San Luis Potosí

A Potosino weekend from the Plaza de Armas to the Calzada de Guadalupe

A weekend in San Luis Potosí starts at the Plaza de Armas, with the cathedral, finished in 1730, and the Palacio de Gobierno opposite, where Juárez governed during the French invasion. Walk east to the Plaza de los Fundadores and on to the Plaza del Carmen for the Templo del Carmen and its gilded camarín.

Across the square, the Teatro de la Paz and the Museo Nacional de la Máscara stand side by side; the masks deserve an hour.

Saturday afternoon. Lunch on enchiladas potosinas, then head to the Jardín San Francisco. The Templo de San Francisco dates from about 1692, and the Museo Regional Potosino next door covers the region's indigenous past. As the light fades, take a rooftop table on Calle Universidad and watch the domes glow.

Sunday. Begin at the Museo Federico Silva, which is free on Sundays, for modern sculpture in a former school. Then walk south to the Caja del Agua and follow the Calzada de Guadalupe, a broad tree-lined promenade, to the twin-towered Santuario de Guadalupe at its end. In the afternoon, take a taxi to Parque Tangamanga I, with its lake, gardens and the Laberinto de las Ciencias y las Artes science museum, a favourite with families.

With a third day, drive 20 minutes into the hills to Cerro de San Pedro, or set off early for the four-hour trip to Real de Catorce.

Enchiladas potosinas, tacos rojos and Costanzo chocolates

San Luis Potosí's signature plate is enchiladas potosinas, made from masa mixed with ancho chilli so the dough turns brick red, folded around fresh cheese, fried, and served with lettuce, potato and carrot. Tacos rojos, small tortillas dipped in chilli sauce and fried, share the plate at many stalls.

Street food is easiest to find at dusk around the north-west corner of the Alameda, where antojito stands sell enchiladas, chalupas, flautas, quesadillas and tostadas by the plate of five. Look for pambazos, bread rolls soaked in chilli sauce and fried, too.

For sit-down meals, walk west along Avenida Venustiano Carranza, where much of the city's best cooking is concentrated, from regional kitchens to newer restaurants. Dishes from the Huasteca in the east of the state also turn up on menus: zacahuil, a huge tamal baked in a wood oven and usually sold at weekends, is the one to try.

Leave room for sweets. Queso de tuna, a dense paste made from the fruit of the prickly pear cactus, is a desert speciality, and the Costanzo company has been making chocolates and sweets here for decades; its shops in the centre are an easy place to buy gifts. Evenings end with coffee or mezcal in the cafés around Calle San Francisco.

Real de Catorce, Cerro de San Pedro and the Huasteca waterfalls

The best trips from San Luis Potosí run in opposite directions, into desert and jungle. Cerro de San Pedro, where silver was found in 1592, is a morning 20 minutes east; Real de Catorce, the former mining town in the desert, is the classic overnight; and the Huasteca Potosina's waterfalls lie to the east.

Cerro de San Pedro is the short one, about 20 minutes east. This is where the silver was found in 1592, and the village of stone houses, two old churches and abandoned mine workings feels half emptied. A morning is enough.

Real de Catorce is the classic. Once a rich silver town high in the Sierra de Catorce, it was all but abandoned in the 20th century and has been slowly revived by visitors. The last stretch of road climbs a cobbled track and ends at the Ogarrio tunnel, a single-lane mine shaft you drive or ride through to reach the town. Allow about four hours each way via Matehuala, and stay at least one night: the stone streets, the parish church with its venerated image of Saint Francis, and horse rides into the surrounding desert need time. The Wirikuta desert below is sacred to the Huichol people; treat it with respect.

The Huasteca Potosina lies east, beyond Ciudad Valles, where the plain drops into subtropical hills. Turquoise rivers, the Tamul waterfall and Edward James's surreal sculpture garden at Las Pozas in Xilitla draw most visitors. It is too far for a day trip; plan two or three nights, and go between October and May, when the rivers run clear.