La Vuelta de Citlaltepetl

• Best time of year: This ride is best in the dry season, which starts in October and ends in March/April, give or take yearly variations. It’s too muddy in the rainy season – the heaviest rains being from May to August. The main climbing season is December-January, when the weather tends to be most stable.
• Best bike: Given the challenging terrain, a hardtail is ideal for this route, or a rigid mountain bike with generously-sized tyres. Packing light and running low gearing is also important – and even then, expect to push in places.
• Temperatures: Although much of the route is shorts and t-shirt weather, don’t forget to pack your gloves, thermals, and a good sleeping bag, as temperatures can drop well below freezing above treeline. Expect to be adding and subtracting layers as you go up and down!
• Altitude: This is a high elevation route, so it’s important to spend some time at altitude beforehand, ideally sleeping a few nights at 2000m or more. Mexico City is at 2240m, for instance, so makes a good staging post. As a rule of thumb, take it easy, ride slowly, drink regularly, and always drop down in elevation if you’re feeling unwell.
• Bike shops: There are a number of good bike shops in Orizaba where you’ll find everything you’ll need, thanks to a thriving the local downhill and enduro scene. In the middle of town, Black Bike Center has plenty of high-end gear in stock, including a range of tyres, sealant, and Shimano parts. We were recommended Power Bike, and the folks there were super friendly, stoked about the trip, and bled my brakes straight away for me.
• Guiding and logistical support: Javier at Stoned Riders – who helped put together this route – can offer logistical support if needed, and can be contacted directly via his website. He can also provide trail and enduro guiding, and he has a shop in Fortín de las Flores too.
• It gets dusty! Bring extra chain lube and a rag, as parts of the descents are mind-bogglingly dusty – it can be ankle-deep in places.
• Large Millimeter Telescope at Volcán Sierra Negra: The legality of riding up to the top of the volcano is something of a grey area – it’s permitted to hike the telescope without a permit, but one is required if you drive. Local practice suggests cyclists push their bikes up the hiking trail initially, to avoid passing through the security checkpoint, and then join the main dirt road. From what we were told, guards and personnel are on board with this – we were passed by a couple of work vehicles without any issues.
• The legend of Citlaltépetl: The Aztecs believed that the divine fire from Orizaba’s crater consumed a great winged serpent, Quetzalcoatl. Then Quetzalcoatl, the god of learning and the priesthood, took the form of a man and sailed across the sea, swearing to return and seek vengeance on the Aztec nation. Source, HG High Guiding.
• Getting there: We took the ADO bus from Oaxaca, which cost around 700 pesos. It left at midnight and arrived at 5am. There are ADO services from Mexico City and Puebla too. The front wheel of your bike and your bags generally need to be removed. We drop our saddles to make the bikes as compact as possible, allowing them to sit upright with the belly of the bus.
• Safety and security: Security in this area has been an issue in the past and illegal logging continues to be a problem at lower elevations within the national park, especially the forested areas above Maltrata. It’s also recommended not to linger near the highway just north of Boca del Monte, which the route crosses very briefly, as vehicles have been stopped and robbed along this stretch of highway. It’s highly recommended that cyclists avoid riding at dusk or at night – for this reason, the itinerary within the Trail Notes tab allows plenty of time to reach your daily destination by early afternoon, with accepted areas to camp or hotels to sleep in. As ever in many parts of Mexico, riding in a group is preferable to riding alone. Weekends are always a better time to travel, too, as there are more people around.
• That sketchy bridge: No, you don’t have to cross it! There’s some less sketchy singletrack that skirts around the mountainside…

• Orizaba, a Pueblo Mágico, makes a great base for this loop, and we’ve marked a good, central hotel, the Orizaba Inn, in which to stay. However, there are plenty more options – booking.com is the place to find them.
• Thanks to an enormous first climb, it makes sense to start the trip with a short day and overnight in Coscomatepec, also a Pueblo Mágico – there’s a couple of hotel options marked on the map.
• You can camp in the Pico de Orizaba National Park – there can be a 60 peso access fee to pay, though it depends on whether the entrances are manned or anyone comes around to collect it.
• There are also two mountain refugios within the park. They can be busy with climbers, but you can always camp outside. Bring water and food.
• There are a couple of small hotels on the Puebla-side descent – see map for details. You’ll want to contact them in advance though, to make sure they’re open, and because they get busy with climbers. Otherwise, there are plenty of options in the settlement of Tlachichuca, a little off route but a good spot to resupply.
• Hotel El Rosario in Atzitzintla is a good place to break up the epic descent to Maltrata – see map – so you don’t need to rush back to Orizaba on the same day, or ride at night.

