Mina El Eden

El Eden is the mine that built Zacatecas. Opened in 1586, its galleries burrow through the Cerro del Grillo directly beneath the city, and for three centuries they produced silver, gold, copper and zinc at a human cost the guides do not soften - indigenous and forced labour, child workers, and deaths from collapse, flooding and dust. Since the mine closed to production, level four has been opened as a visit: a small train carries groups in from the hillside portal, then walking galleries pass ore veins, a chapel to the miners' patron, ladders and shafts dropping into blackness, a suspension bridge over a flooded chasm, and mineral displays under coloured lighting. A lift connects to the upper exit near the cable-car station on Cerro del Grillo, which makes the classic combination - mine, then cable car across the city to La Bufa - easy. And in a very Zacatecan flourish, part of the workings has functioned since the 1970s as a nightclub inside the mountain, where the dance floor sits in a stone chamber some hundreds of metres into the rock.

What you actually see

• The mine train - the entry ride into the mountain.
• The galleries - veins, shafts and the chasm bridge.
• The miners' chapel - devotion underground.
• The rock nightclub - the mine's strangest afterlife.

When to go

Any day; tours run at intervals through the day and can queue in holiday season. The temperature underground stays cool year-round - bring a layer.

Honest expectations

Walkways are damp with steps and low ceilings in places; not ideal for claustrophobia or limited mobility. Tours are Spanish-led with English by arrangement. The history includes real suffering - guides tell it plainly.

Nearby

The Bufa cable car and summit, the cathedral and the Rafael Coronel mask museum are all within the city.