Chignahuapan

Chignahuapan makes Christmas. Some two hundred family workshops in this Sierra Norte pueblo magico blow, silver and paint tens of millions of glass spheres a year - the esferas that hang on trees across Mexico and abroad - and visitors can watch the whole alchemy: a glass tube spun over flame, breathed into a bubble, mirrored inside with silver nitrate, dipped in color and hand-painted with snowflakes, saints or football crests. Showrooms glitter like supernovas year-round, peaking from October to December when the national bauble fair takes over town. Beyond the glitter, Chignahuapan keeps two more surprises: on the plaza, a kiosk unlike any other in the country - a two-storey Mudejar fantasy in red, ochre and gold; and in the modern basilica, a twelve-metre carved-cedar Virgin of the Immaculate Conception ranked among the largest indoor sculptures in Latin America. The name means "place of nine waters," honored by thermal springs and the Quetzalapan waterfall at the town's edge.

What you actually see

• The sphere workshops - glassblowing, silvering and hand-painting live.
• The showrooms - walls of baubles in every color made.
• The golden kiosk - the Mudejar bandstand on the plaza.
• The basilica Virgin - twelve metres of carved cedar in the Immaculate Conception.

When to go

October to mid-December for fair season and the fullest workshops; weekdays for calm demonstrations. Spring and summer visits find the same craft without the crowds.

Honest expectations

Buying is the point and the temptation - pack spheres carefully or ship. Fair weekends fill hotels here and in Zacatlan. The town is high and cool; evenings want a jacket.

Nearby

Zacatlan's flower clocks and canyon are fifteen minutes on; the Quetzalapan falls and thermal pools sit at the town's doorstep.