The flourishing industrial town of Aguascalientes, 128km south of Zacatecas, is an important and booming provincial capital with some fine colonial monuments in among its newer buildings. A couple of engrossing museums, including the tribute to José Posada, make this an intriguing place to stop over for a day or two, especially when you take into account the town’s reputation for some of the finest fiestas in Mexico rarely a week goes by without celebration, or at least a band playing in one of the plazas at the weekend and for its tempting array of street food, particularly the sumptuous birria (roast goat or mutton stew).

Below the entire center of Aguascalientes lies a series of mysterious and poorly understood tunnels and catacombs carved out by an unknown pre-Columbian civilization. The Spanish initially referred to the place as La Ciudad Perforada (the Perforated City), then proceeded to build the current cluster of colonial buildings from the seventeenth century. These are arranged around the Plaza de la Patria, with its cathedral, and the Palacio de Gobierno, with its impressive murals. Fanning out from there are a few worthwhile museums, chief among them the Museo José Guadalupe Posada, dedicated to Mexico’s most famous engraver.

The Plaza de la Patria is the traditional heart of Aguascalientes, an enormous area centred on the Exedra, an amphitheater-shaped space for performances, overlooked by a column topped with a Mexican eagle (which symbolizes the geographical centre of Mexico). Chief of the buildings here is the Palacio de Gobierno (daily 8am–8pm), an entrancing Baroque mansion constructed in 1665 as a private residence (it became city hall in 1856). Built from reddish volcanic rock, it contains an arcaded courtyard with a grand central staircase, decorated with four marvelous murals by the Chilean Oswaldo Barra Cunningham, who learnt his trade from Diego Rivera. The first of the murals, at the back on the ground floor, was painted in 1961, with others created in subsequent years: the most recent (from 1992) are at the front of the building. Next door, the eighteenth-century Palacio Municipal is stately but rather bland in comparison, while down the other side of the plaza, the eighteenth-century Catedral Basílica de Nuestra Señora de la Asunción (daily 7am–2pm & 4–9pm) has been refurbished to reveal its full glory, in an ostentatious welter of gold, polished marble and several paintings by Miguel Cabrera. The altar is particularly magnificent, but don’t miss the side chapel next to it, with a captivating all-turquoise interior. Jardín de San Marcos (daily 6am–10.30pm) a long, beautifully manicured park that runs down to the eighteenth-century Templo de San Marcos (daily 7am–2pm & 4–9pm).

Templo de San Antonio (Mon–Sat 6.30–10am, 11.30am–12.30pm & 6–9pm, Sun 6.30am– noon & 5.30–9pm), completed around 1908 and featuring a muddled façade with some vaguely discernible Neoclassical elements. Inside, murals by local architect Refugio Reyes provide a blaze of colour. Opposite is the imposing Museo de Aguascalientes (Tues–Sun 11am–6pm), a bold Neoclassical palace constructed in 1903. Its art collection, mostly modern, is mainly of interest for its works by Saturnino Herrán, a local who was a contemporary and friend of Diego Rivera but who died young and never really achieved much recognition. Note his large stained-glass panel, and also rooms full of charcoal drawings, block prints and paintings by Gabriel Fernández Ledesma, another local son of some note.

The Museo de Arte Contemporáneo (Tues–Sun 11am–6pm) is home to some of the most exciting and provocative art from the region, with exhibitions that change every two months. There’s also a permanent collection of work by Enrique Guzmán, the talented but troubled painter born here in 1952, who took his own life at the age of 34. One block north along Morelos, in a graceful old university building next to Templo de San Diego, the Museo Nacional de la Muerte (Tues–Sun 10.30am–6.30pm) casts a macabre eye over Mexico’s obsession with death rituals and images of death over the centuries, though it’s not as grim as it sounds. The exhibits start with Mesoamerican traditions, with plenty of ancient statuary and a massive collection of model skulls, though these are so colourfully painted, bejewelled and stylized they seem more like kids’ toys than religious totems. Especially striking are the abacus with tiny skulls and the “tree of death” sculptures. The museum ends with a stylish art gallery, all red-tinted, which houses an eclectic collection of death-related art from the nineteenth century on, including work by Posada and his predecessor, Manuel Manilla. Afterwards, raise your spirits in the tranquil courtyard café, in the shadow of San Diego’s main dome.

Although this state is not often billed as a tourist center, international visitors, as well as citizens from all over Mexico, are attracted to the San Marcos Fair, which is considered the national fair of Mexico and contributes much to Mexico's economy. Recently, its capital city has gained the reputation as a great destination for its superb colonial architecture visible in the colonial centre, as well as the modernity and dynamism in the outskirts. The city also hosts many conventions every year. It benefits from its excellent central location. The city is also famed for its environment of relaxation, and for its safety and cleanliness, as it is often described by people when traveling to this part of the country for conventions or tourism. Most tourists go to the capital. A few tourists explore the former mining towns in the north of the state (in the municipalities of Asientos and Tepezalá), which are now almost ghost cities. The haciendas, hot springs, and baths scattered around the state are also of historical and recreational relevance. You’ll need to travel some 4km east from here to experience the hot springs that gave the city its name. The Baños Termales de Ojocaliente (daily 7am–7pm) is really just a outdoor swimming pool complex outside town on the road to San Luis Potosí (Av Technológico 102) the private baths are much hotter. The municipality of Calvillo has a semi-tropical climate, The largest producer of guavas in Mexico, it attracts some fans of watersports to its reservoirs.

The state has a Natural Protected Reserve in the higher mountains called Sierra Fría. Located at a height of 2,500 to 3,000 meters (8,202 to 9,843 ft) above sea level, it comprises oak and pine forests. Its attractions include observing exuberant landscape and wide ravines, in which, there are pumas, lynxes, boar, white-tailed deer, wild turkey, raccoons and many other animals. There are steep-sided cycle paths, camping and picnic areas as well as several hunting clubs. It is the mountain climate and fauna that attracts locals for camping activities. In winter, the temperature sometimes falls to −4.44 °C (24.01 °F) when the weather is poor. Usually, Sierra Fria is the only part of the state that gets snow during winter. In the city of Aguascalientes one of the best sunsets in the world can be seen in the Cerro del Muerto; the hill resembles the shape of a man lying down. The city of Aguascalientes is called "el corazón" which means "the heart" of Mexico because it lies in the middle of the country. This city is often considered, by its locals, to be one of the safest and cleanest in Mexico. Also, the city of Aguascalientes is known as "the land of the good people".