Querétaro City was the last city on a three city Mexican tour we did. The first stop was San Miguel de Allende, which didn’t meet our expectations. Then Guanajuato, which definitely met our expectations. Querétaro was last and we didn’t expect a whole lot. It doesn’t seem to get a lot of publicity in México as a destination. It for sure exceeded our expectations.

We were able to take a direct bus from Guanajuato for 270 pesos each to Querétaro. The Querétaro bus station had their business locked down. Super easy to find the taxi line and it only cost 50 pesos for the 20 minute ride to Centro.

Over the next four days we did what we always do: Walk a lot, eat a lot, drink a lot. Ali tried a conopizza. We also ate in Mercado La Cruz, we had several crepes, and even found a Subway and an Auntie Anne’s. Hank’s New Orleans Cafe & Oyster Bar was our favorite happy hour spot. They have another location in San Miguel de Allende, so we were already well aware of their three-hour long Happy Hours where all drinks are 2-for-1. 

The city has plenty of cathedrals to visit with a handful of plazas as well. We stopped by Mirador de los Arcos to get a good view of the city from above. And it didn’t even require a steep climb! We visited the acueduct that runs alongside the city. Alameda Hidalgo is a large park located just outside of Centro Historico and perfect for hanging out or exercising. Nearby was the Plaza de Tecnologia. This is where it seems every classic video game and system in Mexico is located for sale.

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One of the surprisingly fun things we did was the Museo Brichos.It was 50 pesos each, and we got a tour of a small museum of dead butterflies and insects. They also had a nice collection of living spiders and bugs. I was shocked that the curator convinced Ali to hold a tarantula
There is supposed to be a great hike of Peña de Bernal, about 45 minutes outside the city, but we’ll have to save that for our next trip. Wine country will be for another trip as well.

So, why did Querétaro exceed our expectations? 

• It’s the cleanest city we’ve been to in Mexico.
• It’s an extremely walkable city. They even are putting in bike lanes. There are parks throughout, with lots of outdoor patios to enjoy a drink or bite to eat in the great weather.
• The climate is great. It’s not located near the water, but year round the weather is comfortable.
• The cost. It was our cheapest, and nicest, Airbnb of the three cities we visited on our trek. Overall, it’s as cheap or cheaper than most touristy Mexican places. 
• It’s a perfectly sized city. Big enough for an international airport without the traffic of a major city. It has tons of dining and shopping options, a nice movie theater, and of course a Wal-Mart. There are the typical food choices, but higher end and chain restaurants as well.
• Beer choices. If you’ve been to Mexico, there are about 5 beers to choose from. Querétaro has at least two brew pubs, Brewer Gastropub and Cerveza Hercules. We visited them both. In twenty years I think Querétaro will be the Mexican destination for beer lovers.
• Wine country. 45 minutes outside the city roughly 30 wineries are located. There are plenty of wine tours operating out of Querétaro
• There is some good history here. The first Mexican Constitution was signed in the Teatro de la Republica. The Palacio de Gobierno is the building where the country’s independence was planned. There are still 4,000 feet of acueducts running through the city. The 75 foot high acueducts were built almost 300 years ago to bring water to the city. And of course there are plenty of beautiful cathedrals, statues, and art located all over the city.

Overall, in our opinion, it’s the most liveable, walkable, driveable, workable city in Mexico. It’s not on the coast, but it has a great location in the middle of the country. If you aren’t a citizen then purchasing property is much easier and cheaper inside the country versus the coasts and borders. Mexico City is 3 hours away. Guanajuato is 2 hours away. San Miguel de Allende is only an hour away. Morelia is just two hours away. And our home base of Zihuatanejo on the West Coast of Mexico is 6 hours away. 

We think most of the cities that tourists visit in Mexico are safe, but Querétaro is often ranked as one of the safest cities in all of Central and South America. Everyone we talked to, including a lengthy conversation with the owner of Brewer Gastro Pub, told us how safe the city was. CeoWorld.biz lists the city as the 3rd safest in Central and South America, ahead of other cities across the world like Antwerp Belgium, Seoul South Korea, Sydney Australia, Tel Aviv, Berlin, Denver, Oslo, Saint Petersburg Russia, Edmonton, Madrid, New York and our US home base of Seattle.

Many companies have set up shops here. So if you are interested in working outside of your home country, look at Querétaro. It’s a huge aerospace hub with Bombardier, GE, Airbus, Delta and more located there. There’s a big automative presence, too, including Michelin and Can-Am. In the IT field Huawei, IBM, and Ericsson among others are there. Appliance companies like Samsung, SIEMENS and Daewoo are located there. And major food manufacturers like Gerber, Campbell’s, Mars, Kellogg’s and Nestle have plants there.

Travelandleisure.com has San Miguel as their top city in Mexico. Querétaro doesn’t make the list. U.S. Travel and News (travel.usnews.com) has Zihuatanejo (our homebase in Mexico) as #1 on the list, but Querétaro is not on their list of 15 Mexican cities. It’s pretty ridiculous the number of sites that have San Miguel at or near the top of their list. This is not one of the top cities in Mexico. I can understand it as a place to live, but for tourists no way. It may not be at the top of any list, in fact I could only find it on one list of places to visit. If after reading this it seems like a place to visit, then you should definitely go. At least go there before choosing a visit to San Miguel.