Chihuahua is the biggest state in Mexico and mostly empty: high desert, cattle country, and along its western edge the Sierra Tarahumara, where a system of gorges deeper and longer than the Grand Canyon cuts into the range.
The Copper Canyon is the reason to come, and the Chepe railway from Los Mochis to Creel is one of the great train journeys — 650 kilometres, 37 bridges, 86 tunnels, and a climb from sea level to 2,400 metres. The canyons are home to the Rarámuri, who are known outside Mexico for long-distance running and inside it for having kept their distance from the state for four centuries.
Chihuahua city is the capital, with Pancho Villa's house — now a revolution museum — and the cell where Hidalgo was held before his execution.
Ciudad Juárez faces El Paso across the Rio Grande and is one of the busiest land crossings in the world. It had a grim reputation in the cartel years; the city today is calmer than the stories suggest, but it is a working border city rather than a destination.
Nuevo Casas Grandes is the base for Paquimé, the adobe trading city that linked Mesoamerica to the American Southwest.
