El Pinacate and Gran Desierto de Altar Biosphere Reserve

Good to know

Best time to go: December–April
Budget: $$
Coordinates: Open in maps

Black lava collides with a sea of sand in Sonora's far northwest, where the dormant Pinacate volcanic shield meets the dunes of the Gran Altar Desert. Ten huge, almost perfectly circular craters punctuate the lava; dunes climb to 200 metres; and endemic wildlife, including the Sonoran pronghorn, holds out among granite massifs. Spanning 714,566 hectares, this starkly beautiful reserve was inscribed by UNESCO as a natural World Heritage Site in 2013.

While you're there · Sonora

Doors that open for you.

Tours, skip-the-line tickets, kitchens you'd never find alone — our partner GetYourGuide keeps the current list.Sonora runs deeper with someone to unlock it — tours, skip-the-line tickets, kitchens you'd never find alone. Our partner GetYourGuide keeps the current list; we'd rather send you there than show you stale prices.

Browse experiences in Sonora →Opens GetYourGuide

Partner link — Vonda may earn a small share. It keeps the atlas free.

Browse experiences in Sonora →

Opens GetYourGuide · Partner link — Vonda may earn a small share. It keeps the atlas free.

Wanderers' notes