At Madrid’s International Tourism Fair (FITUR), the Mexican state of Zacatecas presented itself as a heritage-driven destination with its signature pink-stone architecture and a year-round calendar designed to convert culture lovers and romance travelers.
Zacatecas’ capital, also called Zacatecas, has been on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1993, recognized for its historic city center of pink cantera stone buildings. “The pink stone is unique,” said Le Roy Barragán, Zacatecas tourism secretary. “Everywhere you go, you breathe culture. Its streets, restaurants, cafés – there’s art everywhere.”
For the second year in a row, Zacatecas is promoting a special “callejoneada” on Valentine’s Day for singles – a festive night walk through historic alleyways accompanied by music and food. “Zacatecas offerings are 100% cultural,” said Barragán, explaining the unexpectedly strong turnout in its first February 14th edition. “We were expecting between 500 and 800 singles and we had 3,500 arriving people in the center of Zacatecas.”
According to the secretary, Zacatecas is also packaging a compelling trio of heritage storylines—useful for multi-day touring and thematic circuits. Besides the historic city center, Zacatecas is part of the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, a World Heritage Site, which was a historic commercial route that connected Mexico’s capital to present-day Santa Fe in New Mexico. A must-visit of the Camino Real route in Zacatecas state is the Museo Virreinal de Guadalupe, located in the beautiful Guadalupe Convent and which houses one of the most important Baroque art collections in Mexico.
Most notably, Zacatecas is proud of its Wixárita Route, which was just added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2025. This pre-Hispanic route begins on the Sierra Huichol and reaches the Chihuahuan Desert, with sacred sites located in Nayarit and Durango. “The [wixaritari people] have their own customs and dialect, which they preserve with purity to this day,” said Barragán.
For 2026, Zacatecas is making the 40th edition of the Festival Cultural Zacatecas a cornerstone travel date. The music and culture festival takes place around Easter this year, from March 28th to April 11th.
Zacatecas has direct connectivity to San José, Los Angeles, Dallas, and Chicago. It is only 1 hour and 20 minutes from Mexico City by plane.