San Miguel de Allende

San Miguel de Allende - Doors, food and culture!

San Miguel de Allende is a treasure!

We started our time here with a private walking tour, always my best advice for getting the lay of the land. In two hours, we learned about the history, culture and world of this lovely Mexican town. Our guide, Ari was absolutely lovely spoke perfect English, but humoured us with some Spanish. She catered to everything we wanted to see and do and we covered a great deal in two hours. We booked the tour on Trip Advisor with Catrina Tours. Even though it was a Monday (when much is closed), she was terrific and pointed out all the places we should go back to the following day.

San Miguel is absolutely full of hidden treasures and her best advice was if you see an open door go through it. These doors can lead to retail shops, museums and restaurants all linked behind the walls of the city streets.

San Miguel de Allende is an historic town and UNESCO world heritage site. It is perfect for walking if you don’t mind a few cobblestones. Due to its status with UNESCO, it is forbidden to put out much in the way of signage so historically ribbons and now flowers adorn the front doors of many establishments. Enter the doors, and you’ll find a lot of hidden treasures. One such door I walked through led to a number of hidden clothing stores, a bakery and coffee shop and stores of trinkets and hidden gems. 

Getting there - We took the ETN Turistar from Mexico City - Norte Station directly to San Miguel. The buses are clean, very spacious and make the 3.5 hour trip very comfortable. We prebooked from Canada and honestly, it was seamless even though in Mexican fashion the bus station can seem a bit chaotic on arrival.

Where to stay - We stayed at Hotel Casa Rosada. This small adult only hotel is very conveniently located a block from the main plaza. You can literally be anywhere in the town and get back for a quick siesta or break. The rooms are centered around a lovely courtyard where traditional breakfast is served each day. They also do lunch but close mid-afternoon.

Best places to eat

·       B’Ani Terraza - We ate an amazing lunch at this restaurant located on a gorgeous shady terrace. They have an excellent assortment of international dishes, from sushi rolls to pizza. Enjoy breakfast or dinner with an amazing view of several churches and the skyline of San Miguel.  Try the Flautas, they were amazing! 

• Quince - superb view and cocktails! They do a live tightwire act some evenings which is a bit gimmicky but it's a lively space looking out over the town. We were a bit worried but the Aburi sushi but it did not disappoint. All the sushi was amazing which we found time and again throughout this part of Mexico.

• La Unica – Again, make sure you get their for sunset, the night view of the basilica is amazing, food was Mexican and you know it's good when you’ve got some locals there too. If you’re lucky, an evening walk into the nearby Jardin Allende will provide you some local entertainment in the form of Mariche bands.

• For a fancy cocktail and a 360 degree view, visit the Luna Rooftop Tapas Bar on the roof of the Rosewood San Miguel serving inventive cocktails and Mediterranean-inspired tapas. Reservations are advised.

  
  

• The last place we squeezed in was Sollano 18, gorgeous view, very reasonably priced and fun atmosphere for drinks and although we didn’t eat there, I’d go back.  

With so much to choose from, its hard to go wrong but I did find this roof top guide helpful.

In two short days, we enjoyed so much walking the historic old town, shopping, visiting the cathedral and the gardens, its an extremely urban centre for such a small town. San Miguel de Allende is a small, vibrant town with colonial Spanish architecture, cobblestone, artisan markets, Indigenous traditions and beauty, a lot of boutique hotels, expats, hills, and churches.

We were not there on a Saturday but I hear their Saturday market is wonderful and Mercado Sano a special stop for all things vegan, gluten free and sustainable, organic, quality and hand-crafted goods that include high caliber food as well as basic and specialty products far removed from industrial manufacturing and damaging environmental and energy loads.