- Hello from San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.
Today, I'm gonna be telling you what not to do
when visiting this historic Mexican city.
Something you should not do is come to San Miguel de Allende
expecting a super cheap Mexico vacation
because San Miguel is actually
one of the more expensive cities in the country.
It is definitely possible to have a cheap stay here,
but to be honest, I don't think you're going to want to.
I think you're gonna want to have
a little bit of spending money to be able to go
to some of the nice restaurants
and be able to do some activities
you otherwise, wouldn't be able to on a tight budget.
Something else you should not do,
if you can avoid it, is come to San Miguel on a weekend.
The reason for this is, the weekends get packed here.
So many people come in from Mexico city.
The traffic gets horrendous. All the restaurants are busy.
The sidewalks are off at shoulder to shoulder.
So, if you can avoid it.
I think you're going to have a much more enjoyable time
if you can come during the week, Monday through Friday.
Something else you do not want to do
when coming to San Miguel is neglect to stroll up and down
all the streets in the historic center,
in the historic part of town,
because there's so many awesome buildings to look at,
cool bars to see awesome restaurants, things like that.
And a little tip for you, anytime you see an open door,
this might seem like you're invading some people's privacy,
but just trust me if there's an open door, look in
because there's usually an amazing courtyard
or cool restaurants or shops or something like that.
Just in my experience in these historic towns
around Mexico or these historic cities,
there's so much to see behind all these open doors.
After you've been spending an afternoon walking around
in the sun and the historic center of San Miguel,
you're going to want a place to relax, get out of the sun.
So I highly recommend you do not miss Parque Benito Juarez.
It's as nice park right in the center of the town.
And you have lots of natural shade. It's really peaceful.
There's birds chirping.
There's some people watching, if you're into that.
Just a nice place to spend some time
and get out of the sun for a little while.
In addition to allowing you to get out of the sun,
something else cool that happens in Parque Benito Juarez is,
on the weekends, all these artists come out
and sell their artwork.
And also in the spring time,
there's a lot of vendors out here selling plants.
But like all these people buying plants,
can't carry very many back to their home
or their car or wherever they're going.
So there'll be people and empty wheelbarrows
waiting around out here for you
to put all your plants that you buy in
and they'll wheel them to your car
or to your house, if that's nearby.
if you're coming to San Miguel de Allende,
don't miss a LA Fabrica Aurora, it's this really cool place.
It's an old factory that's been turned into
like many different art galleries.
And it's just a really neat space to check out.
If you'd to see that, we actually went there
in a previous video and we'll link that video right up here.
Something else you should not do when you come to San Miguel
is miss the incredible restaurant scene.
Whether you want Mexican or a cuisine
from anywhere in the world,
you can probably find it here in San Miguel.
You know, this isn't a very big city,
but for the size of the city,
they have an incredible amount of diversity
when it comes to food and restaurants.
Right now, I'm at just one of many awesome bars
and restaurants in San Miguel called the San Mezcal.
I ordered this drink called Amnesia in Spanish
or amnesia and English.
It has like caramel and pineapple juice, lime juice,
agave syrup and mezcal, if I remember correctly.
It was 145 Pesos. I'll give it a try.
(upbeat music)
I love having a little bit of foam on the top.
Really, really great flavor profile.
It's a little bit sour, a little bit sweet too,
but yeah, it's a nice mix.
I love it.
I've heard the chef at San Mezcal is really good.
So I wanted to order something to eat.
I got the beef tenderloin.
And it has like garlic, arugula
and a wasabi pepper butter sauce.
So it's kind of like top of style here.
So it's not like a complete meal,
but I'll dig in and give it a try.
(upbeat music)
San Mezcal was really good. I enjoyed that a lot.
And I noticed right next door is a Peruvian restaurant.
I love good Peruvian food.
So, sometime I would have to try that.
But this is by no means the full extent
of what you can find in San Miguel.
There are so many options,
but you'll just have to walk around and look for yourself
because there are tons of good restaurants here.
I've already tried like a half dozen
that I absolutely loved.
And something else you shouldn't do in San Miguel
is to forget to make dinner reservations
or even reservations for drinks.
Because a lot of the restaurants fill up
by the time dinner time comes around.
So if you wanna eat somewhere,
call ahead or go in and make a reservation there.
I've been walking around Centro Historico.
And like I told you earlier,
there are no shortage
of pretty sites here and gorgeous buildings.
