Visiting Las Pozas, Xilitla: Surrealist Garden in Mexico
Walking in the surrealist garden of Edward James, Las Pozas, makes you feel like you are in a totally different world. A world where fantasies and imaginaries come to life. We feel like true explorers, walking in a jungle, not knowing what we see next or where we end our exploration. It's a place we recommend everybody going to, it's a hidden gem located deep in the Mexican mountains. Definitely one for on the bucket list!
History of Las Pozas
Las Pozas was created by the British poet Edward James. He moved to Xilitla where he started growing exotic plants. But in 1962 frost and blizzards destroyed all of his orchids, he decided to make something permanent which the weather couldn't destroy. He wanted to create his version of the 'Garden of Eden' with giant concrete sculptures. It took him 20 years from 1949 until his passing in 1984, to design and build the concrete structures resembling floral elements, which costs over 5 million dollars. And yet, most sculptures are still unfinished.
Las Pozas, the Pools in Spanish, is named after the pools covering the place, coming from waters that flow naturally through it. There's also a beautiful waterfall.
Before You Go
How to Get There
The surrealist garden is located in the jungle near a small mountain village called Xilitla, in the province San Luis Potosí, Mexico. To get to Xilitla you can drive there yourself by rental car (like we did), or go by bus. It's about an eight-hour drive from the capital. Be prepared for a long trip with winding roads. If you have time and money we really recommend renting a car. You will have the freedom to go where you want and to explore authentic Mexican places, like this place!
If you don't want to drive yourself, you can go by bus from cities like San Luis Potosí, Mexico City and Querétaro with Primera Plus. If you want to see more beauties of the huasteca potosina area, you can also book one of the tour packages from huaxteca.com.
When To Go
Make not to visit Las Pozas during Mexican holidays. The line to get inside can be up to three hours during high season. Also try not to go on a Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We went on a Friday morning during low season and it was already pretty crowded at the entrance. The saddest part: when it's crowded you can't go on top of the masterpiece 'The Bamboo Palace'.
Good To Know
- Tripods aren't allowed in the surrealist garden if you don't have a permit
- You can pay extra for a guided tour, but we loved exploring ourselves. There is also enough information displayed in the garden. It's also possible to buy a map at the entrance, but somehow we missed it
- 2-3 hours should be enough to explore the surrealist garden
- Bring your swimsuit with you, in some of the natural pools you are allowed to swim
Where To Stay in Xilitla
Go and stay at Casa Caracol, it's not even a five-minute walk from there to the garden and it's awesome! It's basic, but their tipi hostel rooms are adorable. In addition, they have a cute Alice in Wonderland-like tea party set up in the garden: you'll feel like you're in a surrealist world already.
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A Tipi hostel would be a dream come true! What an epic trip and somewhere entirely new I've nevever heard of before - definitely adding to the bucket list!
Happy to help you inspire future travels!!
WOW. I'm dying to visit Mexico and I'm so excited to add this beautiful place to my Mexico bucket list! Thank you for sharing your tips and photos 🙂
You're so welcome! Please share your pics with us afterwards!
There are so many reasons to go back to Mexico. Love your photos and the place is just incredible 🙂
Thank you for a great tips girls.
Aah so many reasons indeed, love to explore some more Mexico!!
I have seen your pics of the place on Instagram! This is definitely a surreal place I am adding to my bucket list. Thanks for sharing such a detailed post, will come back to it.
So happy to share this with you! Let us know when you've visited 😀
I'm such a fan of your photography, it seems that I can feel the warmth and the sun from the pictures. I have never been to Mexico, so it does seem very intriguing and exotic. Hope to travel there once!
Thank you so much! Hope you get to experience Mexico one day, we had a blast!!
Wow, such a nice place!
I’d never heard of it before. I’d love to see those odd surrealistic buildings in a jungle like setting.
It's amazing, right? We had no clue this existed before too, until someone told us about it!
This looks stunning! I love long road trips with places like this to visit. I'll put it on my wishlist 🙂
You won't regret roadtrippin' here!
I would love to go to Mexico. This seems like such a nice place as well. 🙂
We absolutely loved it! Have you been to Latin America before?
Wauw, those photos are so beautiful coloured! Love it. And never been to Mexico, hopefully I'll get there some day soon!
Thanks!! We totally recommend Mexico, hope you get to visit 😀
I saw your picture of Las Pozas, Xilitla on Instagram! Nice to know some background information now through your blog 🙂
And I agree about the rental car, it is always worth the money as you have all the freedom to go to the most amazing places 😀
Thank you! We love driving around, even better Rox just turned 25 (because of all American extra car insurance <25)!
What an extraordinary place!But clearly also very popular. Queuing up for three hours is not exactly what you expect from a holiday ;).
It's all about the right timing!
Wow! I have never heard of this garden, but it is so beautiful!
We hadn't heard about it before either, happy we found this place!
Never heard of this garden but it looks really beautiful!
Totally!!
Amazing! This is so helpful! I am going in February and want to book a stay at Casa Caracol. Did you speak with someone in English, if so, how?
I believe so! We don't speak Spanish, and sometimes we need more 'hand and feet gestures' but I don't remember having any troubles.
Hello! I will be visiting Las Pozas in a couple weeks and your post has made me very excited! I will be driving from TAM airport and would love any advice. Did you have trouble navigating your way there? Did you have any issues getting gas? I keep reading horror stories about gas station scams : (. Thanks!
It's so beautiful! It's truly a piece of art.
Absolutely!
Hi! We are going to do this trip in August. We'd like to rent a car in Leon and drop it off in Tampico. Do you have suggestions about car rental companies?
Hi Silke! We used Sunny Cars as it's an all-inclusive car rental, but it's also a little more expensive. We also like using rental cars when we travel. We hope that helps, enjoy your trip!