Experience the best of Taxco

Taxco climbs a steep hillside in the state of Guerrero, a colonial town of white-walled houses with red-tile roofs and cobbled lanes. Its great landmark is the church of Santa Prisca, an ornate baroque building finished in the 1750s and paid for by José de la Borda, a miner who made a fortune from the local silver. Little white Volkswagen taxis climb the lanes.

Silver is still the town's craft: workshops and shops sell jewellery, and the American William Spratling helped revive the trade in the 1930s. A cable car climbs to a hill above the town for a view, and in late autumn Taxco holds a national silver fair. Holy Week processions here are among the best known in Mexico. The Cacahuamilpa caves, a vast cave system, lie to the north.

Guerrero cooking brings green pozole, a hominy soup with pumpkin seeds, which is traditionally eaten on Thursdays, along with tamales and fresh tortillas. Taxco sits at about 1,800 metres, so its climate is mild, and the cooler dry months from November to March are the most comfortable.