Guanajuato

Usually referred to simply as the Cervantino, this two-and-a-half week festival (early to mid-Oct; t473/731-1150 or t731-1161, wwww.festivalcervantino.gob.mx) is a celebration of all things to do with sixteenth-century Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes, though it is primarily about his most famous character and hapless romantic, Don Quixote. The festival features performances by international and Mexican musicians, dancers, theatre groups and street-performers, and each year a different region or country is picked to be the focus. The festival has its foundations in the 1950s, when students performed entremeses – swashbuckling one-act plays from classical Spanish theatre – outdoors in places such as Plaza San Roque. These still take place here, and you don’t need good Spanish to work out what’s going on, as they’re highly visual and very entertaining; some performances are free, but tickets to most plays cost around M$250 (wwww.ticketmaster.com.mx). Groups of students will quite often put on impromptu performances outside festival times, so it’s worth wandering up here in the early evening just to see if anything is happening, especially on Saturday nights. The Cervantino is now far larger, and during the festival the town, and just about every imaginable performance space, is alive with music and cultural events – opera, dance, literature readings, music performances. You’ll have to pay to get into many events, but there is almost always something free happening in the Plaza Alhóndiga. It is a great time to be here, though you’ll need to book accommodation months in advance; note also that the streets are usually jam-packed with revellers, though since 2007 the sale of alcohol has been regulated at the festival (and it’s illegal to drink on the street).