Mexico Carlos Adampol Galindo from DF, México · CC BY-SA 2.0
The cut
842 metres, to scale.
A slice through Tolantongo Canyon where it is deepest and narrowest, measured on the Copernicus relief model every 30 m. Same scale as the landmark standing on the floor.
Standing on the floor, to scale: Great Pyramid · 139 m · Empire State · 443 m
Depth is measured to the lower rim; the width is from rim to rim. A 30 m relief model smooths the narrowest walls, so a slot canyon reads shallower than it is.
842m
Depth
measured on the 30 m relief model
8.8km
Rim to rim
measured on the 30 m relief model
39°
Steepest wall
average over 300 m, from the relief
983m
Floor altitude
Rim to floor
6 °C warmer at the bottom.
In May the afternoon reaches 33 °C on the floor, against 26 °C on the rim. The best months to hike are from November to January. The wettest months are from June to October.
- 24°17°Jan
- 26°20°Feb
- 29°23°Mar
- 32°26°Apr
- 33°26°May
- 30°24°Jun
- 28°22°Jul
- 28°22°Aug
- 27°20°Sep
- 26°19°Oct
- 24°18°Nov
- 24°17°Dec
Afternoon highs, 1991–2020 averages (NASA POWER) brought to the altitude of the rim and of the floor with the standard lapse rate (6.5 °C per 1 000 m). Shade, wind and rock change this on the day. Not a forecast.
Tolantongo Canyon is a canyon in Mexico. The relief model measures 842 m from the floor to the lower rim, and 998 m to the higher one. Rim to rim it is 8.8 km wide where the cut was taken.
Getting there.
- Hualulanearest town · 15 km in a straight line
- Viewpointsnearest viewpoint · 5.6 km from the floor
- Felipe Ángeles International Airport (NLU)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 101 km in a straight lineCar hire at QRO airport (Querétaro)Discover Cars · sponsored link↗
- From November to Januarybest months to hike (estimate)
Plan the visit
Guided hikes, a bed nearby, a car.
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
The river
The the river runs highest from September to October.
The the river carries about 2.0 m³/s on average here. It runs highest from September to October. It is lowest from December to May.
- 0.4 m³/sJan
- 0.3 m³/sFeb
- 0.3 m³/sMar
- 0.4 m³/sApr
- 0.7 m³/sMay
- 2.4 m³/sJun
- 3.4 m³/sJul
- 3.9 m³/sAug
- 5.5 m³/sSep
- 4.5 m³/sOct
- 2.3 m³/sNov
- 0.8 m³/sDec
From about 0.29 m³/s in the lowest month to 5.5 m³/s in the highest. Its basin above this point covers 170 km².
Estimate: long-term flow from the HydroATLAS model (WaterGAP, 1971–2000) shaped by the monthly rain, snow and temperature of the area (NASA POWER). Dams change it. Not a forecast.
From the sky.
The canyon from above, with the relief shaded, the line of the cut, the river and what people have mapped around it.
N
5 km
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 20 × 20 km, north up. The line is the cut above. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Around the canyon.
- 3viewpoints within 5 km
- 2footbridges and suspension bridges within 3 kmPuente Colgante
- 2car parks within 3 km
- 3campsites within 8 km
- 16hotels and guesthouses within 8 kmParaiso Escondido, La Gruta, Hotel Maydelin and 13 more
- 6restaurants and cafés within 4 km
- marked hiking routes within 4 km
- via ferrata routes within 4 km
- climbing crags within 3 km
- rafting, canoe, kayak or canyoning spots within 4 km
- swimming spots within 3 km
- named waterfalls within 4 km
- caves within 3 km
- information boards and visitor centres within 4 km
- bus stops within 2 km
Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, around the floor of the canyon. A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet. © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
Towns nearby
- Hualula15 km in a straight line
- Cardonal16 km in a straight line
- Eloxochitlán20 km in a straight line
- El Bingú20 km in a straight line
- Pozuelos20 km in a straight line
- Fontezuelas20 km in a straight line
- Juárez Hidalgo21 km in a straight line
- Metztitlán22 km in a straight line
In our other atlases
What else is around Tolantongo Canyon.
