San Miguel de Allende 

Rent our home and find out for yourself why San Miguel de Allende, Mexico keeps turning up on the ‘must see’ lists of travel magazines like Conde Nast (seventh best travel destination in the world), and Destination Travel, msnbc.com (one of four ‘Hottest Destinations of 2011’).

Location and Demographics: Home to about 130,000 Mexicans and 7000 to 12,000 expats, (mostly Americans and Canadians), San Miguel is located at an elevation of 2,000 metres (6,500 feet) in the mountains of Central Mexico, about 288 km (180 miles) north and west of Mexico City. Main airport hub: Mexico City. Local Airport: Queretero (70 km). Suggested route: fly to Mexico City, take a bus to San Miguel.

Small but Cosmopolitan: Long a tourist destination, an art colony, and a retirement community, San Miguel is a small town with facilities that you might expect to find in a sophisticated cosmopolitan city: high end hotels, restaurants, bars, theatres, shopping, galleries, spas, hot springs, supermarkets, department stores, health food stores, bakeries - all this side by side with open air farmer’s markets, street vendors, and the sights and sounds of a mountain village. Best of all - in Mexico, your Canadian dollar goes a lot further than it does in Canada.

Expat Culture: San Miguel has been a mecca for creative expats (artists, writers, film makers, musicians, actors) since the 1950’s. If you are a culture vulture, you will love San Miguel. At any random time of day or night, you are likely to have a choice of a film, a play, a gallery opening, a lecture, a concert, a conference, a tour, a language lesson. There’s always a lot happening.  For what is going on in SMA this week, click on Que Pasa.

Mexican/Spanish Culture: Founded in 1542, declared a national monument in 1926 (with heavy restrictions placed on building in the historical centre) and designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2008, SMA has preserved much of its character as a Spanish colonial town, with its cobblestone streets, its many churches, and its Baroque/Neo Classical Architecture. At the same time, SMA benefits from a vibrant Mexican culture, rooted in a history that goes back some 10,000 years, millennia before the arrival of the Spanish. Whether it be the Day of the Dead, or a parade of pilgrims, or burros delivering topsoil, there is no doubt that you are living among Mexicans in a Mexican town. And best of all, you can relax because Mexicans and expats live, for the most part, in harmony. Walk through SMA and, as in any small town, you will exchange friendly greetings with your Mexican as well as your expat neighbours.

Climate: here is a description taken from the wikitravel article on SMA:

Weather is typical of central mountainous Mexico. It varies little, and even in the hottest months (May and June) when daytime temperatures can reach 100F (over 35C), the dry air makes it tolerable and cool mountain breezes tend to make evenings delightful. Winter evenings (from December to February) can get cold, even down to freezing overnight, but it warms up quickly in the morning. The rainy season extends from June to September when days are pleasant for sightseeing until heavy downpours (usually late in the afternoon and evening) cool and freshen the air. Ultimately, the climate has the lazy, quiet air and temperance of Palm Springs, encouraging long hours of swimming and pool-side tanning, reading or napping, or just lying in a hammock and forgetting the world exists.

If you want the statistics (highs, lows, rainfall etc), click on The climate in SMA . For today’s weather, click on Current weather conditions in SMA

Safety: while there are places in Mexico that are not safe to visit, San Miguel is considered to be one of the safest places you can go in Mexico. Indeed, in May 2011, San Miguel de Allende was listed by Lonely Planet as one of the “Top 8 places to (safely) visit in Mexico now.” The real danger? You, like us, will fall in love with the town and its people and decide you have to own a house there.