Zacatecas

1. 1

   Zacatecas Cathedral

   The city’s crowning monument is this 18th-century Churrigueresque cathedral, considered Mexico’s finest example of the style. Its ornately carved pink cantera stone facade depicts angels, flowers, fruits, and religious scenes across three levels. The interior, though more restrained, houses gilded altarpieces, a pipe organ, and a crypt. Construction spanned from 1729 to 1752.

2. 2

   Cerro de la Bufa

   This iconic hilltop rising above the city’s eastern skyline offers sweeping 360-degree views of the pink-stone cityscape and surrounding high desert. A museum at the summit commemorates the 1914 Battle of Zacatecas during the Mexican Revolution. The Chapel of the Virgen del Patrocinio, the city’s patron saint, sits nearby. The teleférico cable car provides a scenic 7-minute ride from the centre.

3. 3

   Mina El Edén

   A former silver mine that operated from the 16th century until the 1960s, now converted into an underground museum. Visitors board a miniature train that descends into tunnels carved deep inside the mountain, passing rock formations, rusting equipment, and an underground lake. One shaft has been transformed into a nightclub with light shows, open on weekend evenings.

4. 4

   Museo Rafael Coronel

   Housed in the ruins of the former Convento de San Francisco, this museum holds over 16,000 traditional Mexican masks—the largest collection in the Americas. The masks span centuries of indigenous, colonial, and contemporary craft traditions, representing festivals, dances, and rituals from across Mexico. The convent’s overgrown cloister gardens and stone arches give the museum an atmospheric, almost sculptural quality.

5. 5

   La Quemada (Chicomóztoc)

   An archaeological site 56 km south of Zacatecas, La Quemada was a fortified hilltop settlement active from roughly 300 to 1200 CE. Visitors climb terraced stone structures, a columned ceremonial hall, and a votive pyramid while taking in long views of the Malpaso Valley. The site may have served as a trade and religious hub on the northern frontier of Mesoamerican civilisation.

Editor-curated picks carried over from our original guide. Where a full place guide exists, the card links to it.