Top 10 Mexican Colonial Cities

A UNESCO World Heritage colonial town in Guanajuato state whose rose-pink Parroquia church and warren of cobblestone streets have attracted an international artist community that makes it the most cosmopolitan small city in Mexico. The year-round festival calendar — literary, music, art, and gastronomy — makes it the most programmatically rich colonial destination in the country.

A UNESCO World Heritage silver mining city built into a ravine, Guanajuato's pedestrianized callejones (alleys), the Beso del Callejón del Beso, and the underground road system replacing the old river bed create an urban experience unlike any other Mexican city. The annual Festival Internacional Cervantino is the most important classical arts festival in Latin America.

A UNESCO World Heritage city whose baroque churches inlaid with Talavera tile and the historic kitchen culture that produced mole poblano and chiles en nogada make it the most gastronomically significant colonial city in Mexico. The combination of the Zócalo, the Biblioteca Palafoxiana (the first public library in the Americas), and the Barrio del Artista painting community creates an unrivaled historic downtown.

The White City of Yucatan is the cultural capital of Mexico's southeast, known for its hacienda hotels, La Trova music culture, and the finest Yucatecan cuisine in the world — cochinita pibil, sopa de lima, queso relleno — served in the city's colonial mansion restaurants. Mérida's Sunday Vaquería street dance in the Plaza Grande is the most authentically joyful free public event in Mexican colonial city culture.

A UNESCO World Heritage silver mining city whose pink cantera stone cathedral facade is the finest baroque church exterior in Mexico and whose teleferico cable car crossing the ravine to La Bufa mountain is the most dramatic urban transport in any Mexican colonial city. The underground mine tour of El Edén offers a unique industrial heritage experience 2,500 metres underground.

The Michoacán capital built entirely in pink morelia stone creates the most visually unified colonial cityscape in Mexico, and its UNESCO Heritage Zone is the most intact surviving example of Spanish Renaissance urban planning in the Americas. The Mercado de Dulces y Artesanías selling Michoacán's famous sugar candies and the Conservatory of Music that anchors the city's classical music scene are the cultural highlights.

A mountain silver town in Guerrero state whose white-painted adobe houses and the Santa Prisca baroque church — built by silver magnate José de la Borda in 1748 — create one of the most picturesque townscapes in Mexico. Taxco is the silversmithing capital of Mexico with over 300 silver workshops and the annual Festival Internacional de la Plata attracting international jewellery designers.

A high-altitude Chiapas colonial city embedded within the territory of the Tzotzil and Tzeltal Maya peoples, San Cristóbal's colored colonial facades, the indigenous market of Santo Domingo, and proximity to the living Tzotzil villages of Chamula and Zinacantán make it the most anthropologically rich colonial city in Mexico. The Zapatista movement's political and cultural presence gives the city a unique intellectual character.

A UNESCO World Heritage fortified colonial port city on the Gulf of Campeche whose hexagonal Spanish military walls — the finest surviving colonial fortification system in Mexico — enclose a grid of candy-colored houses. The baluarte system of seven bastions connected by city walls, now converted into museums and gardens, offers the most comprehensive preserved colonial military architecture in the Americas.

A UNESCO World Heritage colonial town in Guanajuato state whose rose-pink Parroquia church and warren of cobblestone streets have attracted an international artist community that makes it the most cosmopolitan small city in Mexico. The year-round festival calendar — literary, music, art, and gastronomy — makes it the most programmatically rich colonial destination in the country.

A UNESCO World Heritage silver mining city built into a ravine, Guanajuato's pedestrianized callejones (alleys), the Beso del Callejón del Beso, and the underground road system replacing the old river bed create an urban experience unlike any other Mexican city. The annual Festival Internacional Cervantino is the most important classical arts festival in Latin America.

A UNESCO World Heritage city whose baroque churches inlaid with Talavera tile and the historic kitchen culture that produced mole poblano and chiles en nogada make it the most gastronomically significant colonial city in Mexico. The combination of the Zócalo, the Biblioteca Palafoxiana (the first public library in the Americas), and the Barrio del Artista painting community creates an unrivaled historic downtown.

The White City of Yucatan is the cultural capital of Mexico's southeast, known for its hacienda hotels, La Trova music culture, and the finest Yucatecan cuisine in the world — cochinita pibil, sopa de lima, queso relleno — served in the city's colonial mansion restaurants. Mérida's Sunday Vaquería street dance in the Plaza Grande is the most authentically joyful free public event in Mexican colonial city culture.

A UNESCO World Heritage silver mining city whose pink cantera stone cathedral facade is the finest baroque church exterior in Mexico and whose teleferico cable car crossing the ravine to La Bufa mountain is the most dramatic urban transport in any Mexican colonial city. The underground mine tour of El Edén offers a unique industrial heritage experience 2,500 metres underground.

The Michoacán capital built entirely in pink morelia stone creates the most visually unified colonial cityscape in Mexico, and its UNESCO Heritage Zone is the most intact surviving example of Spanish Renaissance urban planning in the Americas. The Mercado de Dulces y Artesanías selling Michoacán's famous sugar candies and the Conservatory of Music that anchors the city's classical music scene are the cultural highlights.

A mountain silver town in Guerrero state whose white-painted adobe houses and the Santa Prisca baroque church — built by silver magnate José de la Borda in 1748 — create one of the most picturesque townscapes in Mexico. Taxco is the silversmithing capital of Mexico with over 300 silver workshops and the annual Festival Internacional de la Plata attracting international jewellery designers.

A high-altitude Chiapas colonial city embedded within the territory of the Tzotzil and Tzeltal Maya peoples, San Cristóbal's colored colonial facades, the indigenous market of Santo Domingo, and proximity to the living Tzotzil villages of Chamula and Zinacantán make it the most anthropologically rich colonial city in Mexico. The Zapatista movement's political and cultural presence gives the city a unique intellectual character.

A UNESCO World Heritage fortified colonial port city on the Gulf of Campeche whose hexagonal Spanish military walls — the finest surviving colonial fortification system in Mexico — enclose a grid of candy-colored houses. The baluarte system of seven bastions connected by city walls, now converted into museums and gardens, offers the most comprehensive preserved colonial military architecture in the Americas.