This post shares everything you need to know about visiting Cascada de Tamul, a spectacular waterfall in the Huasteca Potosina region of San Luis Potosi, Mexico. Whether you choose to hike to the falls or paddle a wooden lancha boat upstream.
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About Cascada de Tamul
Falling from over 100 metres high, Cascada de Tamul is the tallest waterfall in Huasteca Potosina. This astounding natural spectacle is a sight to behold, especially in the wet season, when a curtain of water up to 300 metres wide forms and drops off the side of a cliff.
What makes this one even more special is the level of difficulty in reaching this spectacular sight.
You can’t just park your car and walk down a few steps. You have to earn your chance to witness the falls. Either by paddling a wooden lancha boat upriver or hiking to the base of the falls.
We decided to hike to Cascada de Tamul, to have the opportunity to get much closer to the falls than the boats can reach.
This post will focus mainly on hiking to Cascada de Tamul, but I will also discuss the other option, to paddle a boat upriver to the falls.
CASCADA DE TAMUL QUICK FACTS 🥾
- 📍 Location: Google Maps location
- 💰 Cost to visit:
- 🥾 Hiking: 1,000 pesos per group of 5
- 🛶 Lancha: 200 pesos per person on a shared boat
- ⏰ Opening hours: Monday – Sunday 9 am – 4 pm (ish)
- 💻 Official website: Cascada de Tamul (unofficial) Facebook page
What is La Huasteca Potosina?
Cascada de Tamul is just one of the many waterfalls found in La Huasteca Potosina.
But what is Huasteca Potosina? Before I go any further, I will explain a little bit more about this stunning part of Mexico.
La Huasteca is a geographical and cultural region that spans seven states in the northeast of the country, along the Gulf of Mexico. This area gets its name from the Huastec people who populated the region at the height of their civilization around 750 to 800 AD.
La Huasteca Potosina is a smaller part of the wider Huasteca region, located in the state of San Luis Potosi.
It spans 20 different municipalities around the state and is a hub for nature and adventure tourism. The region is blessed with unique geography, filled with stunning rivers, vast canyons, caves, thundering waterfalls and lush rainforest.
If you’re a nature lover like we are, this region is simply paradise and it was one of our best surprises in Mexico!
GRAB A COPY OF MY HUASTECA POTOSINA EBOOK!
Huasteca Potosina is easily the most underrated place we visited in Mexico.
We still can’t believe how few tourists make the journey to this magical wonderland of waterfalls, but I think a big reason is the lack of information out there.
So, I decided to put together a Huasteca Potosina Travel Guide ebook to help anyone who wants to visit this part of Mexico. This ebook is designed to be a go-to quick reference guide for the region, to help you easily plan your own Huasteca adventure.
This 82-page ebook covers everything you need to know about the region, from the best time to visit, how to get there, the best method of transport to get around and of course the top things to see and do!
You’ll find the best waterfalls, other unmissable attractions, recommendations on restaurants, accommodations and tours, and a 7-day road trip itinerary.
There is also the option to add a customised Google Map that has over 50 locations pinned by category, allowing you to easily visualise our recommendations across the region and map out your route.
Find out more about the guide here.
Where is Cascada de Tamul
Cascada de Tamul is located in the municipality of Aquismon. It’s quite remote and isn’t necessarily near any of the towns.
To reach the falls by car takes:
- Ciudad Valles: 1 hour
- Aquismon: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Tamasopo: 1 hour
Note this location is of the actual waterfall. You can’t drive right here though. Your access point will differ depending on whether you are hiking to the falls or taking the lancha. I explain more below.
How to get to Cascada de Tamul
GETTING AROUND THE HUASTECA POTOSINA REGION 🚙
La Huasteca Potosina is a large region that spans over 20 different municipalities in San Luis Potosi.
Although there is public transport between major cities and towns around the state, many of the best waterfalls and natural sights are not accessible by public transport.
Reaching the start of the trailhead to hike to Cascada de Tamul would be virtually impossible with public transport. It is very remote and requires a lengthy drive down an incredibly bumpy road. Even the boat launch point is off the main highway and is not accessible via bus.
We highly recommend renting a car for your time in La Huasteca Potosina. This is what we did, and the directions and information we provide in this post will be from the perspective of having your own wheels.
Alternatively, you can consider renting a taxi for a half or full day to take you to one or more of the waterfalls. We would suggest agreeing on a time and price in advance so the taxi driver will wait for you. The cost for a daily rental should be at least 1,000 pesos, but you’ll need to negotiate.
The other option to visit sights around the region is with a tour. Either a fully inclusive package that includes visits to multiple sites across a few days. Or individual day tours from a home base, which would be Ciudad Valles.
