San Miguel de Allende

Travel tips you can trust

Why
San Miguel de Allende
is special

It is a small, picturesque colonial town with broad cultural offerings.

San Miguel de Allende
tips & insights

Transformation

I had the good fortune to live in San Miguel de Allende for a half year when I was a child and to revisit the town in my adulthood. So I have seen it change, transforming from a quiet into a somewhat touristy town. Still, it has retained its Mexican charm, aura, and colonial architectural purity.

Tourism

The town has a quality reputation for its restaurants, art galleries and craft shops. It also is a center for art, music, cooking and language schools.

Ex-pats

Roughly one-seventh of the population are ex-pats from Canada and the USA, many of them retirees. The town is also the getaway home for wealthy Mexican actors and other celebrities

San Miguel's icon

It is the pink-toned La Parroquia (Parish Chuch) on the main plaza. Its facade and twin spires are "bastardized" Gothic, but nonetheless enchanting. In 1880, the local architect relied on picture postcards of European Gothic cathedrals as his muse when he restored the church.

Map location