Real de Asientos (Pueblo Mágico)

Real de Asientos lies in the northeast of the state of Aguascalientes, roughly 30 to 40 minutes by car from the state capital, and was founded around 1548 as a silver-mining camp — nearly three decades before the city of Aguascalientes itself. Its position on the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, the colonial silver road running north from Mexico City, gave it wealth that survives in its stone architecture, and it was named a Pueblo Mágico in 2006. Visitors come to walk: the town is compact, and a circuit of the steep cobbled streets, the shaded main plaza and the eighteenth-century Templo de Nuestra Señora de Belén takes a couple of hours at an easy pace. The church is the centerpiece, with a carved stone facade, a bell tower visible from across the town and, most unusually, a network of tunnels and catacombs beneath it that local guides open to visitors for a small fee, typically around $30 to $50 MXN. The former Convento de San Francisco, the old mine workings on the edge of town and a small mineral museum fill out the rest of a half-day. Wide views across the semi-desert open up from the higher streets and from beside the church, which is where most visitors take their photographs; morning light suits the eastern facades and late afternoon the plaza. Walking the town is free, and it is quietest on weekday mornings — weekends bring day-trippers from Aguascalientes City and the plaza restaurants fill at lunchtime. The town's patronal festivals and Holy Week draw the largest crowds of the year. Sturdy shoes matter here, as the cobbles are steep and irregular, and there is little shade on the climb between the plaza and the upper streets. Guides for the catacombs wait near the church rather than operating a booking system, so arriving in the morning improves the chance of finding one available.