Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Trip Report Hidalgo limited trip report

Because of Ekscrunchy's post

This was part of a trip that also included Veracruz, which I think I reported on some time back. The goal was to see Pachuca, Mineral Del Chico, Real (or Mineral) Del Monte & Huasca De Ocampo. We set off for Pachuca first with the idea that we’d spend a couple of hours just getting a feel for the city. Unfortunately, a late start and long delays because of pilgrimages along the highway during Guadalupe week put us behind. But from a drive by, Pachuca looked clean, and interesting enough for a visit sometime in the future. Our destination hotel, Casa Azul Huasca, in Huasca De Ocampo, was a quaint and nicely restored colonial era home converted to a small hotel. A bit rustic, but in a good way. We were glad there was a functional fireplace in the room, as it was really cold. The hotel no doubt had the best restaurant in town. Huasca is a Pueblo Mágico; I believe the very first one. It's quaint, but really dead midweek. There's a busy weekend market however.
Real Del Monte's centro has been handsomely restored. Among Mexico’s mining towns that I’ve visited, I found it exceptionally clean. I think it might have more bars per capita than any other town it's size, I suppose because of it's mining heritage. But they were no longer the heavy drinker’s type bars that they no doubt were back in the town’s mining days. Except when the crowds from CDMX are in town, lol. RdM is where Cornish miners reportedly introduced soccer (I refuse to call soccer football, lol) to México. Likewise, the miners introduced pastes (not pasties), as they were convenient to eat in the mines. They’re akin to empanadas except the dough isn’t as flaky and the ingredients aren’t pre-cooked like empanadas. I saw no barbacoa places in either RdM or Huasca, but then again, I wasn’t looking. No doubt there were.
One of the premier attractions in the area are the Prismas Basalticos, reportedly one of only a handful of such formations in the world. The Prismas consist of numerous basalt hexagon columns of stone/lava formed when said lava was cooled by cold water. At least so I understand. They’re close to Huasca and are near the ex-hacienda of Santa Maria Regla. You can see the grounds of the hacienda from the park. The park probably takes about an hour or so to explore. I had more pics, but somehow I accidentally deleted them (along with pics of Huasca and RdM). But there’s plenty online and better than mine were anyway.
Speaking of haciendas, both Santa Maria Regla and San Miguel Regla are well worth visiting. Both offer lodging. Santa Maria was where parts of The Mask of Zorro was filmed.
We really wanted to visit Mineral Del Chico and it’s national park, but it was heavily fogged in when we set out. Disappointing. Next time.
The area has a lot of weekend cabins/homes no doubt for residents of Mexico City. A number of campgrounds too.
If I were to go back, I think I'd base myself in Real Del Monte instead of Huasca. It’s more centrally located and more interesting.
In all, the region is a short combi/taxi ride from Pachuca, and once in the area, all of the aforementioned places are easily accessible by taxi or combi. There's more to do or see than what I mentioned from a brief visit. Pachuca is easily accessible from CDMX.
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...24ec0b95bf.jpg
One measly pic from the Prismas