Where to Stay in León de los Aldama, Estado de Guanajuato

What is León de los Aldama known for?

On the fertile plain of Guanajuato in central Mexico, it grew into the great leather and footwear city of the land, and it keeps the tanneries and shoe workshops that shod the country, a grand triumphal arch on its avenue, a soaring neo-Gothic church of pale stone, and the bright balloon festival that fills its autumn sky. The flat plain runs to the hills. The tanneries hum all around.

What are the main landmarks in León de los Aldama?

The Arch of the Calzada is the pride of León. The tall triumphal arch of pale stone, topped by a bronze lion where the old avenue enters the centre, the emblem of the city, downtown. A great church rises nearby.

The soaring neo-Gothic Templo Expiatorio lifts its spires over the streets, while the museums, the leather markets, and the balloon fairgrounds mark the country around León.

What is the history of León de los Aldama?

León grew on a frontier plain. The Spanish founded a town on the Bajío to hold the road north against the raiders of the plateau, and it grew as a farming and trading town on the rich flat land. Cattle brought leather.

The herds of the plain gave hides, and tanners and shoemakers set up in the town, until León became known for its leather across Mexico. Shoes made the modern city. As the trade grew, workshops and factories by the thousand turned out shoes and boots and leather goods carried all over the country, and León swelled into the footwear capital of Mexico.

The city built in style. Rich from the trade, it raised a grand arch on its avenue and a tall pale church, and it filled its autumn sky each year with hot-air balloons, so that León lived by its leather, its trade, and its fairs, keeping its workshops and its fine streets. The tanneries still work the hides.

León keeps its leather and its arch on the Bajío plain.

Where is León de los Aldama?

León lies in the west of Guanajuato in central Mexico, on the high plain of the Bajío. The city sits on a broad flat basin over five thousand feet up, ringed by low sierras, on the fertile farmland of the Bajío where the rivers of the plateau run, with dry hills rising around. The plain lies wide and flat.

Low sierras ring the town.

What is the climate of León de los Aldama?

León has a mild, dry highland climate. Warm dry days and cool nights hold the year round on the plateau, with a warm rainy season in summer and clear dry winters. The days stay warm and bright.

Nights turn cool and clear.

How do you get to León de los Aldama?

León lies in the Bajío of central Mexico. Highways and a busy airport reach it across the plateau from Mexico City and Guadalajara, and roads run out to the Guanajuato hills. Buses cross the plain.

Guanajuato lies east up the hills.