So, definitely a stroll up and down
all the streets around this area.
If you're liking this video,
please subscribe to our channel
because we'll have many more coming out,
just like it from our life in Mexico.
Another thing you shouldn't forget to do here
is watch where you're walking.
And wear proper walking shoes because,
well, I have tennis shoes on,
but they have no grip whatsoever.
And I just slipped on these slick scones and I almost fell.
And also, many of the streets here are cobblestone.
So, those can also get tricky
if you're not wearing proper shoes.
So yeah, definitely watch where you're walking.
Watch your step here because I imagine
there are a lot of rolled ankles.
Right behind me here is this really popular place
called Chacolatea y Churros.
There's always a long line out the door if you want a table.
So I have a little tip about this place for you guys.
If you want to go here, don't wait in this long line.
Instead, walk right in the front door
and ask for your hot chocolate
and a couple of churros to go.
You pay and walk right out with your yummy food.
One thing you should not do in San Miguel
is miss the experience of a rooftop bar or restaurant.
There are quite a few options around town,
but right behind me here in the hotel called Casa Blanca,
on the rooftop is a restaurant called Fatima.
Awesome views and I hear great things about it.
I've been to a few myself.
I've been to one at Rosewood.
I've been to this place called Casa Nostra
and another called Quince.
And all were awesome. All I highly recommend.
So, check out a rooftop restaurant,
even if it's just to go for a drink.
I just came onto one of the walking streets
that leads up to the Parroquia,
the beautiful church in the center of town.
And I was happy to see that they had removed the
sanitization tunnels that you had to walk through
the last time I was here.
I did not like that, getting sprayed
with all this liquid that I didn't know
what it was in my eyes and things like that, yeah.
I prefer it now, this way.
Something you absolutely cannot miss
in San Miguel is the Parroquia.
La Parroquia de San Miguel Arcangel.
It is one of the most beautiful buildings in Mexico.
It just takes my breath away every time I come here.
So highly recommend it
and coming to the center square to see that.
However, one thing I do recommend avoiding when you're here
is if you wanna buy some souvenirs or eat at a restaurant,
there's going to be lots of vendors around here
selling various thing, lots of shops,
a handful of restaurants around this square
that's next to the Parroquia,
it's probably best you avoid this area
because all those things are going
to be the most expensive here.
And the restaurants, well, there's just so many
great restaurant options in the city
and chances are they're the ones here
are probably popular not because they're good,
but because of the location.
And also one thing to note about the square is,
if there's any parades going on,
like for Día de Muertos or like indigenous parade,
well, that's gonna be happening right around here.
If you're wanting to travel through or live in Mexico,
something that's going to help you out a lot,
is to start learning Spanish.
Our favorite program can be found at tangerinespanish.com.
I really love it because no matter
what type of learner you are,
it has something there for you.
Personally, I really love the audio lessons
because it gets you speaking
like full sentences pretty quickly.
And one of the scariest things when learning a new language
is actually going up to a random stranger
and using these words that are brand new to you.
You don't know if you're saying them, right.
So it's pretty nerve wracking.
But when you can get speaking in full sentences,
before you even talk to anyone,
it's a huge help to get started.
So if you'd like to check that out,
you can go to tangerinespanish.com.
That's our affiliate link and it'll take you right there.
And that's tangerinespanish.com.
I told you earlier that it's probably best
to come to San Miguel on a weekday
because weekends are absurdly busy.
And while that's true, you can see behind me here.
There's quite a few people, you might think it's a weekend?
Nope. It's a weekday.
It's a Monday.
Something else you can't miss here
next to the Parroquia in San Miguel
is to get that picture for your Instagram.
I was about to say that, you know, I'm not going to do this,
but I forgot that I did.
Yeah, I did. There's one on my Instagram for that.
I'm not exactly sure what the origin of this is
or why it's a thing here,
but something I've never seen anywhere in Mexico
that they sell here is crowns of flowers.
Yeah, it's a thing. I don't know why.
If, you know, let me know in the comments,
Since this is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
There's a lot of things that aren't allowed here.
For example, businesses can't have their signage
sticking out from the building.
So it has to be flat against the wall.
And a lot of businesses can't have
their typical color for their sign.
Like for example, a bright red sign.
And this is the reason why
they can't change the cobblestone streets.
They have to keep them like that.
On a lot of the streets in San Miguel,
they have these things right here.
So if you have your boat,
you can pull up your boat and tie it off.
