Where locals go

Off the tourist terraces

The plaza restaurants are aimed at weekend visitors and priced for them. Locals eat a few blocks out, at the everyday fondas and taco and gordita spots where a full meal costs a fraction of the plaza tab. Look for busy, plain places with a comida corrida (set lunch) menu; that’s where residents actually eat midday.

Markets over boutiques

For real day-to-day life, the town market and neighborhood tianguis are where people shop for produce, cheese and cooked food, not the craft stalls set up for tourists. It’s also the honest place to try local cheese and snacks without the markup.

A day off

On a free day, families here do the same thing visitors could: pack into a nearby balneario (a spring-fed water park or swimming spot, the kind the region is known for) rather than the tourist center. It’s a relaxed, very local way to spend a hot afternoon.

What a local would tell you

Skip the first restaurant with a host waving a menu at you on the plaza. Walk two or three streets back, eat where the parked cars and the workers are, and you’ll pay half for something better.