To learn more about navigating the La Huasteca Potosina region, check out our complete travel guide here.
By car
🥾 HIKING OPTION
Explaining how to get to Tamul Waterfall also requires explaining how you are going to reach the falls. I will continue this discussion in more detail below. But to briefly explain…
If you want to hike to the falls, you will need to do it with a local guide. The guides are set up at an informal stall in the tiny town of El Naranjito. You can put this location in your Google Maps, and you won’t miss them.
Whether you are coming from the south, like Aquismon, or from the north, like Ciudad Valles, the drive to reach this point is pretty easy. As usual, lots of potholes and hidden topes (speedbumps) but we didn’t have any issues navigating to this point.
Once you have organised your tour (which I will talk more about shortly), you still need to drive onwards to the start of the trail.
Your guide will either lead you on their motorbike. Or, as in our case, jump in your car and direct. We have read that for an extra 200 pesos, the guides will drive you in their car, but we weren’t offered this.
The next part of the journey is where it gets a bit hairy.
It is about 6 kilometres from where you meet your guide, to where you park your car and start walking. And the road is terrible.
To preface – we had a small Nissan sedan rental car, which was not high clearance and not 4WD. We made it easily enough, but there were plenty of nail-biting moments hearing scrapes and clunks under the car…
The first few kilometres are on a very bumpy, dirt road but nothing too crazy. You will then pass through the first ‘checkpoint’ as such. The trail is on private property, and your guide will pay a fee to a local man.
From here, this is where the road gets really bad. It turns into very loose, large rocks and can’t really be classified as a road anymore. There will be a lot of crunching, rocks flicking and plenty of bumps. But if you take it very, very slow you will make it without the need for a 4WD.
Just another note – I would not do this drive in the car we did if it had been raining recently. Although a lot of the road is rocky, there are large sections of dirt grooves that I imagine would turn into very deep and slippery mud.
You will finally reach a car park at Campamento Tamul, a camping spot that is the start of the trail. Your guide will direct you where to park, before paying a second fee for you to enter the land of the campground.
🛶 LANCHA OPTION
If you’re opting for the lancha boat option, you’ll have a significantly easier trip!
Put this location in your map, and off you go. You need to pay 10 pesos per person to enter the embarcadero, which includes car parking.
🚗 Depending on how and where you are arriving in the Huasteca Potosina region, you can rent a car from:
By tour
If you don’t have a car, you will have to organise a tour to reach Cascada de Tamul.
There aren’t any tours online that offer the hiking option though. The only option is via lancha:
- Tamul Waterfall and Water Cave on a Wooden Canoe: this tour visits the waterfall via lancha boat option, departing from Ciudad Valles and including all transport and lunch.
I’m sure it is possible to coordinate a tour to hike to the falls, with transport included from Ciudad Valles. You might just need to do some hunting around and chatting with local operators to organise something custom.
Many of the best tour companies in the region are not bookable online and operate via Whatsapp (very popular in Mexico!). They rely on word-of-mouth, and just because they might not have a sophisticated website and online booking system, doesn’t mean they’re not great options.
Some of the companies we saw around the region and come highly reviewed are Explora Huasteca, Huaxteca.com, Ruta Huasteca and Huasteca Secreta.
Accessing Cascada de Tamul
The above information kind of touches on this point, but I will reiterate and provide a bit more explanation here.
Cascada de Tamul is very remote, and there are two main ways to access the falls:
- 🛶 By wooden lancha boat
- 🥾 By hiking to the base of the falls
🛶 BY LANCHA
Number one is probably the most popular option, which is to paddle upstream in a wooden ‘lancha’ or canoe-style boat.
The ’embarcadero’ or pier where the boats depart from is in the small town of La Morena.
Motorboats are not allowed in the river to preserve the ecology, so you have to paddle upstream! It will take at least 45 minutes, depending on how many people you’re sharing your boat with to help out.
The boat can only go so far, and you will be stopped by a large rock in the river a few hundred metres from the fall itself. You can get a good enough view, and you’re allowed to climb up onto the rock to get some nice photos, but you don’t get super close to the waterfall itself.
On the way back, you have the chance to float down the river for a while in your life jacket. You’ll also stop at Cueva del Agua aka Water Cave. This deep, cenote-style cave is a calm spot for swimming, with vibrant blue waters.
🥾 BY HIKING
The other option, which seems a bit more difficult but isn’t actually that hard, is to hike to the waterfall.
The hike begins from behind the waterfall, so you get to view it from the top as it spills over the drop. And then you get to hike down and view it from below, alongside the river.
This is the option we decided on, and the one I can expand on here.
