Queretaro and San Miguel De Allende
Many people when thinking about Mexico think about the frightening news about violence, beaches or the hot desert from Western Movies. The Central Mexican cities of Queretaro and San Miguel De Allende are completely different than any of those pre-conceived notions. Both cities are UNESCO World Heritage sites due to the rich history and architecture. Queretaro is a city where the modern world meets the old world. I did not know what to expect other than the advice I got from good friends and what I saw online. After visiting the cities in 2024 for the first time I will for sure go back to see more of this “hidden gem” region of Mexico.
Getting to Queretaro and Transportation
Queretaro is less than 200 miles from Mexico City so you have a few options to get there. Queretaro has a small but very nice International Airport that has direct flights to cities like Houston, Detroit, and Dallas in the US. There are also flights to the city from other airports in Mexico such as Mexico City. You could fly into Mexico City and drive there but I never recommend renting a car internationally with the complexities that can occur. The best route is to fly into Queretaro and book tours like we did. We flew AeroMexico from Houston to Mexico City with a couple hour layover and then took a 30-minute flight to Queretaro. We really like AeroMexico as the service is good. We got moved to First Class on our short 30-minute flight so we were able to live it up briefly. The Queretaro airport is around 30 minutes from the city center depending on traffic. There are busses available in the city but we took Uber when we needed to go anywhere outside of a tour. Uber in Queretaro is just as reliable and safe as Uber in the US we found with friendly drivers. We also used Uber eats to get us water, snacks and Powerade. It all worked out very well. I for sure recommend booking guided tours and using Uber to visit other areas.
Country Information
Most US Citizens won’t need a visa or need to fill out any paperwork to enter Mexico. You just need a valid passport. I always recommend checking the US State Department website to check entry information for a country before you go just in case things change. We had no problem getting through after we were asked basic questions. We went through passport control in Mexico City during our connection. Spanish is the official language and in Queretaro other than with our guide and at our hotel English was not overly common. It will help greatly if you know some basic Spanish when out and about because you cannot guarantee they will know English. Our Spanish was good enough to get us through most conversations. At the time of the writing the Mexican Peso is worth about $.05 dollars so a dollar can go pretty far. Some people will take US Dollars but the Peso is preferred. As with any country situations can change so pay attention to US State Department warnings in a location.
Safety
Safety is always on the mind when people think of Mexico and Central America. Its good to be safety conscious and careful not only when traveling but anywhere you are. I did research and talked with friends in Mexico about Queretaro and Guanajuato (where San Miguel De Allende is) states and found that Queretaro is one of the safest states and cities in Mexico. The US State Department at the moment of this writing gives Queretaro state a level 2 rating (the same as much of Europe) and does not restrict US Government personnel from visiting any area in the state. Guanajuato state is rated a level 3 but is for non-tourist areas in the Southern Part of the state away from quiet San Miguel De Allende. Queretaro is a city of around 2 million people and San Miguel De Allende is around 100,000 people. Both cities have lower crime rates than most US major cities. I am not saying something cannot happen because you can be a victim of crime anywhere but it is not likely in these areas. We found walking around on our own and with a guide in the old town areas completely safe. It was mostly locals shopping and enjoying a day out. Everyone was very friendly in the area.
Queretaro
We arrived in Queretaro very late after we started our travel on a Thursday evening. We made it to our hotel at around 2am so we couldn’t see much of the city from our hotel shuttle. The next day we started touring and we found a city that is very modern with many familiar places we are used to in the US. Queretaro has many skyscrapers and has businesses such as HEB (yes the Texas favorite), Krispy Kreme, Buffalo Wild Wings, Wingstop, Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club, Home Depot, Bed Bath and Beyond and Costco just to name a few. We passed by some of the large and modern hospitals in the city as well. The freeway in the city is no different than ones back home as well. With all the modern comforts they also have a very rich history going back to the 1500s and earlier. The Old Town and the “Camino Real” that ran from the area all the way into East Texas are UNESCO World Heritage sites. While in Queretaro we visited an ancient pyramid with a great guide, the state museum, and visited many places in Old Town.
El Cerrito Pyramid
Our first tour was to the oldest site in the city. It is the site of an ancient religious and political site that is now called El Cerrito. Its located in the small city of El Pueblito (small town in Spanish) just outside of Queretaro. The site began many years ago and is Pre-Mexica (Aztec) but wasn’t completed until the post-classical period. It was the Northern most center/religious site in the Meso-American world as North of the Pyramid was a somewhat wasteland settled by nomadic tribes of the Chicimeca. For this tour we met up with our guide Armando just outside of the archeological site. They have a nice museum but unfortunately due to heavy rains (another example of crazy weather world wide) there was damage to the museum so it was closed. Armando is very knowledgeable and gave us a lot of great information about the many cultures that controlled this site over the years. The Toltec culture was one of the most important that ruled the site. It was not a city but a center for a rather remote region in the ancient days. There are several ruins of temples and sites around the very large step pyramid. The Pyramid is generally of a similar design to the famous “El Castillo” Pyramid at Chichen Itza. The pyramid is huge but less excavated than many other Mexican historic sites. Excavation of the site did not truly start until the late 20th century (1980s-1990s). On top of the Pyramid is a 1800s era building a wealthy Hacienda owner was building that resembles a fort but was not finished. There are two platforms for religious ceremonies and the sunken platform has a “stage” that was most likely used for Human Sacrifice as skulls have been found there. It is a great place to visit and relatively unknown to many tourists. We were the only US tourists that we could see while there. I heavily recommend Armando’s tour as he really helped give the history of the ancient site.
