San Miguel de Allende

In the 1880s a stonemason rebuilt the spires working from postcards of European churches. The pink stone deepens in colour as the light tilts.

Nearly every roof around the square is a bar, which puts the church spires at eye level. Evening leaves no free table, so people go up in the afternoon.

A closed textile mill was turned over to galleries and studios. Some machinery was left in place, so old shafts and belts stand between the exhibits.

Cactus and native plants are set along a canyon above the town. The paths are dirt and slick after rain, and the birds are out in the morning.

Twenty minutes away, a tunnel leads into a domed chamber holding the hot pool. Water falls from an opening in the roof, and people gather beneath it.

A dirt path follows the ravine beside the town past a few standing pools. Dogs are not admitted on Tuesdays.

Stalls of silverwork, textiles and tin ornaments run the length of an alley. Bargaining after the first price is expected, and cash gets a better number.

Every wall and ceiling inside carries eighteenth century painting. It is a pilgrimage church, so during services visitors stay quietly at the back.

A lookout on the eastern hill road that frames the roofs and spires together. Before eight in the morning it stands almost empty.

At four in the morning in late September fireworks over the square greet the patron saint. It is loud enough that sleeping nearby stops being possible.

An 18th-century church whose facade is dense Churrigueresque carving of foliage and saints, while the bell tower was added later in Neoclassical style. Two eras share one building. It stands a block off the main square and draws fewer people.

An art school in an 18th-century convent, its cloister courtyard with tall trees open for anyone to wander. One inner room keeps the mural Siqueiros began and abandoned in the late 1940s. Painting classes meet in the rooms around the cloister.

The house where independence hero Ignacio Allende was born in 1769, facing the main square from its corner. He is the Allende in the town's name. It is now a national museum covering local history and the war of independence.

A deeply shaded park laid out in the early 1900s, downhill and south of the centre. Egrets and herons nest in colonies at the tops of the tall trees and get noisy at dusk. A path follows the stream, and an art fair sets up at weekends.

A pyramid site above a canyon, reached by car from San Miguel in around 30 minutes. Visitors board a shuttle at the visitor centre, then walk about 1km uphill; roaming freely is not allowed. Guides explain how the pyramid aligns with sun and moon.

A silver-mining boomtown that emptied out, sixty-odd minutes' ride from San Miguel. At the Santa Brigida mine three chimney-like smelting kilns stand side by side. Workshops there rebuild old Indigenous instruments and will play you a clay flute.

Giant papier-mache puppets about 3m tall. After weekend weddings, figures made to look like the bride and groom dance through the lanes with a band, the guests trailing behind. Onlookers are welcome to tag along.