In the state of Querétaro, they say La Peña de Bernal is the third largest monolith in the world.
Others place it at number ten, but everyone agrees that this monolith deserves to be listed right along with Ayers Rock, El Capitán and the very Rock of Gibraltar itself.
With its peak at 2,510 meters above sea level, La Peña is also claimed to be the world’s highest monolith, again by local people (Australians would certainly not agree.)
All this, you’d think, should have turned the Peña into quite a tourist attraction, but over the years, the only people I ever heard mention it have been my dyed-in-the-wool rock-climbing friends. In fact, I’m sorry to say that this picturesque Peña doesn’t even merit a footnote in my beat-up 2004 copy of Lonely Planet Mexico.
What a pleasant surprise then, was a suggestion by my wife and her sister that we spend two nights in the little town of San Sebastián Bernal, situated right next to the mighty monolith. Bernal was declared a Pueblo Mágico (Magic Town) in 2006, the two sisters told me, perhaps interested more in boutiques and restaurants than the humongous monolith.
The day after Christmas, we headed for Bernal, which is located 50 kilometers northeast of the city of Queretaro. There are two principal ways you can get there from Guadalajara: the northerly route via San Juan de los Lagos and Leon, or the southerly route via La Barca and La Piedad. Both take about five hours by car. We chose the latter route and paid about 300 pesos in tolls, one way. As for our route, we were guided by the Google Maps App, which worked beautifully. The only times we went astray were when ambiguous road signs disagreed with Google. “Ruta Rápida a Irapuato,” said one sign. Like fools, we ignored Google and ended up on a two-lane highway full of potholes, which was anything but fast.
Upon arrival at Bernal, we were pleasantly surprised to find that the great and glorious monolith is visible from nearly every street and perhaps the best view of all was from the balcony of our own hotel (La Quinta Arrantxa).
I think Bernal deserves the title “Pueblo Mágico” because (unlike Tequila) it is small and clean with quaint houses and streets, cottage industries and all sorts of little boutiques that tourists adore. It also has really good restaurants. The food at Ristorante Piave was not just Italian, but Italiano magnifico! And the décor at El Mesquite Restaurant – where you dine under the spreading branches of an enormous, bizarrely decorated tree – was delightful.
The morning after our arrival, we headed for the Peña, hoping to hike up to the mirador (lookout point) before the sun got too hot. The area is semi-desert, don’t forget!
It’s only a few minutes’ drive to the Peña’s parking lot. Unfortunately, the first 270 meters of the path to the monolith is lined with noisy, barely standing stalls similar to those that plague the trail to Las Monarcas in Michoacan.
At the end of the hodgepodge of stands comes an office where you must register, even if you are only going to the mirador. This is a wise precaution because, according to the woman in charge, quite a few people have died on this mountain trying to go “just a little farther” than what they were capable of.
The route to the mirador, however, is easy for everyone, from grandmothers to ten-year-olds, except for the fact that it’s up, up, up for an altitude gain of 160 meters.
The trail is quiet and picturesque, but also rocky and dusty, with stairs appearing in a few selected areas. From the parking lot, it’s a total distance of 800 meters to the mirador, which took me about 40 minutes to walk.
The view from the mirador is great and surely much better from higher up. The closer you get to the top, of course, the more you need climbing skills. I was surprised that I didn’t spot a single person up on the peak on any of the three days that I was in the area.
After visiting the monolith, we took the basic tour at the Freixenet winery, where I was pleasantly surprised to discover that their Petillant sparkling wine is just as good as my personal favorite, Asti Spumante. By the way, it looked to me like Freixenet’s tours attract far more Mexicans than the rocky slopes of la Peña de Bernal. Our guide told us the winery gets 200,000 visitors per year and the number is going up. Their cheapest tour costs 80 pesos and includes an elegant glass of Petillant which you can take home as a souvenir. Humph! I remember the days when visiting wineries, breweries and tequila distilleries was free! If you visit Bernal the last weeks of October or beginning of November, you can enjoy the added thrill of seeing thousands of Monarch butterflies, which take a break here every year on their way to Michoacán.
How to get there
To La Peñá: Because it dominates the skyline, you can’t miss it! Follow La Corregidora Street northwest out of the town of Bernal – on a very nice paved road – for about 630 meters to the much too tiny Peña parking lot. The Mirador is 410 meters north of you at N20 44.921 W99 56.724.
To Freixenet Winery from Bernal: Get onto Benito Juárez (Highway 100) and go to Calle Revolución. Here (N20 44.247 W99 56.280) turn to the East and drive east 590 meters, always staying to the right. You will come to a fork (N20 44.250 W99 55.943). Bear right here and take the decently paved Bernal-Tunas-Blancas road southeast seven kilometers to the pueblito of Tunas Blancas, after which you will hit highway 120. Turn right and drive 1.4 kilometers southwest to Freixenet (N20 41.838 W99 52.609).