Aguascalientes means hot waters, and the city got its name from the thermal springs that the Spanish found here in the sixteenth century, when they founded a settlement on the road from Mexico City to the silver mines of Zacatecas. That road, the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, ran north for over two thousand kilometres to Santa Fe in New Mexico, and it is listed by UNESCO, with sites along its route. The historic centre of Aguascalientes is a pleasant mix of colonial churches, eighteenth-century houses and nineteenth-century buildings around the Plaza de la Patria and its cathedral.
The city is best known for the Feria Nacional de San Marcos, held every year from mid-April to May, which is the biggest fair in Mexico, with bullfights, concerts, cockfights, rides and millions of visitors. It is also the birthplace of José Guadalupe Posada, the engraver whose skeleton figures, especially La Catrina, an elegant lady skeleton, became icons of Mexican culture and the Day of the Dead. A museum dedicated to his work is in the historic centre. The railway workshops that once made the city an important industrial centre have been converted into a cultural complex.
The riding here is a mix of urban and open roads. Aguascalientes is a modern city of almost a million people, with heavy traffic and wide avenues. Outside the city, the roads across the plateau run through farmland and semi-desert, with long straights and mountains in the distance. North of the city, the former hacienda of Pabellón de Hidalgo, where Miguel Hidalgo was stripped of his command in 1811, is part of the Camino Real listing. The surface on main roads is generally good; watch for topes, speed bumps, which can be brutal.
Fuel, food and services are easy to find. Local food includes birria, a spicy meat stew, enchiladas, and guava sweets. The thermal baths, some of them historic, are a good place to relax after a long ride. Read up on local safety before travelling. Walk around the Plaza de la Patria in the evening, when families gather, the cathedral is lit up and street vendors sell snacks, and enjoy the friendly, unhurried atmosphere of a city that is proud of its traditions.