Feria de San Marcos

The Feria Nacional de San Marcos has run since the 1820s and is, by attendance, the largest fair in Mexico - three weeks from mid-April into early May when Aguascalientes multiplies its population and stays up late. Its heart is the Jardin de San Marcos, a colonnaded garden district whose surrounding streets fill with cantinas, mariachi and crowds; from there the fair sprawls into the Isla San Marcos grounds with a casino, exhibition halls, agricultural and industrial shows, and a fairground midway. The programme is heavyweight: nightly concerts across several stages, the palenque - the round arena where cockfights alternate with headline singers performing to seated tables until dawn - a serious bullfighting season in the Monumental ring, charreria in the lienzo, art and literary events, and the crowning of the fair's queen with a grand parade. Regional food runs to birria, gorditas and San Marcos's own sweets and wines. It is loud, packed, expensive by local standards and profoundly Mexican in the way only a fair this old can be.

What you actually see

• Jardin de San Marcos - the colonnaded garden at the fair's heart.
• The palenque - all-night music in the round arena.
• The concert stages - three weeks of headline programming.
• The charreria and bullring - the fair's traditional sports calendar.

When to go

Late April into the first days of May; weekends are the fullest and the hardest for hotels. Weeknights offer the same fair with room to move.

Honest expectations

Hotel prices multiply and book out months ahead across the whole city. Crowds are enormous and nights are long. The programme includes bullfighting and cockfighting - both central to the fair and objectionable to many visitors, who can simply skip those venues.

Nearby

The Posada and death museums sit in the city centre; Calvillo's guava orchards lie an hour southwest.