Hola, I'm wondering if Zacatecas merits a visit—what are the best things to do and see there? I may be passing through for three days and am wondering how to spend my time to experience the best the town has to offer. Gracias!!!!

I haven't been there myself, but it is the favorite mountain city of a friend of mine who lives in the general area. He calls it "the poor man's Guanajuato," by which he means it is not only a little less expensive than that other beautiful city, but rather less touristed. He's spent weeks there. It's high on my list, but a little difficult to reach. Take a look at the Lonely Planet guide for ideas on activities.

We went for a few days in 01 so my info may be too old to be of value . . . but that being said, we really, really enjoyed Z. When we went, we ran into very few US tourists, mostly we met Mexican tourists and they told us it is a good vacation destination for them. It is an old, colonial mining town and the silver mine is open for tours.

I typed up my notes from that trip (we also went to DF, Pueblo, Oaxaca, San Miquel, Guanajuato) and would be happy to email it to you if you want . . . just email me at [email protected].

Buen viaje,
Sandy (in Denton)

I'm actually wearing a Zacatecas T-shirt as I write this. We visited a few years back and enjoyed it quite a bit. A couple of nights is probably enough. We stayed at the Quinta Real which used to be a bull ring and loved the hotel. The restaurant there is very good too.

We drove up to Zacatecas from Guanajuato and then headed up to Durango and then down to Mazatlan where we started from.

While Zacatecas is very interesting, Guanajuato is fabulous. It is one of the most unique cities I have visited. I would spend at least four nights there. There's a lot to see and the ambiance is hard to beat.

You can also visit easily other nearby towns from there such as San Miguel de Alllende. We took a guided tour there so we wouldn't have to negotiate the narrow streets again in our car. That part was nerve racking. Guanaguato is set up like no other city.

You can read my Zacatecas trip report here:
http://preview.tinyurl.com/ckf94x

In short, it's a great city to visit. Even with 5 nights, I did not fully explore it, although I was taking things slowly.

Otis, nice to "see" you on the boards. I was trying to recall your screenname the other day when someone asked about the drive down to Malpais from Samara. One of my students is from Zacatecas. . .she was just telling me about it the other day. Sounds interesting. Guanajuanto on my list. . .
Take care.

Nice to see you too, Shillmac on the Mexico board. I wish I was in Samara right now. It's a little early for Zacatecas. We were there in late May and it was still a little chilly at night due to the altitude.

On a sadder note, this just in:

http://news.aol.ca/article/canadians...-crash/566312/

Some tourists were killed today on their way to Zacatecas after their bus was hit by a truck. We had a very close call with a truck on the road from Durango to Mazatalan. Thankfully we were both going very slowly due to the hairpin curves on that road. I still wake up is a sweat sometimes dreaming about it. It's usually safe to drive in Mexico but you have to be much more on the alert there than you might be in the US.