The highway running southwest out of Reynosa toward Monterrey passes through a long belt of industrial parks — low-slung factory buildings set behind security fences, with company logos from a dozen countries. This is one of Mexico's major maquiladora zones, where global manufacturers assemble electronics, auto parts, medical devices, and clothing for the North American market.
The zone is not a tourist destination in any conventional sense, but it tells you more about how the border economy actually works than anything in the Zona Centro. Thousands of workers commute here daily from the surrounding colonia. You can observe it from the highway; organised visits to individual plants require advance arrangements through the relevant companies.