Aguascalientes, Mexico

The lively industrial town of AGUASCALIENTES, 100km south of Zacatecas, is an important and booming provincial capital with some fine colonial monuments in among its newer buildings. A couple of excellent museums, in addition, make this a good 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 the manufacture of excellent wines and brandy.