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If you plan to escape your every day life routine for a little time out or you’re looking for a REAL beautiful place when traveling to Mexico, you have to come San Miguel. I don’t know why I waited so long to visit this magical little town located in Guanajuato, near the city of Queretaro. Being a pueblo magico and UNESCO world heritage, this place will suddenly captivate you as soon as you step into its narrow alleys.
The charm of the city with its colonial architecture, well-preserved buildings and steep cobblestone streets is pervasive. There are so many little gems waiting to be discovered, whether it’s the beautiful rooftops, hidden courtyards or little shops and markets selling handmade products – you’ll be enchanted.
San Miguel is a destination for art lovers, too. Here, everything centers around art. You can hardly walk a few steps and not stumble upon an art gallery, boutique or atelier. I happened to bump into an art exhibition at Boutique hotel Nena yesterday as I was wandering around town and the artist himself invited me to come in and stay. Also, the town is a foodie heaven as you’ll find so many restaurants dedicated to organic, local produce with an excellent farm-to table cuisine you won’t find in many other places throughout Mexico. Being home to many Europeans and Americans, San Miguel is a cultural melting pot with a cosmopolitan spirit you won’t expect in such a small town. I was completely overwhelmed by the beauty of this wonderful place and its warmhearted people that I already dream of my next stay.... But before I go on into raptures, I would like to share my personal tips and experiences with you.
Where to stay
When looking for a hotel or B&B, you’ll suddenly realize that San Miguel isn’t the place for a budget stay - at least that’s my impression. Being a very popular destination for celebrations of all kinds and weddings, you’ll also find that many accommodations are well-booked which drives up prices, too. Because I reserved two days in advance – a little late - there was not much left so I took a hotel 14 km outside of San Miguel, located uphill overlooking a nearby lake (hotel view boutique hotel). Though the hotel was nice (but actually not reasonably priced for what it was though), I wouldn’t return as I had to find out soon. San Miguel is a small town, and taxis are rare. They are really rare, especially for the evening. While I was waiting 10 minutes for a taxi to arrive in the afternoon, it was an hour or more (!!!) for the evening when planning to head out for dinner. Believe me, it’s no good idea to move out of town unless you want to be totally depending on the local taxi company. Also, they tend to charge different prices for the same way, but I found it better not to start a discussion about pricing in the middle of the night on a lonely motorway since you’ll never know, after all. Driving with your own car may be an option, but less fun, too. I saw so many small hotels in the historic center when strolling around town I decided to check those out first the next time...
Where to eat
I made a reservation in advance for the restaurant ‚The Restaurant’ as I was not sure to get a table on the short run and would recommend it if you want to dine at a particular restaurant. ‚The Restaurant’ is a lovely place where you can choose to be seated in a Moroccan inspired courtyard or in a dining salon – and they are serving excellent farm-to-table food.
For the daytime, I discovered Cumpanio, a small bakery with complementing restaurant. They serve fresh and mostly organic food perfect for a lunch break to recover from climbing up the steep streets of San Miguel. And the bakery has lovely little cakes you won’t want to resist.
When looking for a refreshment, go to bosco gelato artesano and grab a delicious sorbet to cool down from the blazing sun. Probably not one of your first thoughts, but really worth it if you love chocolate, go and visit Mente Cacao. Here, you can taste and buy fresh pure chocolate and cocoa from Tabasco. I tried and bought the fresh chocolate with honey which tastes soo good and fresh. They also sell locally produced chocolate bars with different mixtures of cocoa up to 100%.
Actually, I also wanted to visit the Luna rooftop tapas bar at Rosewood Hotel for sunset but unfortunately didn’t make it there because my taxi wouldn’t find its way to my hotel so I had to skip it...Sundays, they open the terrace by 1 pm, but I had to travel back to Puebla so I still missed it. As they do not accept reservations, you can just drop by.
What to do
This might depend on your interests, I liked to start exploring the town on foot. The majestic cathedral will serve as a good point of orientation, though San Miguel is not as big. My favorite place is Aldama, a street behind the cathedral with lots of colorful houses with roof gardens where you can take the most beautiful pictures. When wandering around, the steep streets will reveal nice views for most of the time, just keep your eyes open. Watch out for the many small shops that sell all kinds of handmade stuff, like Botanicus (natural cosmetics) or Madre Tierra (shop with all kinds of souvenirs, I got some gorgeous skull cups, haha).
On every first Sunday of the month, there is a small food market organized by Via Organica, where local producers sell organic food and handicrafts. You can taste everything they sell, for example homemade Chimichurri, honey and all kinds of fresh produce. I think it’s great that there are so many initiatives and people supporting local and organic food and with it diversity – a variation very welcome for those looking for healthy alternatives to traditional Mexican food.
Though my stay was very short, it was absolutely fabulous – it does not happen too often that I am so enthusiastic about a place like this before. If you have some great tips to share on San Miguel, I’d be more than happy to know.