Guanajuato

Three days from the Alhóndiga to the Valenciana shafts

Start three days in Guanajuato with breakfast upstairs in the Mercado Hidalgo, the iron market hall on Avenida Juárez, then climb to the Alhóndiga de Granaditas, the granary where insurgents won their first major battle in 1810 and where their leaders' heads later hung; it is now a regional museum.

After lunch, follow Calle Positos to the Museo Casa Diego Rivera, the painter's birthplace, then continue to the steps of the University of Guanajuato and the Basílica on the Plaza de la Paz. Finish at the Jardín de la Unión and join an evening callejoneada.

Day two. Spend the morning at the Teatro Juárez, then take the funicular up to the Pípila for the whole city at your feet. Walk down through the alleys to the Callejón del Beso. In the afternoon take a taxi or bus to the Museo de las Momias; go early, as queues build. Spend the evening around Plaza San Fernando.

Day three. Ride the Valenciana bus to the Templo de la Valenciana and the old mine beside it, where you can look down the main shaft that once fed the silver boom. Return via the Paseo de la Presa and the dam lake, and end with a drink on a rooftop over the old town.

Enchiladas mineras and charamuscas in the Mercado Hidalgo

Guanajuato's food was shaped by its mines, and enchiladas mineras are on every menu: tortillas dipped in guajillo chilli sauce, fried, filled with cheese and onion and topped with diced potato and carrot, often with chicken. It was cheap, filling food for miners, and it still tastes best at a market counter.

The Mercado Hidalgo is the place to start. The ground floor sells fruit, sweets and souvenirs, while the cooks on the upper gallery serve enchiladas, huaraches and pambazos all day, with photos of each dish to point at. For a cheaper, more local experience, head to the food stalls around the Mercado Embajadoras, near the start of the Paseo de la Presa, where women make tlacoyos and gorditas on clay griddles.

Sweets are a speciality. Charamuscas, twisted sugar candies, are sold in the shape of mummies outside the Museo de las Momias, a joke the city enjoys. Cajeta, the goat's milk caramel from nearby Celaya, and strawberries from Irapuato turn up in markets and desserts across town. From León comes the guacamaya, a bread roll stuffed with pork crackling and a sharp tomato salsa, sold from street carts.

The student population keeps food affordable. Around the university and the Plazuela del Baratillo, cafés and small fondas offer set lunches, while in the evenings the bars along Calle Cantarranas pour mezcal and local craft beer.

October's Cervantino and a ride to San Miguel and Dolores

October brings the Festival Internacional Cervantino, about three weeks of theatre, opera, dance and concerts in the Teatro Juárez and on open-air stages, among Latin America's largest arts festivals. It grew from student performances of Cervantes' short plays in the plazas, and October's weather helps, at about 26C with the rains tapering off.

Holy Week is the other high point. On the Friday before Palm Sunday, the Viernes de Dolores, families build altars to the Virgin of Sorrows with flowers and candles. On Good Friday the Passion is re-enacted in front of the basilica, and a silent procession crosses the city in the evening.

Climate figures help with planning. From December to February, days are 23-25C but nights drop to 7-9C. May is hottest at about 32C. June to September brings the rain, peaking in July at almost 190 mm, mostly as afternoon storms.

For day trips, San Miguel de Allende is about 1.5 hours away by coach, with its pink neo-Gothic parish church and art galleries. Dolores Hidalgo, about an hour north, is where Miguel Hidalgo launched the 1810 independence revolt; ice-cream carts on its plaza sell odd flavours, and Talavera workshops line the roads into town. The giant Cristo Rey statue on the Cerro del Cubilete, near Silao, offers a broad view over the Bajío plain.