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The Californias

You can see 77 km from here, looking south-east.

49Viewyas Score

Canyon rim

Calculating the panorama…

Drag to turn around. The relief is drawn 2.2 times taller so the ridges can be read; far ridges are paler, as in the real air.

The view

Up to 77 km away.

Calculated on the relief one degree at a time, up to 250 km, with the curvature of the Earth and the refraction of the air: what stands above the horizon from here.

49out of 100

Our own rating, from the relief and the climate only: open horizon (35 points), how far you see (25), sea and named peaks in view (20) and clear months (20).

  • 77 kmFarthest ridgelooking south-east
  • 88%Open horizonof the circle where the horizon is below your eyes
  • 1,091 mAltitudeabove the sea, at the highest point of the viewpoint

From the relief only: buildings, trees and haze are not in the model. On a hazy day you see much less; 250 km is the limit of our calculation.

The sun

The best sunsets are from February to May.

When the sun really disappears from this viewpoint — behind the relief or into the sea — and in which direction, on the 15th of each month, in local time.

  1. Jansouth-west86 min before the sea-level sunset43%
  2. Febwest86 min before the sea-level sunset48%
  3. Marwest84 min before the sea-level sunset51%
  4. Aprwest80 min before the sea-level sunset52%
  5. Maywest76 min before the sea-level sunset48%
  6. Junwest76 min before the sea-level sunset44%
  7. Julwest74 min before the sea-level sunset40%
  8. Augwest78 min before the sea-level sunset44%
  9. Sepwest84 min before the sea-level sunset35%
  10. Octwest84 min before the sea-level sunset46%
  11. Novsouth-west86 min before the sea-level sunset47%
  12. Decsouth-west82 min before the sea-level sunset46%
  • Time: when the sun goes behind the horizon you see from here.
  • Minutes: how much earlier the relief hides the sun.
  • %: share of clear sky that month (NASA, 2001–2020).

The highlighted months are the clearest. Golden hour starts about an hour before.

The place

The Californias.

Region of western North America

The Californias is a canyon rim in Mexico, 1,091 m above the sea.

On a clear day the farthest ridge you can see is 77 km away, looking south-east.

The horizon is open, below your eyes, over 88% of the circle.

The skies are clearest from February to May.

Reestablishment of the Commission of the Californias (2019, San Diego)
Unknown author Unknown author · Public domain

Get there and stay

Plan the visit

A guided tour, a bed nearby, a car.

Tours, cable cars and tickets for The CaliforniasGetYourGuideSee prices Stays with a view near The CaliforniasBooking.comSee prices Car hire at QRO airport (Querétaro)Discover CarsSee prices 

Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.

From above

The viewpoint and its surroundings.

The satellite image of the 6 × 6 km around the viewpoint, with what OpenStreetMap shows nearby.

The Californias seen from above (Sentinel-2)
Seen from above: Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 6 × 6 km, north up. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Around, in OpenStreetMap

    • other viewpoints within 5 km
    • named peaks within 5 km
    • cable car and funicular stations within 5 km
    • marked trails within 3 km
    • shelters and huts within 5 km
    • car parks within 3 km
    • visitor centres within 5 km
    • restaurants and cafés within 3 km
    • campsites within 10 km
    • places to stay within 10 km

    Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit. A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet.

    In our other atlases

    What you see from The Californias, and what is near.

    Everything around this viewpoint — mountains, water, forests, birds, caves and the night sky — in the family's atlases.

    Peakyas29 mountains within 25 km
    Cerro Pelon · 20 kmCerro Huizache · 20 kmCerro El Barro · 21 kmCerro El Quelite · 23 kmCerro La Cantera · 23 kmCerro El Cielo · 24 kmCerro Prieto · 25 kmCerro La Guerrilla · 25 km
    Canyonyas1 canyons within 20 km
    The Californias · this placeThe Californias · 2.9 km

    Figures from the sister sites' databases (Wikidata, HydroATLAS, GeoNames, OpenStreetMap, GBIF). Links open when each site is online.

    Photographs

    The view, as people saw it.

    Ruiz-Alvarado adobe
    Unknown author · CC BY-SA 3.0
    Frenchman'sTower1910
    Unknown Uploaded by Wikfr at en.wikipedia · Public domain
    2009-0726-CA-Bakersfield-GarcesCircle (cropped)
    Bobak Ha'Eri · CC BY 3.0

    Other viewpoints nearby.

    The Californias

    Mexico

    • 49Viewyas Score
    • 77 kmFarthest ridge
    • —Peaks in view
    • 1,091 mAltitude

    Iztaccihuatl

    Mexico · 306 km

    • 83Viewyas Score
    • 249 kmFarthest ridge
    • 14Peaks in view
    • 5,193 mAltitude

    See the guide

    Popocatépetl

    Mexico · 323 km

    • 83Viewyas Score
    • 249 kmFarthest ridge
    • 17Peaks in view
    • 5,391 mAltitude

    See the guide

    Estrella de Puebla

    Mexico · 339 km

    • 73Viewyas Score
    • 102 kmFarthest ridge
    • 11Peaks in view
    • 2,116 mAltitude

    See the guide

    Where these figures come from

    Name and typeWikidata (Q301467) · CC0
    SunJ. Meeus, Astronomical Algorithms
    Peaks in viewPeakyas (Wikidata, CC0)
    Panorama and altitudeCopernicus DEM GLO-90 / GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA
    CloudsNASA POWER (CERES SYN1deg, 2001–2020; MERRA-2)
    What is around© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
    ImagesEOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
    Sister atlasesPeakyas, Canyonyas

    Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.

    The family

    Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers, canyons, caves, dark skies, viewpoints, birdwatching or forests?

    Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, in seven languages.

    beachesCoastyaFind your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit lakesLakeyasEvery lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Visit mountainsPeakyasEvery summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit waterfallsCascadyasEvery waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Visit islandsIslandyasEvery island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Visit riversRiveryasEvery river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.Visit canyonsCanyonyasEvery canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Visit cavesCavernyasEvery cave with its real depth and length: the rock above, the temperature inside all year, and how to visit.Visit dark skiesDarkskyasWhere the night is still dark: the sky of every place, the Milky Way month by month, the Moon, eclipses and auroras.Visit
    viewpointsViewyasEvery viewpoint with its real 360° panorama: the peaks you can name, how far you see and where the sun sets.You are here
    birdwatchingBirdyasEvery bird sanctuary and wetland with the species recorded month by month: who is resident, who comes for the summer, who only passes through.Visit forestsForestyasEvery forest with its land-cover rings, what grows and lives in it, and the best months to walk it.Visit