Calvillo

Calvillo grows guavas - by some counts more than anywhere else in Mexico - and the fruit organizes everything. The valley floor around the town is a mosaic of orchards, and from October the harvest fills the road with trucks, the plaza with vendors and the sweets workshops with the smell of boiling fruit: ate de guayaba in dense slabs, rolls, crystallized fruit, jams, liqueurs, and the local specialty of guavas stuffed with cajeta. The Feria de la Guayaba in autumn crowns the calendar with tastings, competitions and dances. Beyond the orchards, Calvillo is a handsome pueblo magico of arcades and a red-stone parish, with a second craft in deshilado - drawn-thread embroidery worked by women of the town - and a third attraction in the country around it: the Sierra Fria's cliffs and reservoirs, the Presa de Malpaso for kayaks and camping, hot springs and canyon walks near Los Alamitos. It is a quiet, agricultural corner that rewards a slow day and a heavy shopping bag.

What you actually see

• The orchards - guava valleys under the sierra.
• The sweets workshops - ate, jams and stuffed guavas being made.
• The deshilado embroidery - drawn-thread work in the shops.
• The sierra country - reservoirs, cliffs and canyon walks.

When to go

October to December for the harvest and the guava fair; spring and summer are quieter and hotter, with the orchards green rather than laden.

Honest expectations

Outside harvest season the town is very sleepy. The sierra excursions want a car. Sweets are sold by weight and travel well; the liqueurs less so.

Nearby

Aguascalientes city and its museums lie an hour east; the Sierra Fria's protected forests spread north.