“Bring a jacket” was the first response we got when telling anyone we were going to the Mexican hill towns of Mineral del Chico and Mineral del Monte. Having been a few times before, I knew they weren’t kidding. While air conditioning is readily found at any of the hot and humid beach destinations, heaters are something I’ve never encountered in Mexico’s mountain towns, despite the fact that they can reach temperatures in the 20s fahrenheit.

Mineral del Chico sits at an elevation of 7,600 feet. It is a charming hillside village inside El Chico National Park. At this elevation, the air is clean and crisp. The mornings start in the 30s, but temperatures rise 10 degrees an hour until reaching the mid-70s by noon. It’s hard for most foreigners to imagine needing a jacket in Mexico, but I started each morning in my puffy coat.

Mineral del Chico is one of Mexico’s Pueblo Magicos, and it is one that deserves the designation. I couldn’t believe it the first time I visited. It’s part Italy, part Switzerland: Beautiful homes with pitched roofs or wide picture windows. The narrow streets between the buildings are made of stone and lined with decorative iron lampposts. No matter where you are in the town, you’re presented with views of the town and the mountains beyond.

Nothing is flat, and kids must get a lot of exercise chasing balls down the streets. Exploring the central part of town takes all of 20 minutes unless you go inside one of the many shops filled with colorful Mexican crafts. I enjoy exploring outside the main square and poor Joan suffered to follow me.

The walk to the mine and waterfalls is relatively easy as it’s all downhill. Sometimes it’s a little steep, but there are many stairs to slow your descent. Once you get to the Rio de Los Milagros creek, the road gets even steeper. I concluded that I wouldn’t want to test the horsepower of my rental car trying to drive up the hill. Somehow, I had confidence in my own power to get back up.

After visiting the mine and the first waterfall, we headed back up to the village. I had promised Joan a 30 minute round trip, but I guess that wasn’t realistic since coming back up took twice as long as going down. I attempted to mollify her with a wonderful meal at my favorite restaurant in town, La Trucha. It means trout, and that’s something I order every time I go. While they serve delicious trout in a variety of ways, my favorite is trout in a blue cheese sauce. You wouldn’t normally think to combine the two, but Chef Castillo does so successfully.

Your meal always includes multiple courses which use fresh herbs and vegetables from the mountain. As a special treat they burn your names into the tortillas that are served with house made salsas. La Trucha is a place I’ve been coming since discovering it on my first visit to Mineral del Chico four years ago.

We spent two days in the village, and any stress we arrived with had melted away by the time we left. On our way out of the village, we stopped by Valle Diego Mateo to take a short hike around a mountain lake. Above us were towering peaks of Torres del Peine, and in the distance, you could see the checkered farms of the Valley of Arroyo Nogales a mile below.

Our second stop was Mineral del Monte, another former mining town. This had been settled by the English and their impact is still prevalent in the town. It is another Pueblo Magico also built on top of a hill. I thought we had driven down in elevation from our last town, but my breathlessness after a short walk convinced me differently. When I saw the morning temperature was even colder than the previous two nights, I looked up the elevation. Almost 9000 feet.

Perhaps it was this cold mountain air that explained one of the most famous dishes of the town. The British left behind a legacy of their time here in the form of pasties. Every restaurant in town offers these little hand held pies. There’s even a museum of pasties. If you’re a real Anglophile, you can also hike up to the British cemetery opposite the main hill in town. Keep in mind that it requires climbing up and down twice to make the round trip.

There is a whole natural world to be discovered to the north of Mineral del Monte, but we had only one night, so we headed south to our last destination of this winter’s visit: Mexico City.