Our first thoughts as we walked the 2km from the bus station to our Airbnb was “What an awesome town!” It was 10pm at night and we were slowly working our way with our luggage into Centro. We started at the bus station in what could be any town in Mexico or the States, and worked our way into Centro with its narrow cobblestone streets. We dropped our bags off and immediately wanted to check out the historical center of the city. We wandered past churches and through some well manicured parks in search of some late night food. We mostly passed boutique hotels and very nice restaurants before settling on a hot dog, quesadilla and fries from one of the very few street food stands.It was a Friday night, and there were plenty of young people dressed up and in line outside what seemed like 50 night clubs or bars. It’s hard to tell what anything is, as there isn’t a lot of signage differentiating a souvenir store from a restaurant from a house.
In order to get to San Miguel de Allende (SMA) from Zihuatanejo, our Mexican hometown, we took two buses. The first bus with La Linea cost 320 pesos per ticket and dropped us off in Morelia 4 hours later. The second bus with Primera Plus cost 280 pesos each for the four hour trip to SMA. These buses may be the nicest in the Western Hemisphere. They are also possibly the most expensive. But they are comfortable with plenty of leg room and reclining ability. You get a snack and a bottled water when you walk on the bus, and the bus bathrooms work, too! They also have tv’s in the headrest of each seat, although we were generally the only gringos, and assumed that anything we would watch would be in Spanish.
Over the next several days we became more familiar with the SMA area. It helped that Ali forgot her computer cord and we were forced to comb over every part of the town. We found the Office Depot, the mall, and every potential computer parts store before finally tracking down a power cord… at a cost of 700 pesos! There are several markets for shopping and eating, several really nice parks, and some great short hikes to get amazing views over the town.
Our favorite restaurant turned out to be Hank’s New Orleans Cafe & Oyster Bar. From 5pm to 8pm everyday they offer two-for-one specials, including cervezas. We could get two Victoria beers for 43 pesos ($2.15USD). This was one of the few deals that beats anything we could find at home. Overall, though, SMA costs about 20% more to do anything compared to Zihuatanejo. The restaurants are more expensive, the houses are more expensive, the taxi’s are more expensive, and the computer cords are definitely more expensive!
Although SMA is very popular with the expat crowd, and we saw a lot of expats and tourists here, I couldn’t see myself spending any significant amount of time in this town. We visited pretty much the whole town. There isn’t much to do, in our opinion. The weather was pleasant during the day, but it was cold at night. Our casa didn’t have heating, so we bundled up to stay warm. The streets and sidewalks in Centro are extremely narrow. You’re constantly weaving in and out of parked cars, moving cars, and pedestrians to get up and down the street. I don’t think I could handle this long-term. By far SMA has the highest percentage of ATV’s per person compared to any other Mexican city I’ve visited. I even saw one person riding a golf cart. The city has some hills, so spending a significant amount of time here would require a vehicle. Ali was disappointed there weren’t more, actually any, street vendors selling micheladas, our favorite Mexican beverage.
SMA is a fine city to visit, but two or three days is plenty to see everything. If you are into art then this is a place you will love. There is a really cool renovated textile mill called Fabrica la Aurora. It houses a maze of art galleries, shops, and cafés. It’s a must visit whether you are into art or not. For us, though, it’s a city we enjoyed, but don’t need to visit again.