San Miguel de Allende, Mexico: The Ultimate Top 20 List

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Undoubtedly, San Miguel de Allende is one of the favorite cities for tourism in Guanajuato, where you will find many things to do.

This Magical Town will take you through the most important scenarios of Mexico’s history, its magnificent architecture, culture, gastronomy, and even hot springs to relax.

The colonial town of San Miguel de Allende has been awarded three years in a row by Conde Nast Traveller magazine as the best small city in the world.

This is due to its baroque architecture, culture, and historic old town with beautiful cafés, elegant restaurants, and modern art galleries.

Where is San Miguel de Allende?

This gorgeous town sits in the mountainous region of central Mexico, about 100 km from Guanajuato city, 120 km from Leon, and 275 km from Mexico City.

It is located at an altitude of 1,870 meters above sea level, with thermal and alkaline water springs, such as El Chorro, Cieneguita, Montecillo, Atotonilco, Taboada, and El Cortijo.

Keep in mind that San Miguel de Allende has no airport. The nearest one is in Leon Guanajuato or Mexico City.

San Miguel de Allende’s Weather

The average temperature ranges between 16°C and 22°C, with the prevailing climate in the Municipality being dry-temperate.

It is moderately warm with rainy summers, while winters are very cold. The rainy season begins in June and lasts until mid-October.

San Miguel’s flora comprises oak forest, high thorny scrubland, prickly pear cactus, and medium grassland with shrubs.

Why isn’t San Miguel de Allende a Magical Town anymore?

Before 2008, San Miguel de Allende was a Pueblo Mágico.

However, with the Unesco nomination as a World Heritage City, the Guanajuato government decided to stop participating in that program to focus entirely on Unesco’s requirements and preserve its title.

Among the top 20 best things to do in San Miguel de Allende Guanajuato is to enjoy its gastronomy and admire its buildings. Let’s take a closer look.

20 best things to do in San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato

1. Visit the San Miguel Arcangel Church

The symbol of every Mexican town, big or small, is its main Catholic temple.

According to the Roman cult, the church of San Miguel Allende celebrates the Archangel Michael, the Chief of the Armies of God and patron of the Universal Church.

The church is in the city’s historic center, built during the seventeenth century.

At the end of the 19th century, it underwent a refurbishment.

The neo-Gothic style façade was superimposed on its former one, the work of the master stonemason Ceferino Gutiérrez from San Miguel.

2. Temple of San Francisco

Also in the center of the city is the church dedicated to San Francisco de Asis.

The temple, built at the end of the 17th century, took more than 20 years to erect, showing the changes in architectural art.

The façade is of styptic baroque style, while the bell tower and the dome, works of the notable architect Francisco Eduardo Tresguerras, are of neoclassical lines.

3. Temple of “Nuestra Señora de la Salud”

El Templo de La Salud on Insurgentes Street offers a beautiful luminous spectacle at night. Its façade is made of neat churrigueresque stonework.

The humility of stone has replaced the luxury of its old gold altars.

In one of the interior corners is a small chapel of the Virgen de las Tres Aves (Virgin of the Three Birds) that surprises for its beauty.

According to the San Miguel de Allende tradition, the bell of Nuestra Señora de la Salud is the oldest among the city’s temples.

4. Civic Plaza

This square dating from the mid-sixteenth century, is the largest esplanade in downtown San Miguel de Allende.

It was the neuralgic point of the city until that role passed to the Central Garden.

The center of the plaza is presided over by the equestrian statue of Ignacio Allende.

In one of its corners is a building that was the seat of the Colegio de San Francisco de Sales in the past.

This school was one of the first in the New World. The philosophy of the Enlightenment was taught, and remarkable figures of the Independence, such as Allende and the brothers Juan and Ignacio Aldama, passed through its classrooms.

5. San Miguel de Allendes’s Municipal Palace

The first Mexican City Council met in 1810 after the Declaration of Independence in this building.

