The Rio Vista Lodge was our first and last accommodation on our 12-day tour of Copper Canyon, and really set the tone for our visit to the “real Mexico.”
Proprietor Chal Gamez is a most gracious host, and a wonderful story-teller. On our last night we listened spell-bound as he told his story of his dream of creating a hotel on the beautiful hilltop adjacent to the restored fort in the charming colonial town of El Fuerte.
We arrived in the dark the first night after a long day of air travel, and were greeted by a humongous margarita and wonderful dinner of sea bass. The warm night air was rich with the sounds birds, dogs and roosters, and in the morning the fabulous view of the Rio Fuerte was revealed to us.
Each room is unique, and a labor of love. The dining room’s beautiful murals depict the history of the struggles between the indigenous peoples and the invading Spanish. The rooms are sprawled about in a wonderfully natural layout. It feels more like a private estate than a hotel. The flowering trees were a delight, and birds abounded.
The whole place is like a museum, with historic artefacts displayed everywhere, and if you like something, warm-hearted Chal is likely to just give it to you!
The lodge is adjacent to the recently-restored fort, where Chal has put up one of the museum exhibits. The view in all directions is stunning. It is a short walk to the main square of this lovely, sleepy town.
Staying in this exquisite lodge in this exquisite town, it is hard to imagine that 99% of tourism to Mexico is to crass American-style resorts on the beach.
As a gateway to your Copper Canyon trip, the Rio Vista is ideal, and will be part of your memories, not just a place to stay. Ten out of Ten!

Don’t be
fooled by the ugly 1 block entrance road. This place is a gem. Hard to eat with so many birds
flying by. Your balcony looks into the treetop of a flowering fig with countless birds. El Fuerte
was definitely birdier than Alamos, but the 16th Century colonial town of El Fuerte is “only” A
cute instead of Alamos’ A+. From a panoramic hilltop setting, you view the El Fuerte River,
watch dozens of warblers, orioles, Magpie jays, Kiskadees, Social Flycatchers and tanagers in
the fig, dodge the attack Violet-crowned and Broad-billed hummingbirds and sip a killer
Margarita. Life doesn’t get much better than this. The drinks are even free.
It was hard to leave.

A friend recommended the Hotel Rio Vista in El Fuerte. My family of four stayed two nights, and loved it. The rooms were clean, with hot water and air conditioning, and every room is exotically different. My kids, 6 and 9, loved the hotel's collection of antiques - and they were allowed to touch! Lots of hummingbirds and a view as promised, of the Rio Fuerte. The cook was excellent, the prices reasonable, and the hotel is only a three minute walk from the main plaza. The only downside was the pool; it was being refilled the first night, so we couldn't use it until the second.

We stayed in late July - steaming hot days followed by explosive storms - so we had no problems finding a room. The town is very quiet in mid-summer.

My husband and I phoned the Rio Vista Lodge and reserved a room before leaving for Mexico. When we arrived at the lodge in mid-afternoon on the day of our reservation, the proprietor told us he had no room for us, but could get us a room in a hotel in town. We went to that hotel, which was nice, but more expensive than we had budgeted for. (We're both sure the Rio Vista proprietor told us the price would be the same as the room we had reserved in his lodge, but had nothing in writing.) The Rio Vista's proprietor allowed us to leave our van in his parking lot while we were in Copper Canyon, which was really very nice of him. Unfortunately, when we returned to his lodge at 11 pm (!) on the scheduled evening (the train ran very late that day), he again told us that his lodge was full and that he had no room for us. We gave up and spent the night in our van in the RV park at the edge of town.