture — boisterous and brash, flamboyant and theatrical — is fascinating, but Culiacán is a city best viewed from the surface, a city where you may not want to dig deeper. Although the center is pleasant and the river walks are lovely, at first blush there is not much to see or do in Culiacán. For the tourist, it might be best to keep it that way.

Climate
Culiacán is dry for most of the year, except for the wet season which lasts from July to September. Summers are very hot and humid, shade temperatures can reach 45 °C (113 °F) and high humidity can produce heat indices of 50 to 55 °C (122 to 131 °F), with the risk of heavy rainfall from decaying tropical cyclones also present. Winters are much milder with less humidity and an average high of 27 °C, with warm nights.

By car
Mexican Federal Highway 15 (Carretera Federal 15) connects Culiacán to cities in Sonora state such as Nogales, Hermosillo, Guaymas, Ciudad Obregón, and Navojoa (from north to south), as well as Los Mochis, Guasave, Guamúchil, Mazatlán, Tepic, and Guadalajara. Toll booths and checkpoints are stationed throughout the highway.

More adventurous travelers could try getting in via the winding Federal Highway 24, opened in 2023, which crosses the Sierra Madre Occidental mountains through the heart of narco territory, including the hometown of the infamous drug lord Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán. Start in Parral, Chihuahua, point southwest and say your prayers.

By bus
The is a major hub offering connections from various small towns around the state of Sinaloa. There are regular buses to Culiacán from Los Mochis, Mazatlán, Hermosillo, and Guadalajara, as well as cross-border buses to US destinations. This is a large terminal area with several buildings for different bus lines.

Get around
The city has a total of nine bridges. Six cross the "Tamazula" river, two the Humaya river and the longest bridge crosses the Culiacán river of the same name as the city. The number of cars per capita in Culiacán is one of the highest in Mexico; traffic is bad most of the time and abominable at peak times.

By foot
Outside of the city center, it's not easy. Culiacán is a car-oriented city: blocks stretch for long distances while seemingly incessant traffic races along the wide boulevards between them.

By bus
Culiacán has over 68 urban transport routes, operated by RedPlus.

By car

 * AGA Rent a Car, at the airport,.

By taxi
The ride-hailing services Uber and Didi are you best bet for going anywhere outside the city center. Otherwise, taxis can be found on the south side of the cathedral.

See

 * — Located next to the heart of the city, forming part of the Civic Center Constitución with an extension of 13.5 hectares; which houses 1,400 animals belonging to more than 450 species including mammals, reptiles and birds.
 * — Located next to the heart of the city, forming part of the Civic Center Constitución with an extension of 13.5 hectares; which houses 1,400 animals belonging to more than 450 species including mammals, reptiles and birds.
 * — Located next to the heart of the city, forming part of the Civic Center Constitución with an extension of 13.5 hectares; which houses 1,400 animals belonging to more than 450 species including mammals, reptiles and birds.
 * — Located next to the heart of the city, forming part of the Civic Center Constitución with an extension of 13.5 hectares; which houses 1,400 animals belonging to more than 450 species including mammals, reptiles and birds.
 * — Located next to the heart of the city, forming part of the Civic Center Constitución with an extension of 13.5 hectares; which houses 1,400 animals belonging to more than 450 species including mammals, reptiles and birds.
 * — Located next to the heart of the city, forming part of the Civic Center Constitución with an extension of 13.5 hectares; which houses 1,400 animals belonging to more than 450 species including mammals, reptiles and birds.
 * — Located next to the heart of the city, forming part of the Civic Center Constitución with an extension of 13.5 hectares; which houses 1,400 animals belonging to more than 450 species including mammals, reptiles and birds.
 * — Located next to the heart of the city, forming part of the Civic Center Constitución with an extension of 13.5 hectares; which houses 1,400 animals belonging to more than 450 species including mammals, reptiles and birds.
 * — Located next to the heart of the city, forming part of the Civic Center Constitución with an extension of 13.5 hectares; which houses 1,400 animals belonging to more than 450 species including mammals, reptiles and birds.
 * — Located next to the heart of the city, forming part of the Civic Center Constitución with an extension of 13.5 hectares; which houses 1,400 animals belonging to more than 450 species including mammals, reptiles and birds.

Do
There are sports venues, casinos, discos, and theaters.


 * Musicians, consisting of norteño, banda, and mariachi bands, can be found on Bulevar Francisco I. Madero (the Mazatlán-Culiacán highway, or the 15) between General Aquilines Serdán and Venustiano Carranza. There are Pemex gas stations at both intersections. Many musicians have rented out buildings, and some of the bandas have their own trailers. The norteño bands tend to congregate around the Madero & Carranza intersection, which is easily recognizable because of the 135-degree bend that Venustiano Carranza makes at the intersection. Norteño bands can also be found at the Mercado Garmendia playing for tips.





Learn

 * Universidad Autónoma de Sinaloa (UAS)
 * Instituto Tecnológico de Culiacán (ITC)

Buy

 * Mercado Garmendia

Stay safe
Downtown Culiacán is safe to walk around during the daytime and evenings (before midnight). Traveling around the outskirts ("colonias") of Culiacán at night is not recommended.

Traffic in Culiacán can be aggressive, much more so than in many other parts of Mexico (although still pretty tame on a global scale). Locals will attribute this to the sinaloense attitude, which is stereotypically aggressive, proud, and boisterous.

Mexicans from other states will often advise that Culiacán is dangerous to visit due to its reputation for narcotics trafficking and cartel violence. However, most deaths occur only among drug cartels and federal armed forces.

Go next

 * Cosalá
 * Mocorito
 * Guasave
 * Mazatlán