Aguascalientes

Aguascalientes is the smallest state in northern Mexico and also the one that concentrates the greatest density of culture and identity within its reduced territory. The city of Aguascalientes, built over a network of colonial tunnels that runs beneath its streets—a testament to the mining extraction that financed its founding—has a historic center with Baroque architecture in pink stone that few cities in the Bajío can match.

The Feria Nacional de San Marcos, celebrated every year in April and May for nearly a month, is the largest and oldest fair in America: three million visitors fill the city for the jaripeos, cockfighting rings, concerts, and popular atmosphere that transforms Aguascalientes into the capital of Mexican celebration for four weeks.

The state's vineyards produce some of the most interesting table wines in the Bajío: the altitude and continental climate give the grapes characteristics that have begun to attract the attention of national sommeliers. The 19th-century haciendas that surround the capital—San Blas, Peñuelas, Malpaso—hold monumental architecture in various states of restoration.

The Sierra Fría, north of the capital, offers pine and oak forests where wildlife includes deer, coyotes, and endemic birds, creating an abrupt contrast with the agricultural plains that characterize much of the state.