Tequisquiapan

Tequisquiapan is the Bajio's weekend town: cobbled lanes of white walls under cascading bougainvillea, a central plaza of arcades and a rose-coloured neo-colonial church, craft shops selling the local wicker and basketry, thermal-spring hotels left from the era when the town's waters were the draw, and enough good restaurants to fill a Saturday. Its modern identity is agricultural gastronomy: the Ruta del Queso y el Vino runs through the surrounding Ezequiel Montes valley, where vineyards - a wine region that has grown seriously in the past two decades - and artisanal dairies making manchego-style, goat and blue cheeses open for tours, tastings and long lunches under the pepper trees. The Feria Nacional del Queso y el Vino, held in late May and early June, packs the calendar with tastings and concerts. Around it all, hot-air balloons lift at dawn over the valley, Bernal's monolith stands twenty minutes north, and the semi-desert light does flattering things to every wall in town.

What you actually see

• The plaza - white arcades, bougainvillea and the pink church.
• The wicker workshops - the town's basketry trade.
• The cheese and wine route - valley dairies and vineyards.
• Dawn balloons - flights over the vineyard country.

When to go

October to May for dry, mild weather; the late-May cheese and wine fair for the full programme and full hotels. Weekends are lively, weekdays sleepy.

Honest expectations

It is a comfortable, slightly manicured weekend town rather than a historic monument - the pleasures are eating, drinking and strolling. Weekend prices and crowds climb; midweek is half the cost and quiet. The old thermal springs are mostly hotel-bound now.

Nearby

Pena de Bernal is twenty minutes north; Queretaro city's UNESCO centre lies an hour southwest.