I visited this WHS in December 2021 and January 2022. I visited several locations that are already WHS on their own such as Mexico City, Zacatecas, Guanajuato, Queretaro and San Miguel de Allende, as well as a few other locations such as Aguacalientes, San Luis Potosi and Guadalupe.

Having walked 1,100km of the Routes to Santiago de Compostela in Spain and France and then visited other different sites along these European pilgrimage routes, I didn't have high expectations since I wasn't willing to walk any particular stretch of the Camino Real in Mexico. That said, from what I visited during my road trip from Mexico City to Zacatecas and back, I wasn't able to find any particular individual site or collection of sites which in my opinion would be deserving of inscription or possess any OUV. Unlike the Routes to Santiago de Compostela in Europe, the inscribed Camino Real is just part of the way in Mexico, perhaps the uninscribed part to Santa Fe, New Mexico, US has more to offer and would add more value to this WHS.

Most of the locations which are already a WHS, highlighting a particular minor building for the Camino Real WHS too, pale in comparison to the other colonial WHS in Mexico or other inscribed ways on the WH list. For example the former royal hospital of San Juan de Dios in San Miguel de Allende is now just another colourful building in a not so popular part of town which I wouldn't even have noticed without a UNESCO WHS plaque proudly displayed in front of it. A bad habit I noticed all over Mexico is that many metal plaques or signs are frequently stolen. Perhaps this lead to placing a concrete plaque instead of the previous black one shown in Els' review in San Miguel de Allende. In Mexico City I found a stainless steel UNESCO WHS plaque placed well away from anyone's reach near the entrance to red volcanic rock church at Plaza San Domingo not far from the Zocalo. In Queretaro, I spotted two big stone UNESCO WHS markers, one just opposite the Church and Ex Convent of Saint Francis of Assisi near the cute traffic lights with Muñeca lamps and another one just near the big panoramic viewing platform overlooking the aqueduct.

I wasn't impressed either by the haciendas, bridges and other minor churches I visited while driving to and from Zacatecas and the colonial cities and towns in the central highlands of Mexico. The roads leading to Aguascalientes and San Luis de Potosi are really in a bad state and the only idea of a pilgramage I got is that of an "very industrial pilgrimage" of endless old trucks and trailers servicing the many automotive plants in the region. I couldn't help comparing the minor bridges and haciendas I saw with the countless grand paradors, monasteries and bridges along the Routes to Santiago de Compostela in Spain and in France, and the only bridge worth the stop when in Jalisco was that of Ojuelos but still not WH material. When I had almost lost interest and any hope of a worthy location providing added value to the Camino Real WHS, after zooming in on Mexico's WHS Country Map, I noticed Guadalupe, another separate location near Zacatecas and a pueblo magico.

It turned out to be a very interesting and worthy location on my way to the Zacatecas WHS, but I wouldn't classify it as a "worth the trip" site if it weren't just a mere 15 minutes away by car from Zacatecas. The big Baroque Museo de Guadalupe (closed on Mondays) and old apostolic college and library is like one of the many paradors in Spain. There is a UNESCO WHS stone marker in the courtyard just beneath the stairs leading to the museum, and inside the museum there is a small permanent exhibition with old photos and a map of the whole Camino Real. Adjacent to the Museo de Guadalupe there is the Santuario de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe famous for its colourful courtyard and the Capilla de Napoles dedicated to the Immaculate Conception.

From what I visited, I think that some locations of this WHS would possibly have been a worthy extension to the inscribed colonial cities and towns but on the whole I failed to appreciate any OUV whatsoever.