No, I'm just kidding.
At first I was like, what's that for?
But it's actually for back in the day,
this was a town where miners would pass by
on their horse or mule and they could tie
their horse off on the side of the street.
They usually didn't bring their boat though.
But that whole time, the horse off thing,
I have not substantiated that.
Is that the word?
No, I'm pretty sure I'm just using long words
to make myself sound smart.
But anyway, if I'm wrong about that, correct me.
(laughing) I don't know.
And let me know what those things are used for,
if I'm wrong.
There's some big markets here in San Miguel.
Like one is Mercado de San Juan de Dios.
But I've recommend skipping that if you want to find some
souvenirs and instead head to Mercado de Artesanias.
Here, you're going to find really good prices,
much better prices than you would
near the Parroquia and the center of town.
And it's really not a long walk away at all.
So yeah, just walking a little bit
is going to get you much better deals and many more options.
I wasn't able to bring Alaska here today
because I took an Uber here from Carretero.
But something you shouldn't do,
don't forget to bring your dog
because this is a pretty pet-friendly city.
You can walk with your dog everywhere.
A lot of restaurants are pet friendly.
So, bring your dog and your pooch will be very happy.
But speaking of that, I wonder what Alaska is up to?
If you're trying to find a place to eat
on Mondays in San Miguel,
don't forget that there's muerto Monday here.
Dead Monday is where a lot of stuff is closed.
So just keep in mind that you're probably gonna have
limited options on Monday,
as I'm walking down the sidewalk here,
you can see that there's a car taking up every single space.
If you're bringing a car here to San Miguel,
don't count on finding parking easily.
Parking is kind of a nightmare
even if you want to pay for parking.
I mean, one time we came here
and we had to go to like six different parking lots
because they were all full.
And these are the paid parking lots.
Before you get to San Miguel,
don't forget to download the apps, Uber and inDriver,
because those two apps are going to give you
additional transportation options to get around town.
There are a lot of taxis here,
but I usually like to use Uber when I can instead of taxis.
So yeah, definitely get those apps
and it'll make your life easier.
When deciding where to stay in San Miguel,
keep in mind that traffic is now more of a thing than ever.
Traffic can get really bad,
especially in central and especially on weekends.
But that's not to say you can't stay outside of the city.
Just, you're going to be,
when you're coming into town,
you're going to be waiting in some traffic
and you're gonna be reliant on taxis
and Ubers and whatnot to get in town.
I told you guys earlier that you should make reservations
if you wanna go out to dinner.
Well, I didn't follow my own advice
because I didn't know if I was gonna be
staying here for dinner.
But you know, like so far,
every place that I'm wanting to go to
is either closed or full.
So, I'm trying to find a place for dinner.
We'll see what comes up.
I finally found a place that was open for dinner
and had availability.
So here I am at Inside Cafe.
I actually came here for the grilled cheese sandwiches,
which I hear out of this world.
But it turns out for dinner time,
it switches to an Asian menu.
So I ended up getting a Curry.
So we'll see how that is.
But up here from the terrace,
you have a great views of this church across the street
and another church down the road a little bit.
You get to watch the people walking by.
Great people watching from the kind of,
at like a bar area that overlooks the street.
Oh, that place was really good.
You know, I was totally raving
about my Curry at the beginning,
but the more I ate, I liked it a little bit less.
I don't know if that was just because I was getting full.
But I don't know. I'd have it again for sure.
And I definitely go back.
I want to try those famous grilled cheese sandwiches though.
I came back to see that Parroquia after dark
and my oh my, is it worth it?
It totally changes from daytime to nighttime
and it's beautiful.
You can book some great accommodations in town,
like at the Rosewood, for example.
Awesome hotel, but super expensive.
But if you want that level of luxury,
but don't mind saying a little outside of town,
Maddie and I stayed at this incredible place.
It's an incredible bed and breakfast.
We did a video on it, actually
and I'll link to that right up here.
Another thing you shouldn't miss in San Miguel
is the nearby vineyards.
Recently, Maddie and I went to this really cool vineyard
where we got to go down in the basement
and see the wine cellar and part of the wine making process
along with eating at a really great restaurant there.
So on the screen here, I'll link that video
so you can watch that until we see you next week.
But before you go subscribe to our channel
and one more thing, (bell ringing),
gong that bell so you get notified
every time we release a new video.
And we will see you on Saturday morning.