This historic first town council held in the then-called Villa de San Miguel El Grande was convened by Miguel Hidalgo and presided over by Ignacio Aldama, with the participation of, among others, Ignacio Allende, Juan José Umarán, Manuel Castin Blanqui, and Benito de Torres.

The Municipal Palace is located in the building that was the Casa Consistorial in 1736.

6. Allende’s House Museum

The hero of Mexican Independence, Ignacio José de Allende y Unzaga, was born on January 21, 1769, in the town that now bears his last name.

His parents, Domingo Narciso de Allende, a well-to-do Spanish merchant, and his mother, María Ana de Unzaga, lived in a stately 18th-century mansion with beautiful neoclassical facades and spacious rooms.

The mansion changed owners for more than 200 years until 1979 when the government of Guanajuato bought it from the last owner.

However, it now houses a museum that recreates the independence era, and you can visit the room where the hero gave his “birth cries.”

7. House of the Mayorazgo

The Catholic Monarchs established the mayorazgo (entailed estate) in Spain at the beginning of the 16th century, and the Spaniards took it to colonial America.

It was created as a privilege for the nobility to facilitate acquiring and consolidating properties and their subsequent inheritance.

The Casa del Mayorazgo de La Canal, built in the historic center at the end of the 18th century by order of the nobleman Manuel Tomás de la Canal, is one of the purest examples of New Spanish Baroque art in San Miguel de Allende.

8. Crafts Market in San Miguel de Allende

A few blocks from the old town is this market, where you can buy food and handicrafts at considerably lower prices than in the stores of the historic center, as long as you have learned to bargain.

You can get beautifully painted pewter and ceramics, embroidered clothing, tableware, costume jewelry, stone, metal, glasswork, and more.

The site stands out for the vendors’ colorfulness, warmth, and friendliness.

You can also grab a quick bite, such as “enchilado corn,” or sample San Miguel’s jams and marmalades (plum and mint are the best).

9. Explore El Charco del Ingenio

This natural reserve of more than 60 hectares is a few minutes from the historic center of San Miguel de Allende.

It has a Botanical Garden with an impressive collection of more than 1,300 species of cactus and succulent plants, one of the largest in the country. 

You can also admire a canyon, a reservoir, and the ruins of a colonial-era aqueduct.

If you dare to go on a full moon night, you may stumble upon the Headless Horseman, one of the mythical inhabitants of the place.

However, if you don’t see the horseman, you might get lucky with a relative of the Loch Ness Monster, who locals say occasionally leaves the reservoir’s depths to peek out of the surface.

10. Archaeological Zone of La Cañada de la Virgen

This site is located about 15 km from San Miguel de Allende.

It consists of buildings and ruins believed to have been erected by Toltec-Chichimeca communities along the Laja River basin.

Archeologists and experts in pre-Hispanic astronomy think the place was “The House of the 13 Heavens,” ruled by the Sun, Venus, and the Moon.

11. Visit Dolores Hidalgo, Guanajuato

While in San Miguel de Allende, you can’t miss Dolores Hidalgo, less than 40 km away. 

On the morning of September 16, 1810, in the atrium of the parish of Dolores, the priest Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla called for an uprising against colonial domination.

That pronouncement went down in history as the Grito de Dolores, symbolizing the beginning of Mexican Independence.

If you happen to be there on November 23, you can enjoy the José Alfredo Jiménez International Festival, the greatest Mexican singer-songwriter and the most famous Dolores native of the 20th century.

Also, don’t miss the incomparable local ice cream.

12. Experience the festivity of the Virgin of the Conception

On August 8, the people of San Miguel celebrate the festivity of the Immaculate Conception in the parish of the same name.

The church of La Concepción dates from the middle of the 18th century and has a beautiful Gothic dome in two sections.

This festival includes singing, fireworks, and the delights of local food.

The interior features polychrome sculptures of saints and a collection of works by 18th-century painters.

13. Parade of the Fools

According to the Catholic calendar, the Day of San Antonio de Padua is June 13.

A “special” event is celebrated on the Sunday following this date in San Miguel de Allende, the Desfile de Los Locos (Parade of the Fools).