After the bumpy drive with our guide navigating, we arrived at the trailhead which is at Campamento Tamul.
From here, our guide led us on a trail that followed the river for approximately 20 minutes.
We then reached a lookout point where we could see the falls from the top, spilling over into the river below. We stopped here to have a look, take some photos and fly the drone.
Then we continued down, to reach the river and view the falls from a different angle.
This part of the hike requires you to go backwards down a series of stairs, or a metal ladder is probably a better description. It’s quite steep but felt very sturdy and safe.
Once we reached the bottom we had a beautiful view of the falls from below. And we were able to swim in a calmer part of the river, a short distance from the falls.
You can’t swim directly under the falls as the current is too strong.
🥾 Can you hike Cascada de Tamul on your own without a guide?
I think the answer to this question is yes. If you’re really penny-pinching, I think you could do it without a guide. Here are a few tips if this is something you think you want to do:
- Put Campamento Tamul in your map, this is where you will start the hike
- You are sure to be stopped by guides on your way here, telling you it is mandatory to have a guide. I think the only way to get out of this is to say you are camping there
- You will need to pay two sets of fees
- The first is to the local man at the first gate, which I believe should be 50 pesos but if you are not with a local guide it could be a lot more
- The second to the camp, which should be 50 pesos per person to enter the trailhead, plus 30 pesos to park your car
- The trail was relatively clear to follow, but definitely not well marked so you may take a few wrong turns but I can’t imagine you would get totally lost. Follow the river and you can’t go too wrong, as this is the river that creates Cascada de Tamul
- You won’t have a life jacket if you DIY, so please be careful swimming and don’t swim right next to the waterfall as it is very strong and not safe
However, I would encourage you to consider using one of the local guides even if it might not be completely necessary.
They are experts in the area, and it’s a great way to support local tourism initiatives and inject some money into the economy.
If you want to save some money, I would suggest visiting at a busier time so you are more likely to find someone to share the cost with. If you can get four other people, it will only be 200 pesos which is no more than the cost to visit many of the other waterfalls in the region.
Costs to visit Cascada de Tamul
🛶 BY LANCHA
If you want to visit the falls via the boat option the cost should be 200 pesos per person for a shared boat. For a private boat (1 – 10 people), it will be 2,000 pesos.
This includes life jackets and all gear required to paddle upstream (your paddle!).
I do think the cost can vary widely though, as the captains want to fill the boat before it departs. If you visit at a quieter time and there aren’t that many people to share with, you may end up paying more to be able to leave without waiting.
You also need to pay a 10 peso fee to enter the embarcadero area. This includes your car parking and access to a change room. Toilets are a small extra fee.
🥾 BY HIKING
The cost for a guided hike is 1,000 pesos for a group of up to five people. If the group is larger than five, it is 200 pesos per person.
This included all the fees required to enter the private property, our guide and lifejackets which are mandatory to swim near the falls.
We would have liked to share this cost with others, but when we arrived at the ‘tour desk’, there was no one else around and the guides said it had been a quiet day. It was early morning, mid-week so we didn’t know how long we would wait for someone else to arrive.
We just decided to pay the 1,000 pesos and be on our way.
Facilities at Cascada de Tamul
The Tamul Waterfall is completely undeveloped and you won’t find any facilities here.
This site is completely natural which makes the hiking option even more special. The small camping area which marks the start of the trail had a bathroom I believe, and possibly offers food and snacks (sometimes?). But there is nothing else there and nothing at all by the falls.
If you approach the falls by boat from La Morena, you will find all the usual tourist facilities at the ’embarcadero’ or pier. Toilets, changerooms, restaurants, car parking etc.
In terms of activities at Cascada de Tamul, hiking or paddling a boat is an activity in itself!
There isn’t any infrastructure like rope swings or jumping platforms. Admiring the mighty falls and swimming in the beautiful blue river will keep you busy.
When to visit Cascada de Tamul
There are two elements to this question – what time of the year is best to visit the La Huasteca Potosina region in general, and what time of the week is best to visit Cascada de Tamul.
THE BEST TIME TO VISIT HUASTECA POTOSINA 🌤️
The best time to visit the waterfalls of Huasteca Potosina is between November – March.
By November, the rains have stopped and the weather is mild, and the falls are flowing. It can be a little chilly in the region in the peak of winter, but the waterfalls are at their best.
By the end of March, at the tail end of the dry season, the falls will not be very strong. Some can even close due to lack of water.
July – October is the wet season, and this is not a good time to visit the region. Although there will be a lot of water and the falls will be thundering down, it can be very dangerous and often impossible to get close to the falls.
