Taxco

Silver was mined here from the sixteenth century, but the town as it looks now owes most to a single eighteenth-century strike that made José de la Borda rich enough to build Santa Prisca, a church whose twin towers and rose-pink facade dominate a hillside of whitewashed houses with red tiled roofs. The streets are cobbled, steep and so narrow that the local transport is a fleet of white Volkswagen Beetles and small combis. Silverwork remains the trade: hundreds of workshops and shops sell it, and a national silver fair each November brings competition pieces. Above the town a cable car climbs to a ridge with the whole white cascade of roofs below.

History

The name most likely comes from the Nahuatl Tlachco, "place of the ballgame", and "de Alarcón" honours the writer Juan Ruiz de Alarcón, born here. The original Taxco lay about ten kilometres south, at what is now Taxco el Viejo, the seat of the Aztec governor of the area (Wikipedia, Taxco).

What to look for

• Santa Prisca - the pink baroque church that dominates the town.
• The silver workshops - hundreds of them, from tourist trinkets to fine work.
• The cable car - up to the ridge for the view over the white rooftops.
• Holy Week processions - among the most solemn and striking in Mexico.

When to go

October to May is dry. The national silver fair is in late November. Holy Week here draws large crowds for processions that are austere and heavily attended, and rooms book out. The town is at eighteen hundred metres and evenings are cool.

Things to know

The streets are genuinely punishing: steep, cobbled and often stepped, and anyone with knee trouble will struggle. Driving in is unpleasant and parking almost impossible, so leave the car at the edge. Silver quality varies enormously and much of what is sold cheaply near the square is plated; look for the .925 stamp and buy from workshops.

Nearby

The Cacahuamilpa caves are half an hour; Cuernavaca is an hour and a half north.

Key facts