The river that carved it, the waterfalls inside it, the mountains on the rim, the lakes, beaches and island nearby — from our six sister atlases, each with its own figures.
Peakyas34 mountains within 15 km
Lakeyas1 lakes within 15 kmComing soonFigures from the sister sites' databases (Wikidata, HydroATLAS, GeoNames, NOAA, OpenStreetMap). Links open when each site is online.
Month by month
The weather, at the floor and at the rim.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afternoon · floor | 24 | 26 | 29 | 32 | 33 | 30 | 28 | 28 | 27 | 26 | 24 | 24 |
| Afternoon · rim | 17 | 20 | 23 | 26 | 26 | 24 | 22 | 22 | 20 | 19 | 18 | 17 |
| Night · rim | 4 | 5 | 7 | 10 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 10 | 6 | 5 |
| Rain (mm) | 30 | 25 | 32 | 41 | 64 | 157 | 165 | 172 | 237 | 145 | 57 | 24 |
| Rainy days | 7 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 13 | 21 | 24 | 24 | 24 | 17 | 11 | 6 |
| Sun hours/day | 6.3 | 7.1 | 7.7 | 8.1 | 7.9 | 7.0 | 6.9 | 7.1 | 5.5 | 6.2 | 6.3 | 6.7 |
| Afternoon · floor | Afternoon · rim | Night · rim | Rain (mm) | Sun hours/day | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 24 | 17 | 4 | 30 | 6.3 |
| Feb | 26 | 20 | 5 | 25 | 7.1 |
| Mar | 29 | 23 | 7 | 32 | 7.7 |
| Apr | 32 | 26 | 10 | 41 | 8.1 |
| May | 33 | 26 | 12 | 64 | 7.9 |
| Jun | 30 | 24 | 12 | 157 | 7.0 |
| Jul | 28 | 22 | 12 | 165 | 6.9 |
| Aug | 28 | 22 | 12 | 172 | 7.1 |
| Sep | 27 | 20 | 12 | 237 | 5.5 |
| Oct | 26 | 19 | 10 | 145 | 6.2 |
| Nov | 24 | 18 | 6 | 57 | 6.3 |
| Dec | 24 | 17 | 5 | 24 | 6.7 |
Averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, brought to the floor (983 m) and the rim (1,981 m) with the standard lapse rate. Not a forecast.
Photographs
Seen from the trail.
Recent years
Wet years, dry years.
Rain of each month as a share of the 1991–2020 average. A dry year means a lower river and hotter rock; a wet one, more water in the gorge.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 223% | 89% | 37% | 161% | 119% | 76% | 42% | 92% | 86% | 36% | 74% | 41% |
| 2021 | 91% | 92% | 110% | 107% | 141% | 125% | 61% | 105% | 69% | 66% | 84% | 28% |
| 2022 | 111% | 92% | 18% | 112% | 27% | 93% | 62% | 48% | 90% | 56% | 87% | 124% |
| 2023 | 44% | 53% | 106% | 247% | 80% | 8% | 56% | 80% | 14% | 107% | 113% | 240% |
| 2024 | 73% | 69% | 39% | 58% | 14% | 148% | 167% | 75% | 80% | 77% | 92% | 246% |
| 2025 | 87% | 128% | 23% | 17% | 173% | 234% | 103% | 81% | 99% | 198% | 138% | 314% |
130% or more: wet month 70% or less: dry month
Compare with the neighbours.
Tolantongo Canyon
Mexico
- 842 mDepth
- 8.8 kmRim to rim
- —Length
- 39°Steepest wall
Where these figures come from
| Name, type, published depth and length | Wikidata (Q105881992) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| The cut: depth, width, wall and 3D model | Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| River flow and basin | HydroATLAS / RiverATLAS v1.0 (Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 |
| Climate | NASA POWER, 1991–2020 |
| Viewpoints, trails, bridges and the river line | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Rivers, waterfalls, mountains, lakes, beaches and islands nearby | Coastya, Lakeyas, Peakyas, Cascadyas, Islandyas, Riveryas |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
The family
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