Click the link below for the wonderful walking tour of El Cerrito by Armando:
Queretaro Historic Center
We visited the Historic Queretaro City Center twice on this trip. Once was on our own right after the visit to the Pyramid and the second was on our guided tour with Aaron on the second day of our trip. Downtown Queretaro is full of plazas, historic churches with ornate baroque sculptures, museums, shops and restaurants. We headed first to the Queretaro Regional Museum to learn about the history of the region. The museum is in an old convent built in the Spanish style. It goes from the days of the Toltec people to modern times. The entire museum is only in Spanish but if you can read Spanish you can learn a lot. They have many artifacts and art throughout the museum. The museum also has temporary exhibits that rotate over time. After the museum we walked through the pedestrian streets and visited some of the beautiful churches. There are sculptures and fountains throughout the pedestrian streets. One is of what looks to be an ancient warrior but is actually of a contemporary celebration where people dress as their ancestors and dance a historic dance. We stopped by a gelato store that had some of the best gelato and Frappuccino’s that I have had. It was all VERY affordable as well. We had dinner at a great restaurant called Sayil Centro where we sat outside and enjoyed Guacamole, enchiladas and carne asada! It was not overly hot since Queretaro is a little over 6,000 feet in elevation. We headed back to our hotel to do a bit of resting.
On our second day after touring San Miguel De Allende we headed back to Queretaro. We first stopped to admire the 1700s era aqueduct that still run through the city amongst the modern skyscrapers. It was once over 5 miles long! The viewpoint we visited is also a part of the Camino Real. It was a Saturday afternoon and it was full of life. The plazas were alive with different types of music. One had ladies dancing to traditional Mexican music, and another had a heavy metal band playing. They are all free concerts. The antique stores and shops were all open. We visited a church decorated for a festival that was upcoming, saw a girl being confirmed in her nice pink dress that was so big it was hard for her to walk, and many people were out shopping and enjoying a out. Our amazing guide Aaron gave us the history of the churches, the art adorning the outside and of the old buildings throughout. We visited some palaces once owned by aristocrats (some who were involved in the Mexican Revolution and were later killed) that have now become luxury hotels. They have ornate tiles, fancy stairs, elegant restaurants and affordable rooms at $140 a night right in the historic city center. We ate at a small traditional restaurant where we tried a lot of different food once again at a great price. There were dishes that have not had outside of Central Mexico such as Huaraches (kind of like a chalupa in Tex-Mex but larger and a softer tortilla. We had fresh Pineapple juice as our drink. We briefly visited the cities’ art museum that is free to visit and the courtyard alone is a stunning work of stonework art. It was once a Franciscan Monastery and the gargoyles, animals and people told stories such as evil trying to hold back the priests from doing their good work on Earth. After the visit there we headed back to our hotel.
San Miguel De Allende
San Miguel De Allende is located in Guanajuato state in Central Mexico and is only around 40 minutes to an hour from Queretaro. It is a smaller more tourist city where we did see a few US tourists where in Queretaro we saw none. Its a very hilly city where one of our first stops was a viewpoint overlooking the city full of church bell towers and a green valley (due to rainy season). The drive from Queretaro to San Miguel De Allende is very scenic with mountains in the distance and you pass by small towns and lush farmland. Once we got into the city we started our tour through another very nice hotel in a historic building. You could see one of the cities water tunnels from the old days preserved in the hotel. We went up to the top floor to get another beautiful view from the rooftop restaurant and bar. We visited a former convent that now is an art school and museum that contains an unfinished mural by one of Mexico’s great muralists named David Siquerios. Murals are a very important art form as they were used to tell the history of Mexico to people years ago that might not have been able to read. The mural at the art school has many 3D effects and changes in perspective. The mural was meant to show the life of Revolutionary General Ignacio Allende that the city is partially named after. The art school had an exhibit on a large festival that is held in San Miguel De Allende that includes a huge firework show at 4am in front of the church. It represents the battle between good and evil. We visited multiple beautiful churches and walked the quiet streets of the city. While there we visited their marketplace where you can buy anything you could want. We passed by food stalls selling cactus, fruits, dried fish and plenty of spices. They had electronics, fresh tortillas being made and then the artisan market. We bought art made from tin such as a nativity scene and a heart since San Miguel de Allende is in the heart of Mexico. They had ornate bead work and any other form or art. When I travel to new places I always see new and unique forms of art. We purchased two small handmade dolls that are particular to the region. While shopping I was speaking Spanish to the vendors and tried to ask if they accepted US Dollars. I accidently pronounced it incorrect (I was kind of tired and not thinking right) and instead asked if she accepted pain from the United States (Dolores = Pain, Dolares = Dollars). The vendor looked at me oddly and Aaron politely corrected me. It was a nice learning experience and something that still gives me a little chuckle. Our last stop before heading back to Queretaro was to visit Cafe y Churreria San Augistin. It was suggested to me by a friend and it is a very popular churro, coffee and chocolate restaurant. We got a type of local caramel filled churro and a chocolate Oreo cookie Frappuccino. It was a delicious snack that I really recommend visiting if you are there. After a wonderful visit to San Miguel De Allende we headed out of Guanajuato State and back to Queretaro. We found the city completely safe and that area of Guanajuato safe as well. I do not doubt other cities such as Celaya could be dangerous but the area we visited was safer than areas back home. I also noticed the vendors were very polite and not nearly as “pushy” as some can be around the world.
Click the link below for the wonderful private tour that you can take from both San Miguel De Allende or Queretaro by Aaron:
Tips and Other things to do
If you are Interested in this trip:
Contact Donna Miller and she can help you book your dream trip today including customized trips, guided tours, cruises and much more. Her travel planning services are completely free if you book with her. Contact her at donnamiller.etfamilytravel@gmail.com to book today!
