[2] Aside from the municipal seat, important communities include San Miguel Palmas, Camargo, Río Blanco, Agua Fría, Villa Emiliano Zapata, La Plazuela and El Portugués.

La Misión Dominica de San Miguel Palmas was founded in 1691 by Friar Felipe Galindo.

It is a small oasis surrounded by rough terrain on which large cactus (up to ten meters tall) grow.

The town hosts a Feria de la Nuez (Nut Fair) each year on 29 September.

[2] San Miguel Palmas has a student housing unit called the General Lázaro Cárdenas del Río Albergue.

Today, the area raises rainbow trout in tanks and has forests and significant wildlife.

On the nearby Cerro del Sombrerete, there is an eco-tourism park with camping in the territory of white-tailed deer .

The area was abandoned in the 13th century, but repopulated in the 20th as a mining community, which produced up to 14 tons of mercury weekly at its height.

Its development is mostly due to the fact that it lies on the highway that connects the state capital with places such as Atarjea, Cadereyta de Montes and the Sierra Gorda.

Mail service is limited to the municipal seat, Río Blanco and Misión de Palmas.

The municipality has seven other churches which include those in Agua Caliente, Boquillas, Río Blanco, two in San Miguel Palmas and two in Villa Emiliano Zapata.