Brief history of Mineral de Pozos

Today, like so many of Mexico’s cute little towns, Mineral de Pozos is a pueblo mágico (a ‘magical town’) so named by the government to attract visitors.

Mineral de Pozos actually began life as a nomadic station for the Indigenous Chichimecas. When the Spanish Conquistadors arrived they founded a fort (called Palmar de Vega) there to try and protect their access to the silver from the Zacatecas mines (they apparently didn’t realise what was available right under the ground in Mineral de Pozos until later when the mining industry did finally take off in this area) and the transport of the silver up across their territories.

This was a booming mining town for almost 400 years but it was eventually abandoned in the 1920s, like so many other mining towns around the world. 

Today it’s a small town, almost a ghost town, in fact, with a  small population that is trying to attract visitors. 

What to do in Mineral de Pozos

The town is tiny but its town square, Plaza Zaragoza and the nearby Jardín Juárez are gorgeous and there are some cute shops that are well worth checking out. You won’t find many tourist here if you visit during the week although I hear the weekends can get a little more lively as local tourists throng in.

Begin with a visit the Museo de Historia, a small but extremely informative museum (sadly only in Spanish) to learn about how this became one of the country’s most important mining towns.

Visit the lavender fields of Mineral de Pozos

The lavender fields are just outside of Mineral de Pozos and can be visited as part of a tour from San Miguel or alone if you’re visiting with your own transport. It’s a really relaxing, fun thing to do and everyone will love trying the various homemade lavender-flavoured foods and beer they sell on site here. I particularly enjoyed the lavender ice lollies, less so the lavender beer.

🏨 You can actually stay on the farm, if you wish to. 

Visit the abandoned mines of Mineral de Pozos

There are many abandoned mines around town and you essentially have three options for visiting them:  

1. Take a tour from San Miguel de Allende. 
2. Drive yourself to Mineral de Pozos and pick up the town’s tour bus. 
3. Take your chances on what’s open and drive yourself around (we chose this option).

Ex-hacienda Santa Brigida

The drive/walk (just 3.5km) to reach the hacienda is spectacular and is almost as much fun as visiting the mine (almost, not quite).

This hacienda is not only the most interesting place to explore in the town, it’s also arguably, the most important. It began life as a defensive fortress, built by the Jesuits (brought in by the Spanish to try and forcibly convert the Chichimec people) in 1576. Once it was discovered that there were precious metals here too, life changed as the settlement became a mining town in its own right rather than just a stop on the mining route between Guajuato/Zacatecas and the USA.

The most famous draw of this hacienda apart from its interesting history are the 3 hornos (smelting ovens) that were built by the Jesuits ini 1595. They’re absolutely gorgeous and super cool to see. If you’re feeling short on cash you can see the hornos from outside the site but it is well worth paying the small sum to explore the whole site – there’s a lot to check out. 

We went for the ovens but stayed for the Arcos Magicos and you must too. It took us a while to find them but once we did we spent ages wandering around the tunnels of this old, old mine ventilation system. It’s absolutely beautiful and watching the dust dance in the beams of light here took our breath away.

 

Cinco Señores

This ex-hacienda/mine says it’s open on Google but when we got there was absolutely closed and from what I hear, we aren’t the only people to experience this. We were extremely lucky though as while we were standing outside the gate pondering our options (you know what we were thinking, don’t pretend you don’t) the local tour bus drove up and a  guide unlocked the gate. I had a quick chat with the guides and they kindly let us inside too. And wow, are we glad they did for this huge compound full of ruined buildings is just fascinating. We had so much fun exploring here. If you can find a way in, please do take it (I mean legally. Don’t climb over the gate).

➕ Also around Cinco Señores are other mines and a field full of old train carriages that you can’t visit but can admire from outside. The views are stunning in this area. 

El Triangulo

We also didn’t manage to get in here but we wandered around outside hoping someone would come and let us in. They did not. 

Mine tours

We’d hoped to do an actual mine tour at Cinco Señores but since we were kind of clandestinely in, we didn’t have that option (official tours do go into the mines).

Instead, we found an open mine in town that was offering tours. People appear to have mines in their gardens. The tour itself was on a pay-as-you-please basis. There are a few of these available as you wander round and it’s definitely fun to go mining in someone’s garden.

After a chat about minerals with the store owner, we headed into the back with tools in hand. I have no idea if everyone is given tools or if it was just my son’s love of minerals that got them for us. My son was very excited when we were told that anything we mined we could keep. The tour itself was short but fun and we did not mine anything (obviously). 

What else is there to do in Mineral de Pozos?

Since 1997, Mineral de Pozos has been welcoming mariachi bands for a 2 day international mariachi festival in April. If you’re travelling to the region, definitely try to stop in to check it out.

Mezcal Cuanax – right here in Mineral de Pozos is the first palenque (mezcal distillery) to be certified as ancestral and artisanal mezcal in Guanajuato state! It’s possible to visit and learn about the mezcal making process (I’ve done similar tours in Oaxaca for mezcal and in Tequila for tequila and they’re always fasciniating).

Cervezeria Vopper – this is not only an artisanal distillery but it’s also the home of the first beer spa in all of Mexico! It’s possible to visit the distillery to learn about the beer making process, to enjoy a flight of their beers and even to relax and unwind in their spa with massages, beer soaks and more.