Where to Stay in Copper Canyon: Creel, Divisadero, Bahuichivo and El Fuerte

Chihuahua city is a start or end night, not a canyon stop. The Chepe Express does not reach it: only the Chepe Regional starts here, and most road transfers to Creel leave from the city. Sleep here the night before the Regional or before a transfer. The Chepe Regional leaves Chihuahua for Los Mochis on Tuesdays and Saturdays.

Creel is where the Express starts and ends in the sierra, and the town with the most choice of places to stay along the canyon part of the route. It works as a base: day trips to the canyon, jeep tours and hikes leave from here, and there is a train ticket office. At this altitude the average low at Creel's weather station is below freezing from November through March, so heating is worth checking when you book (the month-by-month numbers are in our best time to visit).

This is the view people come for: hotels on the edge of the canyon, with the viewpoints a walk away. It is also the easiest stop to add to a trip, because the train reaches Divisadero at 16:15 from Los Mochis and at 09:55 from Creel. If you only sleep one night with a canyon view, sleep it here. There is little around the station besides the viewpoints and the hotels, so book before you ride. Read our guide to Divisadero.

The Posada Barrancas station sits on the same rim about 4 km down the track from Divisadero, less than a kilometer from the village of Areponápuchi. The Chepe Regional stops here but the Express does not, so Express passengers get off at Divisadero; ask your hotel how you get from the station before you book. Booking.com has no separate page for Posada Barrancas or Areponapuchi, so its hotels appear under Divisadero.

Bahuichivo is a station, not a place to stay: the village people sleep in is Cerocahui, about 20 minutes away, where the Jesuits built the mission church in 1680 (it was rebuilt in 1940). It is the stop for people who want the quietest night of the route. There is no town at the station, so ask your hotel how you get from Bahuichivo to Cerocahui when you book.

El Fuerte is about two hours by train from Los Mochis and the softest landing of the route: a colonial town near sea level, and the easiest place to break the journey if you start on the coast. The train leaves at 09:20 toward the sierra and passes at 14:35 toward Los Mochis, local time. Sinaloa, where El Fuerte is, runs one hour behind Chihuahua. Read our guide to El Fuerte.

Los Mochis is an arrival and departure night rather than a destination in itself. The Express leaves at 07:00 and the station opens an hour before, so a night in town before the ride is the safe move. The bay at Topolobampo is the local outing (Los Mochis tour and Topolobampo bay boat ride). Sinaloa runs one hour behind Chihuahua, so check which time your ticket shows. Read our guide to Topolobampo and Los Mochis.