Guanajuato(Mexico): Suggestions

September 2019

We suggest spending at least 3 nights in Guanajuato(population: about 180,000), a UNESCO World Heritage Site,  in order to be able to soak up the images and sounds of the place, feel the local vibe, and taste the gourmet meals that you are not likely to get in most Mexican restaurants in the U.S. and other countries around the globe. You are sure to be lost because there does not exist a single straight street to guide you by, but the whole historic center is small enough that you will soon find your way around. If you ask someone for directions, he or she will do his/her best to guide you.

Don’t be afraid to go into a museum in town. They will never cost more than $2.50 to enter. (They may charge you for bringing a camera in to take pictures) Don’t stay away from fancy looking restaurants. They will have something on the menu for under $10 for a wonderful meal: this is your chance to be able to splurge! Prices are in pesos below; divide the number by 20 to get U.S. dollar amount.

Mornings start slowly, and lunch may not start till 1 PM or later. This means dinner also starts later, 8-8:30 PM. Many restaurants and museums are closed on Mondays. Be patient. Services are slow. S-L-O-W!! You will be happier if you can remember this. You will be walking a lot, but there are benches everywhere: nice, solid ones like the one in the picture.

Day 1: First, an introduction to Guanajuato. Start at Jardin de la Union(#1) and Teatro Juarez(#2). Pick up a copy of this map from the tourist information booth in the Jardin. It may be more helpful than your online map at times. Walk to the back of the theater to get on the funicular(30 pesos each way) to Pipila statue(#40). Enjoy the full view of the city below, like in the first photo above.

When you come back down(some people walk down, but we suggest saving your energy.) turn left on the main street away from the theater. You will come to a huge yellow/orange church(#20), and this is the cathedral of this town. Feel free to walk in.

Continue walking following the natural curve of the street. Admire the structure of their main market, Mercado Hidalgo(#6). Go inside and browse. Across the street, there is a cute little church(#25). Look inside.

Continue walking on the same side as the church, and, in about 10 seconds, you will notice huge jars of colorful agua fresca drinks(14 to 25 pesos) displayed on a table by the entrance to a taco joint. El Paisa 1 & 2: you pick a flavor(we love their horchata bursting with cinnamon flavor), choose the size, and choose a cup or a plastic bag. Believe me.  A plastic bag filled with liquid with a straw stuck in the middle harnessed by a rubber band works really well. Next door displays a meat roaster, and you go in there, sit down, and order your food. Everything is delicious!(13 to 30 pesos) This place is open everyday morning to evening.

Backtrack your steps a bit & turn left onto the uphill street across from the entrance to Mercado Hidalgo. You will see a solid pinkish light brown structure on your left. This is their historical museum, Alhondigade Granaditas(#28). This building figures big in Mexico’s independence movement from Spain. In the left-hand far corner rooms on the ground floor, you will find sculpted faces of the heroes of the Mexican independence movement. The stunning mural by Jose Chavez Murado depicting the independence movement is by the staircase. There is not a whole lot in the museum, and, everything is in Spanish. Yet, you can learn a bit about the history of this country. The statue you visited on top of the hill, El Pipila, was part of the narrative here, too.

The road in front as you come out of the museum is what we jokingly call, “University Ave.” Slowly walk along this what you may think of as an alley. You will come to the ornate white building that you saw from the Pipila hill top. This is University of Guanajuato(#5), one of the major institutions of learning in Mexico. If you feel you need to rest your feet, walk a few more steps and find a kiosk of Cafe Tal, get a cup of whatever you like, and sit on a bench near by. An impressive pink church(#21) will be right in front of you.

From this spot, any way you take will eventually lead you to Plaza del Baratillo(#8). In the morning or any time, this is a good place to join the locals who enjoy freshly cooked street food. Now you either want to go back to your lodging and get some rest or keep going, your choice.

Facing Teatro Juarez, if you turn left and walk a few minutes, you will arrive at your first art museum that you must visit, Museo Iconografico Quijote(#24), commonly known as the Don Quixote Museum. You will find a very interesting collection of art works with a Don Quixote theme in a wonderful building. There is also a nice cafe if you need to take a break. Admission is 25 pesos, but it’s free on Tuesdays.

Every October the city of Guanajuato receives international attention because of one event: the Cervantes Festival. One may wonder, “what’s the connection between Don Quixote and a town in central Mexico?” You can learn all about it by learning about the founder of this museum – if you know enough Spanish. For those of you who are curious but don’t know much Spanish, click this link.

