Santiago (Nuevo León)

Santiago Nuevo León is a small town in Northern Mexico, about 40 km from Monterrey. It is a popular weekend destination because it offers the most interesting shopping in the Monterrey metropolitan area, and is a gateway to many of the recreational areas of the Cumbres de Monterrey National Park. There are beautiful natural areas all around Santiago with forests, waterfalls, rock climbing, caving, and hiking. The town is a designated Pueblo Magico.

History
Santiago is an old town that really came into being only after the Spanish conquest. Although Chichimeca people lived in the area long before the conquest, the Chichimeca were a hunter-gatherer society with more in common with the Plains Indian tribes of the American southwest than with the Mesoamerican societies of most of Mexico, which were city-builders with sophisticated agriculture, architecture, and distinct noble and religious classes. Mexicas (and other) Mesoamerican cultures regarded the Chichimeca as barbaric savages.

Santiago was founded as a town by Diego de Montemayor in 1646. In the 17th century, it was initially populated by families establishing haciendas for agricultural use.

Get in
Most people drive their own (or rental) cars. From Monterrey, take federal highway MEX 85 south for 30 km. There are roadside vendors starting around Cavazos and various attractions close to the town. The colonial small town of Santiago will be on your right and up a hill.

A taxi from Monterrey will cost about M$200, though it might be worth hiring the driver for the day so he can take you to different sights and drive you back to the city when you're ready. Uber drivers will often do this as well. The cost is quite reasonable.

Get around
You can get by with walking in the town itself and in the shops along the Carratera, but it's best to have a car to get around the many natural attractions.

See
The colonial town is an unexpected jewel, perched high atop a hill overlooking the highway and lake below. It's shockingly quiet as many of the weekend visitors from the city come for the shopping or the outdoor adventure activities, never even bothering to go up the hill to see the town itself. That's a shame because it has much of the charm of colonial towns in the Bajio or Central regions. There are a number of buildings that date from the 17th through the 19th century.







Do








Buy
A couple kilometers before you arrive at the turn to the town of Santiago, you'll be in the colonia of Los Cavazos, and that's where the fun starts if you're into shopping. Both sides of the highway are lined with shops selling everything imaginable, but especially Mexican handcrafts and artesanias. Some shops sell mass-market junk, but you only have to walk next door to find one selling excellent quality folk art, or handmade furniture. You can find things like Saltillo blankets at the same price as you could bargain for them in Saltillo. You can find wood carvings, metal work, textiles and glassware. And of course, glorias and other local leche quemada candies. Bargaining is allowed.

Camping
There are several campgrounds and weekend cabins (cabañas) for rent along N.L. highway 20 going into the Cumbres de Monterrey National Park. Some are rustic sites with pit toilets and tent sites, others have RV hookups and other amenities. There are also glamping sites where you can stay in a yurt and sleep on a real bed. A couple of camping areas are run by indigenous groups who may charge an ejido fee to camp on their lands.

Go next

 * Cumbres de Monterrey National Park
 * Monterrey
 * Linares
 * Montemorelos