Regular readers will be well aware of our concern about the number of towns in Mexico designated Magic Towns in the past few months. As we have written previously, some of the towns chosen are far from “Magic” and offer very little indeed of interest to any regular tourist.
Not content with devaluing the program by some dubious choices, at the end of November 2012, the outgoing administration of President Felipe Calderón rushed through the designation of no fewer than 17 more towns in its last few days in office, to bring the total number of Magic Towns to 83.
Added to the list at the end of November 2012 were:
- 67 Tacámbaro, Michoacán
- 68 Calvillo Aguascalientes
- 69 Nochistlán, Zacatecas
- 70 Jiquilpan, Michoacán
- 71 Tlatlauquitepec, Puebla
- 72 Tzintzuntzan, Michoacán
- 73 Mapimí, Durango
- 74 Papantla, Veracruz
- 75 Tecate, Baja California
- 76 Arteaga, Coahuila
- 77 Viesca, Coahuila
- 78 Jalpa de Cánovas, Guanajuato
- 79 Salvatierra, Guanajuato
- 80 Yuriria, Guanajuato
- 81 Xicotepec, Puebla
- 82 Jala, Nayarit
- 83 El Rosario, Sinaloa
The considerable charms of Mapimí, Durango were described in a previous post. Several of the latest towns to be included are well worthy of Magic Town status, but others are not. In future posts, we will take a closer look at some of the other towns on this list, and their relative merits for inclusion as Magic Towns. For now, we content ourselves with presenting an updated map of the distribution of Mexico’s Magic Towns, as of 1 January 2013:
Mexico’s Magic Towns, as of 1 December 2012. Credit: Tony Burton / Geo-Mexico
The domination of central and western Mexico is clear. All states (excluding the D.F.) now have at least one Magic Town, but southern Mexico still appears to be somewhat undervalued in terms of its cultural tourism potential.
Note: Four towns in the latest list—Tacámbaro, Jiquilpan and Tzintzuntzan (all in Michoacán) and Jala (in Nayarit)—are described in the recently published 4th (Kindle/Kobo) edition of my “Western Mexico: A Traveler’s Treasury” (Sombrero Books, 2013). The book describes no fewer than 17 of Mexico’s Magic Towns as well as several more (such as Ajijic and Bolaños) that are reported to have begun their approval process.
Related posts:
- The distribution of Mexico’s Magic Towns (with links to many earlier posts)
- Mexico’s Magic Towns program going international
- Magic Towns #58-62: Chiapa de Corzo, Comitán de Domínguez, Huichapan, Tequisquiapan, Batopilas
- Magic Towns #63, 64 and 65: Chignahuapan (Puebla), Cholula (Puebla) and Pinos (Zacatecas)
- Magic Town #66: Lagos de Moreno, “the Athens of Jalisco”
- Durango gets its first Magic Town: Mapimí, along with the Ojuela suspension bridge
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