San Miguel de Allende

This is the Center of the city of SMA. Day or night you will find people milling about this central square in the historic zone. It is where the genteel Mexico and low key tourists meet for ice cream or churros after dinner. You can be entertained for hours watching the coming and goings through the churc with the mariachi bands belting out the greatest hits.

A nice 60 minute hike around a botanical garden featuring a canyon, wetlands and an arrid landscape.

We spent our final night in SMA at a Tequila tasting and food pairing. Just our luck to learn tequila and oysters go so well together. The wonderful tequila aside this Casa was started by González Nieves and Bob Pittman (the founder of MTV), in 2009. Gonzalez is the first official maestra tequilera — or female master distiller and her property is spectacular. The tasting includes a tour of the home which is so beautifully and carefully appointed with local treasures.

Not a very impressive market overall. It is small and very standard with a mix of produce, flowers and some clothing. . I list here only because there is a decent amount of everyday Mexican food at the back of the market that is always worth checking out. We grabbed a few Tortas wihich is essentially a schnitzel sandwich which were quite good.

Huge building featuring many upscale artists. Painting, photography, sculpture etc. all for sale.

We were drawn to Casa Cohen by the promise of good bread at the Panio location found here. We noticed the Star of David when we first walked in and later learned from our walking tour guide that the Cohen’s immigrated here from Syria and we’re in the textile (shmata) business. They were also the owners of Fabrica Aurora, which is now an incredible artist hub. The central courtyard at Casa Cohen is part of the larger concept house which features a laid back restaurant, boutique hotel and mix of small shops featuring local artisans.

We did not go into this building. We passed it on a beautiful walk in SMA one evening. It’s on the far side of Benito Juarez park which is small and cute. We found the area to be super pleasant with beautiful homes.

In a gorgeous courtyard, excellent food.

Wonderful rooftop with great views. Sushi forward menu. Yum!

I can’t actually remember the details of this mea but all the meals we had were delicious and the view was outstanding!

Great Bakery when you are craving a good ole baguette!

This is a high end grocery store. If anyone remembers Epicurious in Sunny Isles, FL it reminds me of that place except better A few high-end restaurants and coffee shops inside the grocery store. Plus a full health food store. It’s a bit of a walk from Zona Hostorico to City market but totally doable. There are also a ton of shops/restaurants/cafes to pop into along the main road leading to City Market where you can refuel. City market is a chain across Mexico. We also saw one in Mexico City

A spectacular property and rooftop bar which has gorgeous views of the historic zone. We did not stay here and I expect the rooms to be fabulous. Pool is also pretty sweet.

This is the hotels/restaurant/retail store concept inside Casa Cohen. We had a delicious breakfast here and there is a great vibe. We did not stay here,