Mexico, Guanajuato – Colorful and animated colonial cities

We discover two new emblematic colonial cities of Mexico: San Miguel de Allende and Guanajuato! Each one has its own charm but both are beautiful and worth a visit! Let's stroll along the colorful and animated streets of the big colonial cities of the center of Mexico.

Saturday, February 4^th, 2023

San Miguel de Allende est une ville coloniale classée au patrimoine mondial de l’humanité de l’UNESCO depuis 2008.

We have barely arrived in town and we are surprised by the activity and animation and especially by the number of gringos. It's the first time we see other gringos since we arrived in Mainland Mexico. We quickly realize that the historical center of San Miguel de Allende is very chic and very trendy. Everybody is very well dressed, we feel quite bad with our baroudeurs style with no shower since 🤭 days.

Behind elegant doors and gates are hidden beautiful places: flowery, colorful, shady courtyards hosting trendy bars and cafes, art exhibitions, pretty stores and hotels. Music streams from behind every door and store. How cute! How touristic! Even though there are a lot of gringos here, there are also lot of Mexican tourists.

San Miguel de Arcangel cathedral stands in the main square of the historical center. The inside is very hushed and quiet, but outside it's buzzing. There are lot of people. Music everywhere. Beautiful mariachis sing the serenade to whoever pays them.

We really liked to walk in the streets of San Miguel de Allende. There are wonders to discover behind every corner. Everything is colored, flowered, animated. Everything has charm and character. It's very different from the two previous cities we visited, Durango and Zacatecas, where we didn't meet any foreign tourists and where the atmosphere was much more exotic. San Miguel de Allende is trendy and intended for wealthy tourists. At least the historical center is. We just have to go away from it to find the real Mexico, the one of the local markets where fruits and vegetables are overflowing and where the street vendors are selling cheap and delicious food.

Sunday, February 5^th

Guanajuato est la capitale de l’État du même nom. Classée au patrimoine mondial de l’humanité de l’UNESCO depuis 1988, Guanajuato est située dans une vallée étroite et ses ruelles sont particulièrement sinueuses et raides. Heureusement pour nous, JP est un petit gabarit (oui, oui) et il nous a permis d’aller nous perdre dans les hauteurs de la ville sans soucis ! 😊 Une fois le Jeep posé en sécurité au camping, nous sommes redescendus à pied pour découvrir le centre historique. Or, on ne l’a pas su tout de suite, mais nous sommes tombés à Guanajuato lors de la fête de la Constitution mexicaine. Il y avait un monde fou dans le centre historique et une ambiance de folie !

Guanajuato is without a doubt our favorite colonial city so far ❤️ ! We spent two days and two memorable evenings strolling the streets. It's such a beautiful city. The historical center is full of animation and people, mostly Mexican tourists. We loved strolling into the animated and shady squares, getting lost in the small winding streets in search of curiosities to discover, listening to the mariachis, admiring the churches and the colonial style buildings, walking among the crowd, soaking up the festive and good-natured atmosphere, admiring the store and tasting the various local specialties.

Obviously, to better admire the very colored profile of the city, what's better than to gain some altitude? We walk up to the mirador on the city. Here, the alleys are particularly narrow and cute! Once arrived at the top, the view on the colored houses of Guanajuato is splendid 😍

From the mirador, we go back down to the city to discover another part of it. We stroll within Hidalgo market. We went there several times during our stay in Guanajuato to buy fruits and vegetables, taste delicious fruit juices and eat local specialities in the various stands and shops. Delicious every time! And each time, the waitresses of the restaurants whistled at us and waved their menu under our nose to attract us 😅 It was hard to choose, especially since they were all selling the same specialties!

Speaking of food, there is plenty of it in Guanajuato! Street vendors offer street food in every street. Some are selling excellent churros stuffed with cream or chocolate, others are selling paletas, a kind of Mexican sorbet, others are selling sweets, crêpes, waffles, candies. The Mexicans queue up in front of stands that attract our attention. There is also street vendors selling hamburgers, tacos, pizzas and fruit juices. Our appetite is not big enough to taste everything!

We heard several times that Guanajuato is a different city between day and night. So as to see it for ouselves, we stayed in a campground for a night (and then two nights). The view from our campsite was insane! From up there, we could hear all the city noises: the many dogs, the roosters, the music and the car's horns.

On the evening, it’s free time! There is so much animation down the streets! Music is everywhere. We stroll on the historic center, following the crowd, listening to the mariachis and eating paletas. What a night!

We leave Guanajuato after two days discovering this beautiful city. Now a new Mexican wonder awaits us: Tequila!