Northern and central Mexico – as far south as the latitude of Mexico City – have coastal plains on the east and west and 2 north-south mountain ranges, the Sierra Madre Oriental and Sierra Madre Occidental, framing a group of broad central plateau known as the Altiplano Central.

On the west coast a relatively dry coastal plain stretches south from Mexicali, on the US border, almost to Tepic, in Nayarit state. Inland from this plain is the rugged Sierra Madre Occidental, crossed by only 2 main transport routes: The Barranca del Cobre (Copper Canyon) railway from Chihuahua to Los Mochis, and the dramatic highway 40 from durango to Mazatlán.

The central plateau is mostly a series of rolling hills and broad valleys and includes some of the best farm and ranch land in Mexico.

The altiplano is delimited on the east by the Sierra Madre Oriental, which runs as far south as the state of Puebla and includes peaks as high as 3700m. The Gulf Coast plain, crossed by many rivers flowing down from the sierra Madre, is an extension of similar coastal plain in Texas. In north-eastern Mexico the plain is wide and semimarshy near the coast, but as it nears the port of Veracruz it narrows.