San Miguel de Allende Travel Diary

Thursday, October 3, 2019


When we received an invitation for our friends' wedding in San Miguel de Allende, we knew that we were going to be in for a fun weekend! Not only would we be able to celebrate the marriage of two of our friends, we would be doing so with a group of our college friends in a city that had been on our bucket list. Follow along for a recap of our trip!

Day 1 

colorful wall in San Miguel de Allende

the courtyard at boutique hotel Hacienda el Santuario 
There are multiple ways to get to San Miguel, but we chose to fly into Queretaro since it was the shortest ride over to San Miguel (1 hour) compared to flying into Leon or Mexico City. It also helped that our friends booked their flights to Queretaro too! From the airport we had a private shuttle take us straight to our hotel. We stayed at Hacienda el Santuario which is a boutique hotel in the heart of San Miguel. We loved the location and service at the hotel. My favorite part was the delicious breakfast that was served every morning in the courtyard. 

Once we settled into our room and freshened up we headed out to find somewhere to have lunch. We decided on a food hall called Doce 18 Concept House since they offered a variety of different foods. While the building and idea behind the shops and food hall was very neat and felt like New York, the food we had was not great. I ordered the quesadillas and they were tasteless and greasy. It was disappointing to start off with a terrible meal but everything we ate after that was delicious! 

The main square in San Miguel de Allende

in front of La Parroquia

buying flower crowns 

in front of Casa Rosada 

the beautiful cathedral, La Parroquia, in San Miguel de Allende

inside La Parroquia 

flowers along one of the streets
After lunch we wandered around the main square where the beautiful church, La Parroquia, is located. We popped into shops along the square and surrounding streets and even stopped by a street vendor stall to buy flower crowns to wear to the wedding parade. We proceeded to meet up with the bride, groom, and friends at La Casa Del Diezmo for margaritas before heading over to the loveliest rooftop bar, Quince. We didn’t have any of the food, but all of the cocktails we tried were delicious- and the view was incredible too! 

view from Quince rooftop 

drinks at Quince 

drinks at Quince with a view of La Parroquia 

For dinner we all met up at Luna Rooftop Tapas bar at the Rosewood Hotel. We ordered a few appetizers and churros for dessert. We spent the rest of the evening chatting, drinking mezcal, and enjoying the view.

Day 2 

Chilaquiles for breakfast at Hacienda el Santuario 
coffee from Panio 
We started off the day with breakfast in the courtyard of our hotel. I was so excited that chilaquiles was part of what they offered since they are my favorite! After breakfast we headed out in search of coffee. We ended up getting yummy iced lattes from Panio. They also had some tasty looking pastries in the display case but we didn’t get to try them out since we were full from breakfast.

Our Lady of Health Church in San Miguel de Allende

Steven enjoying a coke near el Mercado 
With our lattes in hand, we headed to the Mercado de Artesanias. This artisan market was huge! We walked around for a long time just looking into the different booths. There were multiple sections to this market: Mercado de Artesanias, Mercado San Miguel, and Mercado Ignacio Ramirez. You could find anything there! There was art, jewelry, home decor, traditional clothing, souvenirs, spices, food, etc. I bought a blue and white jar, a decorative bell, and a small painting of La Parroquia. 

at Fabrica la Aurora 
at Fabrica la Aurora 
After exploring the mercado we walked to Fabrica la Aurora which is a renovated textile mill that houses cafes, shops, and galleries for local artists. This place was high end and expensive, but if you are in the market for artwork this is the place for you! We enjoyed walking around and looking at the sculptures and art. 

cobble stone streets and colorful buildings in San Miguel de Allende

a piñata purse, margarita, and Victoria beer at Sabroso Taqueria 

Steven enjoying his tacos at Sabroso Taqueria 
For lunch we decided we wanted tacos so we went to Sabroso Taqueria. We sat out on the rooftop and enjoyed our favorite meal of the trip! We ordered chilaquiles, guacamole, street tacos, and margaritas. Everything was so good! We loved it so much we told all our friends to go there and went back to eat there a second time later on our trip. 

For dessert, we had churros at San Augustin. We were lucky that there wasn’t a line when we arrived and were seated right away. We ordered a plain churro for Steve and a cajeta churro for me. They were both delicious!

After lunch I did a little shopping. We’d walked by this store called Sindashi earlier and I knew I wanted to try a few things on. Sindashi sells handmade and hand painted clothing with the coolest designs. I tried on a few pieces and ended up buying a skirt and top with a blue painted design. I love that the clothing is basically a piece of art! 

ready for the callejoneada 

callejoneada to celebrate Jordan and Jose 

with the beautiful bride in San Miguel de Allende 


Our evening plans were dedicated to wedding festivities. This was my first time participating in a Callejoneada which is basically a wedding parade that winds through the streets of San Miguel with the wedding party, guests, and band in tow. It was so much fun! Following the Callejoneada we went to Zumo for a cocktail party to celebrate the bride and groom!

Day 3 


Lavender latte from Lavanda Cafe 

View from El Mirador in San Miguel 

a cactus at El Mirador in San Miguel 
The wedding day finally arrived! The wedding ceremony was at 2pm so we decided to wake up early and get some exploring in before we got ready for the wedding. We started off with lavender lattes from Lavanda Cafe. We’d had breakfast at the hotel so we just walked up to the window and ordered our lattes to go. From the cafe we started the up hill walk to El Mirador which is a look out point with a great view of all of San Miguel. It was a steep walk up but we were prepared and really enjoyed getting to see the city from above. 

at the wedding reception 

congratulations Jordan and Jose! 
We headed back to our hotel where we showered and got ready for the wedding. The ceremony and reception were held at the visual art school, Instituto Allende. Everything was so beautiful! Our friends Jordan and Jose had a beautiful ceremony that was in both English and Spanish to honor the joining of two hearts and two cultures. Following the ceremony we were treated to a lovely cocktail hour where a saxophone player filled the air with jazzy music as we ate hors devours and sipped on cocktails.

For the reception we were led into a beautiful room that had flowers and lanterns hanging from the ceiling and to top it off a great view of La Parroquia! It was a magical place to have a wedding reception! The rest of the day/evening was such a blast! There was dinner, a dessert bar, a constant flow of drinks, tons of different entertainment, and non stop dancing. Overall it was an epic way to celebrate the bride and groom.

Day 4 


a colorful building in San Miguel de Allende 

Colorful door in San Miguel de Allende 
spicy margarita at Sabroso Taqueria 

This view of San Miguel from Calle Aldama 
After such a fun day and night we had a slow start to our morning. We got ready and headed out for brunch hosted by the grooms family. It was so fun to catch up with everyone and relive the previous evenings festivities. After brunch we wandered around San Miguel before heading back to the hotel for a nap.

For a late lunch we went back to Sabroso Taqueria for another delicious meal of tacos and guacamole! We also strolled through the Mercado de Artesanias one last time before meeting up with friends.

Our evening was spent sipping on cocktails at various bars including La Azotea.

Day 5

breakfast at Lavanda Cafe 
We ended our trip to San Miguel with breakfast at Lavanda Cafe where we had waffles, chilaquiles, and lattes. It was the perfect meal to end a wonderful weekend!

Lately on the 'gram

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