From this museum, continue following the big road(relatively) and go slightly up the hill. If you are a bit confused, no need to worry. As long as you are going upward, you will end up at the same place: Plaza Allende where the statues of Don Quixote and Sancho stand proudly. Cervantes Theater(#13) occupies one end of the plaza.

From this area, one can walk to Hidalgo Market in about 20-25 minutes. As I said, the historic center is not really big. But there are so many distractions every where that you will never get there in that time.

Dinner is at the Jardin de la Union staple, Casa Valadez. Their excellent chicken soup is a meal in itself, the salads are fresh and tasty, and all the main course meals(many are under 200 pesos) on their rather extensive menu are superb.

When it gets dark, you should take the funicular back up the hill. The view will not disappoint you.

Evening Activities: check out what’s playing at one of the theaters in town. Event Calendars are distributed at the tourist information booth in Jardin Union. They are also posted in front of Teatro Juarez, the cathedral, and Hidalgo Market. University of Guanajuato offers various concerts and cultural events. You can walk into the university book store on the “University Ave” and get a list. We have been to several of the musical events in town, and the admission was free to 100 pesos. Sitting in Teatro Juarez is an experience you will not want to pass.

You will see many young men and women dressed in velvety stylish old European musicians’ attire walking around town selling tickets to the nightly musical walking tour, Collejoneadas. It is fun to follow them around and listen to their music making: they are good singers. Yes, there’s a storytelling, but, all in Spanish. It got started out as a college group, but, now, the demand is so big that they employee musicians along with the students. It costs 120 pesos, or, you can just follow along a bit.

There’s music every where. Mariachis, street performers, or live music at bars and restaurants.

Day 2:  Add a bit more detail to the outline you have of the city in your head today. Start from the pink church next to University of Guanajuato(UG), and the spot where the church building ends and the university building starts, there is a door to the art museum of UG. You walk through this museum, and the natural history museum appears. These are all free. When you walk out of this museum, you will see the main staircase to the university, and right after passing it, there is a small art museum called Museum of People of Guanajuato . After a few minutes, there is another small contemporary art museum that costs only 15 pesos(yes, that is 75 cents in U.S. Dollar)

You may want to skip any or all of these, but you will have to go into this one: Diego Rivera House Museum(#29). The most famous artist of Mexico (along with his wife Frida Kahlo ) was born and raised in this house till age 6. I personally do not care much where he spent first 6 years of his life, but the art works and the design of the museum impressed me greatly. I understand him better as more than a muralist now.

Continue walking on this road, pass the Alhondiga museum, and you will come down to a big street that sloping up toward north. Get on the bus that says “Valenciana” among other things. Pay 7 peso to the collector. You will pass a large sports complex on the right, then come to a cluster of buildings including the San Cayetano Church.  A GPS might be helpful or ask the driver.

This church is not small for such an old little mining town. You step inside, and wow, you can tell there used to be lots of gold nearby. As you climb down the stairs from the church, turn left into a small street and it will lead you to the old mine of Valenciana. Usually a local guide would approach you and take you there. There is a museum and a guided tour down into the mine. Mining was such a huge part of Guanajuato’s development that it is a worthy experience to visit Valenciana.

Back in town, lunch is at La Vela, easily the best fish taco joint in town. It is behind the Teato Juarez, next to funicular. Their fish tacos are great, but I love their tuna tostada and empanadas(crispy outside & moist inside & flaky crust) as well. They say their hours are 12 to 6PM. But they are never open at noon, and we saw them open as late as 8 PM.

Time to poke around. Just walk around, go up the stairs, get lost. Remember to poke in if you come across a cafe or a restaurant. Each one of them has its own style that shows artistic sensibility. Just amazing how they pull it off. You don’t see anything like what you see as a “typical” Mexican restaurant in the U.S. These people know what they are doing. Pay 35 pesos and go into Teatro Juarez if you are not attending a concert in the evening. The old state legislature building(#4) near the Cathedral is worth a look. You can go check out the “Alley of the Kiss(#7)” and figure out how two lovers could have stolen kisses over their balconies. There are so many little plazas and parks, so go discover them! If it’s your thing, check out the Mummy Museum. You can get there by getting on any bus(7 pesos) that says “Momia.”

