San Miguel de Allende: a great destination for families

I’m all for destinations that take me by surprise. Those are often places that are super family-friendly when I had them wrongly pegged in my mind as quite the opposite. Case in point: San Miguel de Allende, the UNESCO World Heritage city in Central Mexico that I had somehow imagined to be a blue-haired, baby boomer bastion for Americans looking to live better off their social security south of border.

What I found during a visit this summer, instead, was a youthful, vibrant and family-welcoming city with a deeply Mexican soul that was perfect for a vacation with my two toddlers.

I recently spent three weeks in the hilltop city with my husband and two children. At an elevation of 6,234 feet, it stays pleasantly cool here even during the summer and especially at night. Despite being a nearly impossibly hilly place to navigate with a double stroller (definitely bring your baby carrier and your narrowest umbrella stroller), it’s one of the most kid-friendly spots I’ve been yet.

There was one rooftop bar where we were told our toddlers weren’t welcome (it’s called La Azotea, and it’s totally worth hitting on a night when you can arrange a sitter so you can enjoy the amazing jicama tacos and passion fruit margaritas). Otherwise we rolled with our kids everywhere and were welcomed with open arms and mucho warm, Mexican hospitality.

Getting There

The first thing to know is that San Miguel de Allende requires more work to get to than, say, Cancun.

The easiest and closest airport is Del Bajío International Airport aka Guanajuato International Airport (BJX), which is about an hour and 15 minutes from San Miguel. The airport is serviced by American Airlines, United and Aeromexico from the US. Queretaro International Airport (QRO) is about the same distance away from San Miguel and is serviced by United Airlines and American Airlines from the US. From either of those airports, you can travel by bus to San Miguel, take a taxi or arrange a private transfer in advance with your hotel.

The far and away most inexpensive airport to fly into, though, is Mexico City International Airport (MEX), aka Aeropuerto Internacional Benito Juarez. This is the option I chose with my family, since I landed flights with JetBlue from Orlando, nonstop, for less than $300 round-trip per person.

Once we landed, we made our way to the Primera Plus bus terminal, located right inside the airport, and booked tickets on the next bus to Queretaro (about $20 [~£16] per person, half-price for kids, for the three-hour ride). From Queretaro, we paid about $30 (~£24) for a taxi for the remaining 45-minute ride to San Miguel de Allende. (You can also travel by Primera Plus from Queretaro to San Miguel, but we were tired from the early morning flight and wanted an immediate departure at that point.)

Many San Miguel de Allende hotels can arrange private transfers to the airport in Mexico City and you can expect to pay around $260 (~£211) one-way for a sedan and upward of $320 (~£260) one-way for a Suburban. It’s about half that price for private transfers to the Guanajuato and Queretaro airports.

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