Taxco de Alarcón (Taxco) is a former colonial silver-mining center in the northern part of the Mexican state of Guerrero on the western arm of the Sierra Madre del Sur. It is located 200 km southwest of Mexico City along the old highway to Acapulco at an elevation of 1,800 m . The city is built on the side of a mountain, with very steep narrow cobblestone streets lined by whitewashed houses with red-tiled roofs.