The Top Sites for Thrill Seekers in Mexico
In addition to having extraordinary beaches, Mexico has many places where travelers can practice popular extreme sports. These are some destinations where travelers can release adrenaline in fun experiences amid beautiful natural environments.
Valle de Bravo
This fantastic Magic Town, located in a lush forest two hours from Mexico City, is one of the best places to enjoy extreme sports, such as paragliding, with which athletes want a fantastic view over Avándaro Lake. In addition to paragliding, visitors can practice other sports such as wakeboarding, motorcycling, and kayaking or cycling in the lush forest of Valle de Bravo. Furthermore, there are more than 40 nautical clubs on Lake Avándaro where tourists can go sailing, yachting, kayaking, and enjoy water sports.
In addition to enjoying extreme sports, visitors can visit the crafts market, where local artisans offer materials such as textiles, glazed clay, wooden items, ceramics, iron, and jewelry. Travelers can also visit the Biosphere of the Monarch Butterfly located north of the city and the viewpoint of Monte Alto Park from where the paragliders leave and where visitors can rent cabins in the middle of the majestic forest.
Pico de Orizaba
This volcano, also called Citlaltépetl (Cerro de la Estrella), located between the states of Puebla and Veracruz, three hours from Mexico City, is the highest in the country and third in the continent. In addition, it is one of the most impressive destinations for extreme sports.
Experts and climbers come to this national park to enjoy the majestic volcano along the route of the extreme north that runs through different towns and where they can admire extraordinary landscapes that offer incomparable views of the forest and the valley of Puebla. In addition, visitors can sign up for 4×4 SUV tours that make stops for nature walks in which they enjoy beautiful panoramic views of the region of the High Mountains, the ravine, and the Jamapa River until reaching 14,000 feet above sea level where they can observe flora and fauna of the region, some of these endemic.
This area is ideal for lovers of ecotourism and mountaineers looking for peaks to climb in this area full of volcanoes, such as Lengua del Chichimeco, Jamapa, and El Toro, among others. From October to March, the flow of visitors increases, and the most popular route starts at the Hut de Piedra Grande base camp through the Jamapa glacier. Another path that is used a lot by expert climbers is the south side of the volcano, which offers more significant difficulties.
Dunes of Salamayuca, Chihuahua
These dunes, located less than an hour from Ciudad Juarez, on the border with the United States, are one of Mexico’s most sought-after points for thrill chasers. Its imposing sandy formations are located in the heart of the Chihuahua desert and offer visitors incredible views. It is also one of the most popular places to practice sandboarding.
The International Festival of Adventure Tourism of the State of Chihuahua is held here every year. The event welcomes athletes from all over the world who compete in sand cycling, volleyball, bubble soccer contests, motorcycle races, and Jeeps, in addition to sandboarding.
The Environmental and Tourist Complex of Samalayuca, which aims to develop tourism in this part of the desert, offers restaurant services, toilets, several stone trails for people to tour, a motocross track and quad bikes, as well as several areas for camping.
Sandboarding consists of climbing to the top of the dunes and sliding down in an experience for kids and adults. In addition, all-terrain vehicle tours are carried out on motorcycles and buggies climbing the dunes at full speed. Meanwhile, bubble soccer is one of the most fun activities at the dunes of Samalayuca. It consists of sliding down the slopes while running behind a ball.
Jalcomulco, Veracruz
This site, located five hours from Mexico City, is one of the best to practice rafting in Mexico due to its options for beginners and experts. Those with less experience enjoy the adventure on the Antigua River (levels II and III), which has calmer waters between July to October. For experts, the option is the River Pescados (levels III and IV) which can be traveled all year round.
Visitors can sign up for tours that include car or minibus transportation, specialized guides, rafting equipment, and a life jacket. In addition, tour operators offer comprehensive services that include rafting, abseiling, gotcha, zip-line, and even temazcal (traditional Aztec steam bath).
The companies that offer the services accept kids from six years of age in safe and controlled conditions. Guides are positioned at the rear to steer the boat. At the same time, the rest of the participants use the paddles as a motor to cross the rapids and dodge the river rocks in activities of teams ranging from two to six participants on both sides of the boat to maintain stability.