"MONTERREY - City of Mountains" a Monterrey Travel Page by TinyTuck

I spent one month in Monterrey, doing an internship for my studies, and I definately had a great time!!

Monterrey, capital of the State of Nuevo León, is located in the North of Mexico just 300km from the Texas border. It´s a modern industrial city (very americanized) of about 4 million and growing. Monterrey is a great valley, surrounded by mountains, the most famous one being the "Serro de la Silla" (=horse saddle mountain).
The temperatures here are extreme: either very hot or very cold, really weird. I can´t say that it´s the nicest place I´ve seen in Mexico, but it sure has its charming places.

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Barrio Antiguo

The Macroplaza is the place in the city center where you can find most of the sights of Monterrey packed in a small area: the cathedrale, the government buildings, interesting statues, parks, ... It's a great area to stroll around, relax and watch people. You won't starve either considering all the street vendors offering delicious food!

The Barrio Antiguo, the older colonial part of the city, is located right behind the Macroplaza area. It´s kinda dead during day time but famous for it´s nightlife on Thursday through Saturday. It offers a great variety of bars and discos for every taste.

The Zona Rosa is NOT only for gays, but it's the name of the city´s modern shopping area.

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Traditional dancers

Monterrey is not real Mexico?!

That's what you often here from dissapointed tourists (who usually don't even waste their time here), Americans on business travels (this group of visitors is far more frequent, for this reason every Caucasian will be taken for a "Gringo" if not stated otherwise), Mexicans from other parts of the country, and even from locals!
I have to say, of course Monterrey is Mexico, even if in this area you won't find remains of acient Indian cultures. Monterrey is a modern and wealthy business city and doesn`t miss out on any shopping center or fast food chain (except for maybe Taco Bell ;-) ) which will make an American feel at home.
Still it has retained much of its Mexican charme. You will see taco stands and street venders en masse, hear Mexican music, especially Norteño (Northern Mexican's answer to US country music), and see true Mariachis. The traditional instrument is the acordeon.