Nuevo Casas Grandes is a small city in the northwestern corner of Chihuahua state, set on a broad plain between the Sierra Madre Occidental and the Sonoran Desert. Most people who make it here come for one reason: the archaeological zone of Paquimé, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the most important pre-Columbian settlement in northern Mexico. The ruins date from around 900–1400 CE and show a sophisticated urban culture — multi-storey adobe buildings, a sophisticated water system, and a ceramic tradition that the region's craftsmen still draw on today.
The ceramics connection is very much alive. The nearby village of Mata Ortiz has become internationally known for its hand-built, hand-painted pottery, a tradition revived by Juan Quezada in the 1970s from studying Paquimé shards. You can visit potters at work in their homes and buy pieces directly. The Galería Casa Grandes in town teaches and sells the same technique. Alongside Paquimé is the Cueva de la Olla, another archaeological site with ancient tombs and rock art, a few hours' drive away.
The city itself is functional rather than scenic — a base for the surrounding attractions rather than a destination in its own right. The Sierra Madre to the west offers hiking and pine-oak forest. Several Mormon colonies nearby, including Colonia Juárez and Colonia Dublán, are an odd but genuinely interesting counterpoint: communities of English-speaking descendants of nineteenth-century settlers who still farm the desert with notable success. Nuevo Casas Grandes is connected to Ciudad Juárez by highway, about four hours north.