I visited this WHS in spring 2024. I drove to Nuevo Casas Grandes from Hermosillo airport (8 hrs) and apart from a few military checkpoints along the highway where the Trump wall is visible, the only minor issue were the many potholes. If you happen to have a rental car with hub caps, I suggest removing them or buying straps as otherwise you'll most certainly lose them while driving to/from Paquimé. Keep in mind that it can get very cold after sunset and especially in the morning with the formation of morning dew; but after that it quickly gets very hot.

The ancient city of Paquimé is located just 60 miles south of the US border in a fertile valley of the Casas Grandes or San Miguel River in the northern part of the Mexican state of Chihuahua. The archaeological zone of the city covers about 370 acres thus making it the largest that represents the peoples and cultures of the Chihuahua Desert. Paquimé is said to contain the most monumental and complex architecture in all of northern Mexico. It is quite possible that Paquimé has been influenced by Chaco Canyon and the peoples of the Four Corners region, as evidenced in some of the construction methods used at the city, such as T-shaped doors and the facades with porticoes.

In addition to the mud-and-gravel brick 4 storey apartments, in Paquimé one can find great plazas and public spaces, a complex irrigation and sewage system, ball courts built in the style of the Mesoamerican ball game, community fire pits, a solar observatory, elite burial mounds, and a peculiar complex in the center of the city where tropical birds from southern Mexico were bred for commercial and ritualistic purposes, the most important bird being the scarlet macaw. Paquimé also had a booming crafts industry as evidenced by the many workshops uncovered at the site and the pottery and jewellery found there, most of which can be appreciated in the Cultural Centre of Paquimé (the UNESCO WHS plaque lies in the roundabout near its parking lot) and in the Museo Nacional de Antropología in Mexico City.

I really enjoyed my loop around the site, even though the information boards present don't provide in-depth information. I hope to be able to visit the similar sites in the US in the future, to be able to compare the similarities and differences, and hopefully learn more about these lost ancient cities.