Los Mochis

Sugar mill, Memory Hill and Topolobampo bay before the Chepe leaves

Most travellers arrive in Los Mochis the day before the Chepe train and use the spare day for the city and Topolobampo bay. Start at the Plazuela 27 de Septiembre and the Iglesia del Sagrado Corazón, then walk to Parque Sinaloa and the Benjamin Francis Johnston botanical garden, laid out around the American sugar baron's estate.

Morning. Start in the centre at the Plazuela 27 de Septiembre, then walk to the Iglesia del Sagrado Corazón, the city's main church. Continue to Parque Sinaloa and the Benjamin Francis Johnston botanical garden, laid out around the estate of the American founder of the sugar mill. Its trees, cacti and birds make the coolest spot in town. Nearby, the Museo Regional del Valle del Fuerte tells how indigenous Mayo communities, Spanish missions, the railway and the sugar boom shaped the valley.

Midday. Drive or take a taxi to Topolobampo, about 20 minutes away on a deep natural bay. In the 1880s an American engineer, Albert Kimsey Owen, tried to build a socialist utopian colony here, an odd prelude to today's ferry and fishing port. Eat seafood at a stand near the water, then join a boat trip around the bay, where dolphins are often seen.

Late afternoon. Return to the city and look in on the restored sugar mill, now home to the Teatro Ingenio and the Trapiche, an interactive science museum that suits families.

Evening. Climb or cycle the Cerro de la Memoria at sunset for the view over the cane fields toward the sea. Dine downtown, set two alarms, and book a taxi for the station in the morning.

Aguachile, chilorio and sobaquera tortillas in northern Sinaloa

Los Mochis cooks from the Sea of Cortez and the cattle ranches of northern Sinaloa. Seafood comes first: aguachile, raw shrimp in lime blitzed with green chile, cucumber and red onion, best at midday with cold beer, and callo de hacha, pen-shell clam served raw in lime with chile; chilorio and sobaquera flour tortillas follow.

Seafood comes first. Aguachile, raw shrimp in lime juice blitzed with green chile, cucumber and red onion, is a Sinaloa classic and best eaten at midday with cold beer. Callo de hacha, the sweet meat of the pen-shell clam, is served raw in lime with chile, and ceviche and smoked marlin tacos are standard at seafood restaurants. The stands and palapas in Topolobampo serve the catch closest to the boats.

From the land comes chilorio, pork simmered and shredded with dried chiles, eaten in burritos or with eggs for breakfast. Carne asada is grilled over mesquite, and the north's thin flour tortillas reach their biggest form in the sobaquera, named after the armpit because cooks stretch the dough along the whole arm. El Quemado downtown serves them with grilled meats; its tampiqueña plate of steak, enchilada and beans is a favourite.

Breakfast is a big meal here. Los Jardines on Avenida Venustiano Carranza fills its patio with locals eating eggs, machaca and seafood, and the Panamá restaurant and pastry shop on Gabriel Leyva is the place for cakes and coffee. Chinese restaurants are a fixture too, a legacy of migrants who settled in northern Sinaloa generations ago. In summer, finish with a fresh mango, picked in the surrounding valley.

Riding El Chepe from Los Mochis up to Creel

The Chihuahua al Pacífico railway, El Chepe, is why many travellers come to Los Mochis. Approved under Porfirio Díaz to link the Kansas cattle markets with the Pacific at Topolobampo, it took decades to finish and now climbs from sea level to over 2,000 metres through the Sierra Tarahumara, about nine hours to Creel.

The first stretch crosses flat farmland. The landscape changes after El Fuerte, a colonial town on the river of the same name, where many people choose to board after a night in its old centre. From there the line enters the canyons, crossing tall bridges and burrowing through tunnels as it climbs.

On the way up, use the open vestibules between carriages for photos; the best scenery comes in the middle hours. On the way down, the bar carriage is the most comfortable place to watch the view.

Most travellers break the trip at Divisadero, where the train stops briefly beside the rim of the Copper Canyon, or stay a night or two there or at Creel, the hub for Rarámuri villages, hiking and waterfalls. Creel to Chihuahua continues the line east.

Two types of service operate: a tourist-class train with dining and bar cars, and a slower regional train. Book ahead, check the current timetable well before travelling, and pack layers, as Creel can be freezing in winter while Los Mochis is warm.