San Miguel Concá and San Francisco del Valle de Tilaco
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
403 km
Riding-time estimate
9 h 46
Journey
Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
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Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
A 403 km round trip from Concá - roughly 9 h 46 in the saddle. The stops in between: Santiago de Jalpan, Nuestra Señora de la Luz de Tancoyol, Franciscan Missions in the Sierra Gorda of and San Francisco del Valle de Tilaco. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,600 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
Scenic road chapters
Franciscan Missions in the Sierra Gorda of → San Francisco del Valle d
50 km on Franciscan Missions in the Sierra Gorda of → San Francisco del Valle d.
Chapter facts
Length
50 km
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. San Miguel Concá
The five Franciscan missions of the Sierra Gorda are a very odd thing to find in the Mexican mountains: grand baroque churches, painted in pinks and yellows and covered in stone carvings, set in villages that are otherwise made of low houses and cornfields. San Miguel Conca is one of them. Father Junipero Serra, who would later found the missions of California, led the work here in the 1750s with the help of the local Pame people, and the facade of the church shows the mix of cultures that built it, with saints and angels carved beside local plants, mermaids and faces that look more indigenous than European. All five missions were listed as a World Heritage site in 2003.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
San Miguel Concá is where the day begins. Next is Santiago de Jalpan.
2. Santiago de Jalpan
Fray Junípero Serra, later famous for his missions in California, started his career in the Sierra Gorda, a rugged, forested range in northern Querétaro, and the church at Jalpan is where it began. Built in the mid-eighteenth century by Franciscan friars and the local Pame people, it is the central one of five missions in the region, and the facade is covered with colourful stucco figures of saints, flowers and angels, a mix of baroque tradition and indigenous imagination. UNESCO listed the five missions in 2003.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Santiago de Jalpan comes up about 36 km into the recorded legs. Next is Nuestra Señora de la Luz de Tancoyol.
3. Nuestra Señora de la Luz de Tancoyol
Tancoyol is one of the last of the Sierra Gorda missions to be built, and it is perhaps the one that feels most remote. The church of Nuestra Señora de la Luz stands in a small village in the valley of the Santa María river, in the north of Querétaro, with a tall, intricate facade covered with plaster figures, flowers and symbols, a combination of European baroque and the imagination of the Pame people who helped to build it. UNESCO listed the five Sierra Gorda missions together in 2003, and Tancoyol is the quietest of them.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 93 km into the recorded legs you reach Nuestra Señora de la Luz de Tancoyol. Next is Franciscan Missions in the Sierra Gorda of.
4. Franciscan Missions in the Sierra Gorda of
In the 1740s and 1750s, Franciscan friars led by Junipero Serra, the same man who would later found missions in California, arrived in the Sierra Gorda, a rugged range in the state of Queretaro, to bring the Pame and other indigenous peoples into mission communities. The five missions they built, at Jalpan, Landa, Tilaco, Tancoyol and Conca, are among the most extraordinary churches in Mexico. Their facades are covered in vivid, almost wild, baroque decoration, with saints, angels, flowers, and symbols that seem to reflect local indigenous hands as much as European ones. UNESCO listed them in 2003.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Franciscan Missions in the Sierra Gorda of, about halfway. Next is San Francisco del Valle de Tilaco.
5. San Francisco del Valle de Tilaco
In the middle of the eighteenth century, a group of Franciscan friars led by Junipero Serra, later famous for his missions in California, set about building five churches in the Sierra Gorda of Queretaro, one of the roughest, most remote parts of central Mexico. The mission of San Francisco del Valle de Tilaco is one of the five, along with Jalpan, Landa, Concá and Tancoyol, and together they were inscribed as World Heritage in 2003 as the Franciscan Missions in the Sierra Gorda. The church at Tilaco stands in a small village, and its facade is covered with stucco decoration in a style that mixes European baroque with local imagery, with saints, flowers, and symbols that might have been designed by the indigenous workers who built it.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Franciscan Missions in the Sierra Gorda of comes up about 250 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Nuestra Señora de la Luz de Tancoyol.
7. back through Nuestra Señora de la Luz de Tancoyol
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 403 km.
Leg by leg
San Miguel Concá to Santiago de Jalpan
San Miguel Concá → Santiago de Jalpan is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Santiago de Jalpan to Nuestra Señora de la Luz de Tancoyol
Santiago de Jalpan → Nuestra Señora de la Luz de Tancoyol is 57 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Nuestra Señora de la Luz de Tancoyol to Franciscan Missions in the Sierra Gorda of
Nuestra Señora de la Luz de Tancoyol → Franciscan Missions in the Sierra Gorda of is 58 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Franciscan Missions in the Sierra Gorda of to San Francisco del Valle de Tilaco
Franciscan Missions in the Sierra Gorda of → San Francisco del Valle de Tilaco is 50 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
San Francisco del Valle de Tilaco to back through Franciscan Missions in the Sierra Gorda of
San Francisco del Valle de Tilaco → back through Franciscan Missions in the Sierra Gorda of is 49 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Franciscan Missions in the Sierra Gorda of to back through Nuestra Señora de la Luz de Tancoyol
back through Franciscan Missions in the Sierra Gorda of → back through Nuestra Señora de la Luz de Tancoyol is 59 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Nuestra Señora de la Luz de Tancoyol to back through Santiago de Jalpan
back through Nuestra Señora de la Luz de Tancoyol → back through Santiago de Jalpan is 58 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Santiago de Jalpan to San Miguel Concá
back through Santiago de Jalpan → San Miguel Concá is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.