Mexico · MX

Cerro del Topo Chico

Cerro del Topo Chico is the compact, cone-shaped hill that closes the northern edge of the Monterrey metropolitan area, rising to 1,178 metres above the surrounding plains of Monterrey, Escobedo and San Nicolás. Long mistaken for a dormant volcano because of its pointed silhouette and the warm springs at its base, it is in fact an eroded anticline—a wrinkle of folded sedimentary rock—and, since the early 2000s, a state-protected natural area cradled on all sides by the sprawling city. For visitors, the appeal is twofold. The climb is short and attainable yet rewards you with the ridge lines of the Sierra Madre Oriental and the whole of Greater Monterrey laid out below, while the foot of the hill is steeped in the story of Topo Chico, the famously salty-sprite mineral water that has been bottled here since the 1890s and whose label still depicts the Aztec legend of its healing springs. It is a place where a quick day of hiking and a dose of regional lore come together just minutes from the urban core.