One great place for a late afternoon drinks and snacks with some music is Clave Azul. Not too far from the Kiss Alley, there is a plaza called San Fernando. This square is filled with cafes and restaurants. Many small alleys branch out from the square, and pick the one you think is on the north side. Walk into it and climb up a little way. If you don’t see a blue house surrounded by hanging flower trees, try some other alley till you find it. A lot of work? Maybe. But you will enjoy the place. Go check it out yourself.  I am not saying any more except that if you keep drinking, free foods keep coming. Drinks are a bit more expensive(100 peso margaritas) than most other places, but their free tapas are wonderful and filling. We never had to have dinner afterwards.

If you want to go shopping, we have discovered that prices are pretty much the same every where in town. If you haggle, you can get a bit cheaper, but, it usually means $1-3 dollars. Shops along the “University Ave” are usually not very busy. We like the few stores right along the road between Plaza Baratillo(#8) and Teatro Pricipal(#12) for their selection. Hidalgo Market has more to choose from, but that can mean more work at the same time.

If you still want to have dinner, try either Los Campos  or Costal in Casa Cuatro. Both are off of Plaza Baratillo. Los Campos is small so you may want to go early or reserve your seat beforehand. Nothing over 200 pesos. Refined Mexican is how I would describe their food. English translation is on their website. Costal is a relatively new restaurant. Modern and artsy in their decoration and food presentation, everything on the menu is under 300 pesos including yummy beef steaks. Azteca soup is really good.

Day 3: Venture out a little. Get a cab(70-80 pesos) to Ex-Hacienda San Gabriel de Barrera to see how rich people lived in olden days in this town. There’s a house museum that includes a family church, and some of the gardens are themed around different countries such as Roman, Japanese, Mexican and so on. Tranquil and beautiful would be the adjectives well suited for this place.

Lunch could be in town at Los Huacales off of, you can guess, Plaza Baratillo. Simple but delicious Mexican meals presented tastefully & at reasonable prices.

If you have energy, you can walk to the next destination: House Museum of Olga Costa & Jose Chavez Morado. Even people outside of Mexico have heard of Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo. Olga and Jose are the next generation artist couple, and they are almost as well known in Mexico if not internationally. Their house is beautiful to look at from outside and whimsically creative inside. Some of their art works and their collections of ceramics and glassware are on display. You can, of course, take a cab(60-70 pesos) and save your energy. Your cab will do an unexpected maneuver to go around town through one way streets and go into the tunnels.

If you are ambitious, you can go out to the Guanajuato State Capital area southeast of town(beyond #11 on the map above). City of Guanajuato is the capital of state of Guanajuato. This area has some stately colonial era buildings, and it has its own share of great restaurants. If you take a cab, you will have another experience going in and out of tunnels and so on. Get off at Presa de la Olla and stoll down on Paseo de la Pressa and the parks.

If the timing works out, try to have a dinner at Amatxi in this area. Otherwise dinner can be back in town at one of the restaurants I mentioned for Day 2.

• If you have another day, you can visit San Miguel de Allende.
• How we spent a month in Guanajuato
• 2021 UPDATE

Where to stay: The most convenient area to stay would be within 3 minute radius of Plaza Baratillo(#8). You can walk to every place in the historic center within 15 minutes from here. You are very close to the action but still it’s relatively quiet.

We usually stay at an Airbnb housing or do Home Exchange. But two hotels caught my attention: Edelmira Hotel right around the corner from Jardin Union and Castillo Santa Cecilia Hotel up on then hill. Edelmira is a luxury boutique hotel right in the center and usually costs $150-200/night. But I have seen nightly price as low as $79 on hotel booking sites. If I see this kind of price, I might grab it and stay there for a few days. Castillo is the castle you see on top of the hill, and it may not be convenient at all to use it as the base. But, for a night, I might do it because it is so unusual. I’ve seen prices around $50-60/night.

Getting in: Leon Guanajuato Airport(BJX) in Silao is about 30 minutes away. Airport taxis are government controlled and you prepay at the counter(550 pesos to historic center). It is possible to get Uber, but it is not officially allowed. You do the online arrangement and go out to the passenger drop off area outside to wait. Uber costs about 330 – 450 pesos. The airport is not big & not hard to figure it out.

You can arrive from Mexico City, San Miguel de Allende, or other cities in Mexico by bus. The Central Bus Station is located  south of town, and a cab will cost 60-70 pesos for the 10-15 minute ride.

purple:our favorite, blue: tried & liked, yellow: will try next time