• We’ve marked most of the places to eat and resupply on the map.
• The north-eastern side of the volcano is well watered, so all you’ll likely need is a couple of litres on your bike, and a filter. The south western side is much drier, however, so it’s best to haul 4+ litres on the climb out of San Francisco Cuautlancingo. There’s also a couple of small tiendas in San Isidro, but they were shut when we went through.
• Orizaba is a great place to eat, and the evenings are very social too. Places that we liked included Tortas Mellado (great ‘n crispy tacos dorados and homemade ice cream), characteful Jugos California and Cafeteria California, and the iconic La Gran Cafe de Orizaba. Coffee? There are plenty of good places, but the one we honed in on as our favourite is Breve Cafe. For more ideas, see my blog post here.
• If you’re loading up with supplies in Orizaba, Rovianda Plus Madera has granola, good quality pasta, gnocchi, bakery goods, and lots of other tasty delights.

The fact that camping options are limited in some areas, it’s advisable not to ride into the night in this area, and much of the terrain is at high elevation, means that this route lends itself well to a relaxed 6 day itinerary. That said, you can certainly ride it in less if you’re acclimatised and happy to be more ad hoc with where you spend your nights. Just note that when I say ‘relaxed’, it’s still very challenging in places, with tough climbs and some very mixed terrain! Here’s how we broke it up – all of these spots are marked in the map above.

location 47 km, 965m up, 3:30hr riding time

Day 1

(shortish day, afternoon visiting Coscomatepec)
Day 1 initially has a stint on the highway between Orizaba and Fortín de las Flores, but it’s mostly downhill, so goes by quickly. Javier from Stoned Riders joined us for part of the ride to Coscomatepec, taking us on dirt roads that wended through coffee plantations. We were happy to arrive early and have some time to explore this town.

location 38km, 2080m up, 4:20hr riding time

Day 2

(almost all climbing, camping in national park)
Day 2 is all about climbing! Technically it’s mostly paved, but we found enough sections of dirt to break it up, so it didn’t feel like too much of a chore. If you want to make it to the national park, where it’s easy to camp, you’ll need to leave early as you can expect close to 2000m of climbing.

location 37 km, 1,120m up, 3:35hr riding time

Day 3

(dropped down to Tlachichuca for the night)
Day 3 is fantastic. It starts with a sizeable climb (and push, in places) up to the Refugio Piedra Grande, past some lovely picnic spots. We didn’t plan to drop down all the way to Tlachichuca (I’ve marked places to stay in Miguel Hidalgo and San Miguel Zoapan that were closed or booked when we went through), and a possible campspot in a forest before San Jose Llano Grande). But it ended up working out for us, as it’s a good spot for a resupply and it was a welcome respite from the cold temperatures the night before.

location 39.6 km, 1,630m up, 4:15 riding time

Day 4

(camping near refugio)
Day 4 was really dusty for one section (we deviated from our initial planned route as it looked especially bad – see map), with a few stints on pavement, and lots of dirt road climbing (small sections of which are dusty) to a sublime camping spot, though you could also stay in the nearby refugio. Expect temperatures to drop below freezing. Also, carry lots of water (4L or more) to tide you through the night and the climb on Day 5, as this side of the volcano is completely dry.

location 39.5 km, 875m up, 3:35hr riding time

Day 5

(2033m down! El Rosario hotel)
Day 5 started with the climb up to Volcan Sierra Negra (as we were camping, we had to wait a while for the sun to hit and warm us up), then a fantastic, unconventional, at times technical descent that Javier shared with us. This descent was definitely a highlight of the trip! We wondered if we might make it all the way back to Orizaba that day, but we soon realised it would be too much of a rush. Instead, we stayed in Atzitzintla (there’s a friendly, economical hotel there) as we were told that it’s best not to ride at dusk or at night in this area.

location 51.4 km, 183m up, 3:0hr riding time

Day 6

(1535m down! hotel in Orizaba)
Still, this meant we could really enjoy Day 6, meandering along the old railway line to Maltrata, and following the train tracks all the way into Orizaba, arriving there a little after lunch. Orizaba is a great place to hang out and wander, and the evenings are very social too.

Be sure to familiarise yourself with the Safety and Security notes in the Must Know tab. And, you can read our blog post of this journey here.