People dress up in extravagant costumes, parodying some political or show business celebrity, and take to the streets shouting, singing, joking, and handing out candy to the spectators.

14. San Miguel de Allende Guanajuato International Film Festival

This festival is held during June, with regular Guanajuato City and San Miguel de Allende venues.

The event promotes quality cinema, especially in the area of new creators.

Typically, participating filmmakers compete in 6 categories, two in Feature Film (fiction and documentary) and 4 in Short Film (fiction, documentary, animation, and experimental).

Prizes consist of filmmaking equipment and materials. If you are a film buff, the festival is perfect for visiting San Miguel de Allende.

15. Wool and Brass Fair

During the second half of November and for a week, this peculiar event is held, and local artisans who work with wool and brass exhibit their creations.

The exhibition of rugs, mirrors, jewelry, and ornaments takes place within the framework of a famous seven-day festival, including music, dance, theater, and many delicacies of Guanajuato’s gastronomy.

 16. Chamber Music Festival

This joyful music festival has been held since 1979, during August. String quartets (two violins, cello, and viola) and quintets (one more viola) from Mexico and North America usually participate.

It aims to promote new generations of musicians and has been attended by performers who are now consolidated in internationally renowned symphony orchestras.

17. Baroque Music Festival

Renowned groups, instrument players, and performers from Mexico and the world gather in San Miguel de Allende for this Baroque music festival every March.

You may want to read: 10 Must-Visit Rooftop Bars in San Miguel de Allende

The extraordinary compositions of the time, from the genius of Bach, Vivaldi, Scarlatti, Handel, and other famous authors, sound in the naves of the main churches, in the Casa de la Cultura, and different halls of historical importance, to the delight of music lovers and the general public, who throng the spaces.

18. International Jazz Festival

The traditional and colonial San Miguel de Allende also opens a space for jazz and blues in its busy annual calendar.

The festival usually takes place for a few days in November. American legends and significant Caribbean and Latin American jazz pieces are heard through bands and soloists at the Angela Peralta Theater and the Ignacio Ramirez “El Nigromante” Auditorium.

19. Easter Week

Celebrating the most important week of Catholic worship is particularly traditionalist and striking in San Miguel de Allende.

• On Holy Thursday, the parishioners visit seven different churches in the so-called “Recorrido de Los Siete Templos” (Tour of the Seven Temples)
• On Friday, the processions take place in which Jesus meets his mother, St. John, Mary Magdalene, and other characters mentioned in the Gospels
• The same Friday, in the afternoon, is the procession of the Holy Burial, led by people dressed as Roman soldiers
• On Easter Sunday is the burning of a doll symbolizing Judas in the midst of a joyful popular celebration

20. Experience the Christmas Festival

The last fortnight of the year is a continuous celebration in San Miguel de Allende.

Traditionally, the Christmas Festival begins on the 16th with the public posadas, lasting nine days.

The people of San Miguel go on pilgrimages through the different neighborhoods and colonies of the city, carrying images of St. Joseph, the Virgin, and the Archangel Gabriel.

Each urbanization takes great care to receive the best-decorated streets and serve the best punches, tamales, and sweets.

The popular festivities, which highlight Christmas and New Year’s Eve, include singing, wind music, and fireworks.

San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato: Final Thoughts

San Miguel de Allende is a city that effortlessly blends historic charm with vibrant modern culture.

Whether you’re drawn to its rich history, stunning architecture, artistic vibe, or the warm and welcoming locals, this enchanting city has something to offer everyone.

From exploring its picturesque streets and world-class galleries to savoring its culinary delights and vibrant festivals, San Miguel de Allende truly has it all.

I hope this ultimate top 20 list has inspired you to discover the magic of San Miguel de Allende for yourself.

As you wander through its cobblestone streets and immerse yourself in its colorful culture, you’re sure to create memories that will last a lifetime.

So pack your bags and get ready to experience one of Mexico’s most captivating destinations. Happy travels!