You won’t be able to swim or take boats right up close to the falls if there have been heavy rains and many of the rivers flood. Sediment gets churned up and the usually crystal clear blue waters will be brown and muddy.
Cascada de Tamul is one of the more difficult waterfalls to visit, both in terms of access but also timing.
There is a big problem within the local community about Cascada de Tamul frequently drying up around April each year. I don’t know the specifics, but it seems a lot of the water from the river is diverted for agricultural use, which results in the falls running out of water and drying up year after year.
In 2024, local reports say Cascada de Tamul stopped flowing in March. You can still visit, but you won’t get to experience the waterfall.
On the flip side, this waterfall becomes one of the most dangerous and difficult ones to access during the rainy season. Our guide told us it becomes impossible to hike to the falls after very heavy rains. And the same applies to the boats trying to reach them from upriver, as the current becomes too strong.
So whatever time you visit, be prepared there may be a chance you won’t get to see these stunning falls.
As for what time of the week and day to visit the site to avoid crowds, if you opt for the hiking option, you are far less likely to encounter other people.
We visited during the week, and we were the only ones hiking and swimming at that time. There was a small repelling group, but after they left we had the whole site to ourselves!
I’m sure it gets busier on the weekends, but the hike requires a bit more effort, which deters many visitors.
Taking a boat is a much more popular option, and we could see the boats from the lookout at the top of the falls. They looked full and quite cramped, and the river becomes crowded with lanchas. I would recommend avoiding the weekend if you’re going for this option.
Other attractions nearby
Cascada de Tamul is quite isolated in relation to other attractions around the region. It is the only major waterfall in that area.
It does take a lot longer to visit the falls, whether you are hiking or taking the boat, so you won’t be able to squeeze as many other attractions into your day.
Being close to Ciudad Valles, Cascadas de Micos would be a natural one to combine. Alternatively, Tamasopo is also close by and could be a good next stop from Cascada de Tamul.
We approached Cascada de Tamul from the south, and it was our final stop before returning to Ciudad Valles to leave the region. This was what we did before/after our visit to Cascada de Tamul:
- Wake up in Xilitla, visit the Edward James Surrealist Gardens
- Drive to Aquismon (1 hour), visit the Caves of Mantezulel and stay the night in Aquismon
- Wake up early to visit Sótano de las Golondrinas (0.5 hours from Aquismon)
- Drive to Cascada de Tamul from Aquismon (1 hour)
- Return to Ciudad Valles (1 hour)
Where to stay when visiting Cascada de Tamul
Where you stay completely depends on how you are approaching your itinerary in La Huasteca Potosina:
- 🏡 Base yourself in Ciudad Valles and do day trips each day; OR
- 🚗 Road trip style, staying in different locations each night
Here are some recommended accommodation choices, no matter which option you’ve gone for:
- 💦 Stay at the falls – there isn’t much around the falls at all. But there is a camping spot at the beginning of the trailhead. It’s pretty isolated and I think you would have to come with everything you needed (food, drink etc.) but this would put you as close to the falls as you could get. There is virtually no information online about this place, besides this (possible) number – 481 139 8149. However, I think you could easily just rock up and organise a booking on the spot.
- 🏩 Stay in Ciudad Valles – if you’re using Ciudad Valles as a base, we recommend Casa AMMAH for a mid-range option, with exceptional reviews, lovely hosts and a communal kitchen. If you’re on a budget, we stayed at Hostal Casa Huasteca and really loved it. Or if you want a little splurge, Hotel Casa Ortiz is a stunning option with a pool.
- 🦜 Stay in Aquismon – if you follow a similar route to ours, you will approach Cascada de Tamul from Aquismon. Hotel Boutique Santa Lucía was a cute and colourful hotel right next to the square, with large rooms, continental breakfast included and affordable prices. If you’re looking for something a bit cheaper, Hostal Aquismon is highly rated. Not in the centre of town, but Gran Tamoanchan is a near-new stunning boutique eco-hotel that looks simply gorgeous!
Final thoughts on Cascada de Tamul
Cascada de Tamul had a very different vibe from the other waterfalls we visited around the region. It was more of a dry, arid feel rather than the lush, tropical rainforest vibe of some of the waterfalls in the northern part of the region.
But there is no denying that it is spectacular!
We saw Cascada de Tamul just before it dried up for the season, but we were still impressed by the sheer size and scale of the falls. We would love to go back and visit when it was flowing at its full force, I imagine it would be simply spectacular.
It takes more effort and more money to visit Cascada de Tamul, but you will be rewarded with a quiet, pristine and undeveloped natural sight.
💦 Looking for more amazing waterfalls to visit in La Huasteca Potosina?
We have a list of the ten best here, as well as comprehensive guides to a number of other falls: