Mexico: Mexico City and San Miguel de Allende

1. Day 1: Arrive in Mexico City

   Mexico City International Airport to your hotel, then the Centro Histórico on foot

   • Drive about 45 min
   • Dinner
   • Stay in Mexico City
   Day 1 details

   Fly into Mexico City International Airport (MEX), where a driver meets you in the arrivals hall with your name and your tracked flight time, so nobody waits at the kerb. The drive to our central hotel takes 30 minutes to an hour, depending on traffic. Plan to land by about 2 pm. At about 5 pm your guide walks the group through the Centro Histórico for an hour and a half, at an easy pace because the city sits at about 2,240 m: the Zócalo, the Metropolitan Cathedral, the excavated Templo Mayor seen from the street, then along pedestrian Madero to the Palacio de Bellas Artes as the lights come on. The walk is a first look, not a museum day; it shows you where things are for the free time later in the trip. We finish with a welcome dinner nearby and a short briefing on the five days ahead. If you land late, skip the walk and join us at dinner.

   Included

   • Pick-up at Mexico City International Airport (MEX)
   • Centro Histórico orientation walk: the Zócalo, the Metropolitan Cathedral, the Templo Mayor from the street, Madero and the Palacio de Bellas Artes
   • Welcome dinner and briefing

   Easier option: Skip the walk and meet the group at dinner.

   Free time: Free until the late-afternoon walk

   Activity: Mexico City is at about 2,240 m. Drink water, take it slowly today and go easy on alcohol at dinner.

   

2. Day 2: Teotihuacan at opening, a street-food evening

   Mexico City to Teotihuacan and back

   • Drive about 2 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Mexico City
   Day 2 details

   We leave the hotel at about 7:30 am and drive about 50 km north-east, an hour or a little more in morning traffic, to reach Teotihuacan at opening, while the air is cool and before the tour coaches and the midday sun. The city was built centuries before the Aztecs, who found it already in ruins and gave it the name it still carries; UNESCO listed it in 1987. With a licensed local site guide we walk the Avenue of the Dead from the Ciudadela and the Temple of the Feathered Serpent, past the Pyramid of the Sun to the Plaza of the Moon, about 4 km on uneven stone with little shade. Climbing rules change, so we confirm before you travel what is open. Lunch is a sit-down meal near the site, and we are back at the hotel by about 3 pm for a free afternoon. At about 7 pm your guide leads a street-food walk: tacos al pastor from the spit, tlacoyos, quesadillas and something sweet, eaten standing at the stalls where locals eat.

   Included

   • Teotihuacan at opening with a local site guide: the Ciudadela, the Temple of the Feathered Serpent, the Avenue of the Dead, the Pyramid of the Sun and the Plaza of the Moon
   • Sit-down lunch near the site
   • Evening street-food walk with your guide (dinner)

   Optional experiences

   • A sunrise hot-air balloon flight over Teotihuacan, weather permitting, with an earlier pick-up (price shown when you book)

   Easier option: Walk the central part of the Avenue of the Dead only, about 2 km, and wait in the shade at the Plaza of the Moon.

   More active option: Climb the front platform of the Pyramid of the Moon if it is open on the day.

   Free time: Free afternoon, about 3 pm to 7 pm

   Activity: Teotihuacan is at about 2,300 m with little shade: bring a hat, sunscreen and water. Vegetarian stalls can replace the meat stops on the food walk.

   

3. Day 3: The Anthropology Museum, then Coyoacán and Frida

   Chapultepec to Coyoacán and back

   • Drive about 1.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Mexico City
   Day 3 details

   We are at the National Museum of Anthropology in Chapultepec Park when it opens at 9 am, the quietest hour. Your guide takes the group through the rooms that explain what you saw at Teotihuacan the day before, then the Mexica hall with the Sun Stone; two and a half hours covers the core without rushing, and you can stay on if you prefer. We drive about 10 km south to Coyoacán, 30 to 45 minutes, for lunch in the Mercado de Coyoacán: tostadas, quesadillas or pozole at the counters. In the early afternoon we enter the Museo Frida Kahlo, the Casa Azul where she was born and died, on timed tickets we book weeks ahead, because they sell out. Afterwards we walk Coyoacán's centre: the Jardín Centenario, the Plaza Hidalgo and the church of San Juan Bautista, with time for a churro and hot chocolate. We are back at the hotel by about 5 pm, and the evening is free.

   Included

   • National Museum of Anthropology at 9 am opening with your guide
   • Lunch at the Mercado de Coyoacán
   • Museo Frida Kahlo (the Casa Azul), timed entry
   • Coyoacán walk: the Jardín Centenario, the Plaza Hidalgo and San Juan Bautista

   Optional experiences

   • A Ballet Folklórico performance at the Palacio de Bellas Artes on the nights it runs (price shown when you book)

   Easier option: Take the museum at your own pace with a coffee in its courtyard, and go straight to the Casa Azul without the Coyoacán walk.

   More active option: Walk on from Coyoacán to the Museo Anahuacalli, Diego Rivera's stone museum, about 3 km, and take a taxi back.

   Free time: Evening free

   Activity: Both museums close on Mondays, so day 3 is never a Monday. The Casa Azul limits numbers and has steps between rooms.

   

4. Day 4: Querétaro, then San Miguel de Allende

   Mexico City to Querétaro, then San Miguel de Allende

   • Drive about 4 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in San Miguel de Allende
   Day 4 details

   We leave at about 8:30 am and drive north on the toll road, about 215 km and close to three hours, to Querétaro, whose historic centre is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Your guide walks the group through the Plaza de Armas, the Templo de San Francisco and the arcaded streets where the 1810 independence plot was hatched, then to the viewpoint over the 18th-century aqueduct. Lunch is a sit-down meal in the centre; enchiladas queretanas are the local dish. In the afternoon it is about an hour and 65 km on to San Miguel de Allende, so the whole day is about 280 km and under four hours of driving, broken in the middle by Querétaro. We arrive by about 4 pm, check in to our central hotel and walk to the Jardín Principal and the pink stone Parroquia de San Miguel Arcángel. At sunset your guide takes the group up to a rooftop terrace above the centre to watch the light go off the Parroquia's towers.

   Included

   • Querétaro historic centre walk: the Plaza de Armas, the Templo de San Francisco and the aqueduct viewpoint
   • Sit-down lunch in Querétaro
   • San Miguel de Allende orientation walk: the Jardín Principal and the Parroquia de San Miguel Arcángel
   • Sunset from a rooftop terrace (drinks at your own cost)

   Easier option: Stay with the vehicle in Querétaro after lunch and rest before the last hour.

   Free time: Evening free after sunset

   Activity: San Miguel de Allende is at about 1,900 m, on steep cobbled streets. Bring shoes with grip.

   

5. Day 5: Atotonilco and a cooking class

   San Miguel de Allende to Atotonilco and back

   • Drive about 45 min
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in San Miguel de Allende
   Day 5 details

   After breakfast we drive about 14 km north, 25 minutes, to the Sanctuary of Jesús Nazareno de Atotonilco, listed by UNESCO with San Miguel in 2008. Its vaults and walls are covered in 18th-century murals by Antonio Martínez de Pocasangre, and it is still a working church and a place of retreat, so we visit quietly and with covered shoulders. We are back in town by late morning for the cooking class with a local cook: you grind salsa in a molcajete, press tortillas, and cook two or three dishes from the Bajío, the farm country around San Miguel, then sit down to eat them for lunch, with the recipes to take home. The afternoon and evening are free. Your guide can point you to the Fábrica La Aurora art and design centre in an old textile mill, El Charco del Ingenio botanical garden on the edge of town, or the galleries and craft shops of the centre. Dinner is on your own.

   Included

   • Sanctuary of Jesús Nazareno de Atotonilco with your guide
   • Cooking class with a local cook, with the lunch you cook

   Optional experiences

   • An afternoon soak at a hot-springs park on the Dolores Hidalgo road (price shown when you book)

   Easier option: Watch the class and eat the lunch without cooking, then rest at the hotel.

   More active option: Walk up to El Mirador and on to El Charco del Ingenio botanical garden, about 4 km round trip with a steady climb.

   Free time: Afternoon and evening free

   Activity: Atotonilco is an active church: shoulders covered, and visits pause during services.

   

6. Day 6: San Miguel to Querétaro airport

   San Miguel de Allende to Querétaro International Airport, or back to Mexico City

   • Drive about 1.5 h
   • Breakfast
   Day 6 details

   The morning is yours until the airport run: an early coffee in the Jardín Principal before the town fills up, or a last walk through the Mercado de Artesanías. We drive you about 75 km, around an hour and a quarter, to Querétaro International Airport (QRO), which has flights to Mexico City and some United States hubs; plan a flight after about 1 pm. Your guide checks your flight before saying goodbye. If you fly home from Mexico City instead, tell us when you book: we drive you back to Mexico City International Airport (MEX), about 280 km and four to four and a half hours with a stop on the way, leaving after breakfast, so book a flight after about 5 pm. That is the one drive on this trip over four hours, and you can avoid it by flying from Querétaro or staying on in San Miguel. For a longer trip, our Guadalajara, Guanajuato and San Miguel and our Mexico City, Puebla and Oaxaca trips continue from here.

   Included

   • Drop-off at Querétaro International Airport (QRO), or at Mexico City International Airport (MEX) on request

   Free time: Free morning

   Activity: Flights from QRO after about 1 pm; from MEX after about 5 pm.

Wildlife and weather: October to April is the dry season, with sunny days and cool to cold mornings and evenings in Mexico City and San Miguel, near freezing at night in December and January. From June to September afternoon rain is common. Day of the Dead (around 31 October to 2 November) and Holy Week fill both cities.

• Mexico City3 nights
• San Miguel de Allende2 nights