Leon, a teeming, industrial city with a long history of excellence in leatherwork. This tradition is reflected in the scores of shoe factories and, in the centre, hundreds of shoe shops: it’s a good place to buy hand-tooled cowboy boots, jackets, belts or just about anything else made of leather, but there’s little else to see. The area around the bus station known as the Zona Piel, about 3km from the city centre, has the highest concentration of leather and shoe shops, which have very reasonable prices, although there are also some higher-class and more expensive boutiques. Walk south three blocks along Hilario Medina to Plaza Piel and Plaza del Zapato, opposite at López Mateos 1601 Ote, two malls with the best concentration of stores. You can also try the Centro de Calzado CTM, two blocks west on Taxco between Luz and Salina Cruz.

60% of the shoes produced in Mexico are made in León, and there are also chemical industry, leather, transportation, plastic, polymer, box companies. There is also cluster of automotive industries, including a General Motors plant in the nearby municipality of Silao.

Its first-class services and hotel industry make it one of the most important centers in Mexico with numerous opportunities for entertainment, gastronomy, leisure activities, arts and recreation. It is also considered one of the most environmentally friendly cities in Mexico and has a high number of cyclists, in part because of the integration a network of bike lanes into the SIT system. León has a first class public transport system. In 2011 it received an honorable mention in the "Sustainable Transport Award 2011" along with Guangzhou, China beating San Francisco, California and Zurich, Switzerland. According to the "Future Cities" of the British The Financial Times newspaper, Leon ranks first in large Latin American cities with regard to cost-effectiveness. Also received an award as "City Water Champion", along with Buenos Aires, Argentina, Rotterdam, Holland and Lyon, France among other cities, awarded by the World Water Council Marseille, France, mainly due to great progress in the areas of sanitation and wastewater reuse and energy cogeneration from biogas.

Head for the partly pedestrianized Centro Histórico. The linked Plaza de los Fundadores and Plaza de los Martíres are spacious, tranquil and elegant, with the fine eighteenth-century Basílica-Catedral Metropolitana de Nuestra Madre Santísima de la Luz built by the Jesuits, and a typically colonial Palacio Municipal. Little else survived a disastrous flood in 1883, but the plaza is surrounded by broad boulevards lined with shops, and there are a couple of other churches that deserve a look: the Baroque Templo de los Angeles and the extraordinary marble Templo Expiatorio, 500m southeast on Madero, which was started in 1921 and has been worked on ever since (completed in 2010). The latter is particularly impressive, with its high-relief copper doors revealing a white Gothic interior illuminated by modern stained glass. You can also visit the crypt. The city’s main festival is the Feria de León ( Jan 10–20), a big agricultural and industrial fair that finishes with religious festivities on the Día de San Sebastián.

The current Municipal Palace is of Ionic architectural style and occupies part of the site of the old "Colegio Grande del Seminario de los Padres Paulinos" (Grand Seminary College for Pauline Priests) who had to abandon the city in 1860. From 1861 to 1867 it was a military barracks. After the French Intervention, it was remodeled to conserve its original architecture by Coronel Octaviano Rosado to become the seat of government on 21 March 1869. The patio of the building contains a bronze statue of Benito Juarez to commemorate the centennial of his death in 1972. Since then, the building has had a number of additions such as the dome that now covers this patio, and a number of murals. These murals were painted in 1972 and 1973 by Jesus Gallardo covering the walls of the main stairwell and the hallway of the upper floor around the patio.

Heroes' Causeway Arch The arch (Arco de la Calzada de los Héroes, in Spanish), topped by a bronze lion, began construction in 1896 and has been modified a number of times since then. The first lion was added in 1943 by Francisco Lozornio Castillo made of bricks and mortar. This was replaced by the bronze one in 1958. The idea for a bronze lion was that of famous matador Antonio Velázquez, a native of Leon, whose bravery in the ring earned him the nickname of the "Heart of Leon" ("Corazón de León", in Spanish). Not long before his death in 1959, he complained that the brick lion should be replaced with a better work of art, causing something of a commotion in the Leon community. This caught the attention of sculptor Humberto Peraza Ojeda who made the one that sits atop the arch today.

The International Air Balloon Festival takes place on November in the Metropolitan Park of the city of Leon, Guanajuato, Mexico, is the largest hot-air festival in Latin America and third in the Americas offers the world one of the most beautiful and admired in Mexico shows: the flight full of fascinating and colorful balloons. The International Air Balloon Festival receives more than 400,000 attendees, enjoyed the presence of over 200 balloons, where more than 20 balloons have spectacular forms, and is carried out for 4 days. Balloons are led by excellent drivers recognized worldwide, given appointment in the Parque Metropolitano de León of 337 hectares, where every year since 2001 has increased the number of participants balloons 27-40, 60, 80 , 90, 100 up to over 200, making it the most important in Latin America. Air Balloon Festival is enriched with multiple activities throughout the day organized as concerts, competitions, exhibitions and dining area for the whole family. Participants come to Leon from Germany, Spain, USA, Belgium, Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador, Canada and Mexico being Sites, filled with excitement and joy to all attendees of all ages who enjoy integrated family festival.