Central San Miguel de Allende

San Miguel de Allende is a very walkable town, with a couple of caveats. First, most streets are cobblestone, so you'll want to wear comfortable shoes. Second, around the eastern edge of town, everything starts going steeply uphill. While this makes for great views, it's also worth keeping in mind when choosing a place to stay. These two points aside, the town is easy to get around, laid out on a relatively simple grid. If you stay more than a couple days, you'll get to know the main streets - Hidalgo, Mesones, Zacateros - pretty well.

Our Airbnb was on Calle Quebrada, which turned out to be an amazing location - close to the very center of town, but slightly to the west. We could walk north to Insurgentes (which has great restaurants, including Andy's taco cart), or walk south to Canal, with a lovely view of the Church of the Immaculate Conception. Within a few blocks, Canal drops you off at the Jardín Allende, the heart of the city. Quebrada itself is worth a visit, if only for taking a few pictures from the little bridge where it crosses over Canal (there are stairs connecting the two street levels) and of the lovely doorway and papel picado banners at 83 Quebrada.

Taking the stairs down from Quebrada to Canal, you'll end up right by Templo de Inmaculada Concepción, better known as Las Monjas. It's a pretty church, painted yellow, with a large dome and bell tower that can truly be appreciated from farther away - like the Mirador or the rooftop bar at the Rosewood Hotel.

Just around the corner from Las Monjas is the Centro Cultural Ignacio Ramírez 'El Nigromante', or Bellas Artes. It's definitely worth a stop, especially early in your trip. It used to be a cloister for the convent next door, but now serves as an art workspace, with studios for painting, weaving, even violin-making. It has some neat murals by Siquieros as well as a nice café for a late breakfast.

Continuing east on Canal, you'll end up at the northern edge of the Jardín Allende. It's an absolutely magical green space with a gazebo, carefully manicured trees, and roving bands of mariachis. On its southern side, the Jardín faces the Parroquia de San Miguel Arcángel. The gorgeous pink sandstone church is one of the iconic sights of the city. Located next door is the house of Ignacio Allende, one of the first leaders in Mexico's War of Independence. The town was renamed to include his name - translated, it means "Allende's Saint Michael". We spent our first evenings in town enjoying the Jardín, walked past the Parroquia numerous times, and finally checked out the interior near the end of our trip.

Beyond the Jardín, Canal changes to a pedestrian only street where you'll come across the Templo de San Francisco. Right behind it is the Antiguo Convento de San Antonio. You may be seeing a pattern here - central San Miguel is home to over forty churches. San Francisco has a nice garden out front that seems to be a popular meeting spot. It's also right across the street from Café San Agustin, if you're in the mood for churros. The Post Office is tucked away behind the Café, in case you still send postcards like my mom. It took us forever to find, despite being on a street literally named 'Post Office' in Spanish.

If you go north from San Francisco instead of south, you'll end up on Mesones, steps from the Plaza Cívica. This is a small but neat square with a large equestrian statue of Allende. When we visited again on our last day in SMA, there were a bunch of chalk artists decorating the sidewalks. On the northern edge of the square are a couple of churches, the Iglesia Nuestra Señora de La Salud and the Templo del Oratorio de San Felipe Neri. In the latter, we peeked in to see a confirmation going on.

Continuing north from Plaza Cívica, you'll end up at the Mercado San Miguel or the Mercado de Artesanías, which connect to one another in the center of the block. The Mercado San Miguel sells food, produce, and flowers, while the Mercado de Artesanías sells crafts. This is an amazing place to do some souvenir shopping. You'll find a lot of the same goods in each little shop or stall, but it's a nice way to compare prices and much cheaper than the boutique stores around Jardín.

While this was our experience with central San Miguel, if you stay south of the Parroquia, your landmarks may look a bit different. You'll find the Instituto Allende, the Parque Benito Juarez, the Rosewood Hotel, and Calle Aldama to be some of the main points of interest in this part of town, which also has an amazing host of restaurants. In either case, walking around San Miguel is a wonderful way to spend a week!