The historic city of San Miguel de Allende is either glorified or maligned by visiting gringos—rarely do we hear any sentiment in between.
In that respect, I guess our feelings on SMA are just a little bit different than most.
A few years back, the four of us spent a week here over Christmas with Lori’s parents. Though surprisingly frigid at night, it was a nice holiday break with Grammy and Grammy, and a nice change of scenery from the Nayarit coast where we had been living for the past 14 months.
For our RV journey around Mexico, we had no plans to return. Unlike countless Americans that visit SMA for the first time, we didn’t fall head-over-heels for the place. At the same time, we thought the city was undeserving of all the hate it frequently receives from sanctimonious expats who despise other foreigners.
After Guanajuato, we planned for our next stop to be CDMX. However, looking at a map and the climate charts, we knew we’d probably need to slow things down a bit if we didn’t want to reach the Oaxacan Coast before mid-October.
San Miguel de Allende had two things going for it: A couple of RV parks and numerous summer camps for the kids in July and August. Lori had been offered more days of work for late July, so basing ourselves in SMA would allow us to kill a few birds with one stone.
So, San Miguel de Allende became our next stop.
A Few Last Words from Guanajuato
Sadly, we’ve had to move the Lego building inside the RV. It’s just too muddy outside to do much of anything these days (besides stomp around in the mud, of course).
Riley’s been fighting our afternoon quiet time a bit lately. Recently, however, he’s taken an interest into building the Lego creations from the actual instructions. The downside is that this seems to overwhelm him a bit.
Noe and I had an idea for a solution which involved putting all the pieces for each Lego creation in a zip-loc for Riley to make things a bit easier. The first two took Noe and I way more time than we had bargained for, so we decided to sort them by color. Seems to be working for now.
Moving to the other side of the coach, Noe is perfectly content with figuring out what new and interesting things he can make with his various “treasure” piles. RV life with kids in the Mexican rainy season.
On to San Miguel de Allende
A weather window appeared in the forecast, so we took it. And quite the nice weather window it turned out to be.
This ended up being one of my favorite days on the road in Mexico since we began. Only 90 minutes from door-to-door on well-maintained rural highways with no traffic. What RV travel days should be like.
Over the course of an hour we climbed from 6,300 feet up to 7,200 feet. We hardly knew it. I was a bit nervous about how the traffic would be around 12:30pm in San Miguel de Allende, but in the end it was smooth going until the last few hundred meters due to road construction.
There are two RV parks in SMA, one that doubles as a hotel on the northwestern outskirts of town (Hotel San Ramon), and the much more central San Miguel RV Park (and Tennis Courts) in the San Antonio neighborhood.
Given that the latter RV park was in the Centro and that we didn’t know what access was like (or if they could accommodate Class C RVs), we opted to head to Hotel San Ramon and figure things out from there.
Arriving at Hotel San Ramon
After checking in, we were directed to follow a muddy track around the back of the property, passing what looked like a nice paved RV area. A few minutes later, we arrived at an open field with what appeared to be six vacant motorhomes and trailers in various states of repair.
Hmm, I thought. Why didn’t they direct us to the lower lot? Turns out the lower lot (which looked much nicer) had some sort of issue with the electricity and was currently used for dry camping and storage.
After taking a walk around to survey the different pedestals, we landed on a space between a rough looking tarp-covered 30-foot Class C and some sort of toy hauler. Not exactly Rancho La Mesa, but serviceable.
It was still early and I didn’t feel much like hanging around the backlot of the old hotel when we were so close to SMA. So, I did a quick hookup and we made plans to head into town.
Being a mere three miles from downtown, we thought we’d skip figuring out the bus and grab an Uber. But for some unfathomable reason the price of an Uber was insane. Lori asked the receptionist who agreed it was much higher than usual and arranged a taxi instead, which was much more reasonable.
So off we went, into San Miguel de Allende.
San Miguel de Allende
Despite the dark clouds and relatively quiet streets, SMA is more or less how we remember it. We were here 2.5 years ago, but during the peak holiday season, so we weren’t sure what to expect this time around.
SMA has a lot in common with Guanajuato City 90 minutes up the road. Both cities were considered crown jewels of New Spain, deriving their wealth from the Bajío region’s abundant gold and silver mines. Much of the historic center of these cities date back to the 16th and 17th centuries and are UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
After the 1700s, however the two cities’ histories dramatically diverged. Guanajuato, the capital of Guanajuato State and site of the early days of the Mexican War of Independence, continued to flourish, becoming an important political and economic hub.
San Miguel de Allende, on the other hand, fell into obscurity for nearly a century before being “rediscovered” by American GI’s after World War II who came here to study at the city’s burgeoning (now world-famous) art institutes.
A lot of Americans who visit and/or decide to relocate to SMA disparage the city’s international feel and American influence not knowing SMA’s unique history. In many ways, it was this influx of “gringos” in the mid-20th century that helped revitalize a city on the verge of becoming a ghost town.
SMA isn’t necessarily a place that Lori and I would want to live long term, not so much due to the number of people from the U.S. living here, but rather the high prices and difficulty of accessing the Centro on a regular basis.
And no, the high prices aren’t a product of recent gentrification as many-a-clueless-gringo might have you believe, but more likely rooted in the town’s close economic relationship with residents from the U.S. stretching for nearly a century.
Recent price hikes have more to do with SMA’s discovery by Mexico’s nouveau riche and rapidly-expanding middle class, in addition to its position as a top draw for Mexican Insta-influencers.
But for whatever reason, gringos in Mexico like to blame other gringos for these sorts of things rather than admit that, like anywhere, these sorts of things are multi-faceted and muy complicado.
All that to say, San Miguel is a far more fascinating and dynamic city than many visitors make it out to be. Whatever your opinion of SMA, there’s no denying this place has some pretty stunning curb appeal—albeit built on the backs of the proud Chichimeca people who managed to fight off Spanish invaders longer than almost anyone else.
It didn’t take too long for the inevitable rains to find us. SMA still holds its own, even wet beneath gloomy skies.
Guess that’s our cue to start heading back.
Bus from SMA to Hotel San Ramon (El Porton to El Vergel)
As is the case everywhere we stay these days, getting back was not so straightforward. It usually takes us a few times to figure out the bus in a new city, and San Miguel is no exception.
Before we left the RV park, Lori asked the front desk clerk where we should go to catch the bus back to the hotel. She said, “El Porton, of course.” Lori searched her phone which came up with a location somewhere in the hills east of town. That didn’t seem right, so Lori confirmed with the clerk and the clerk confirmed that was the stop.
Fast-forward a few hours later and Lori shows me the pin on the map which is a twenty minute walk out of town in the opposite direction we want to go. It’s at the top of a steep hill in the middle of a patchwork of curvy residential roads. I didn’t buy it. So, we asked around until we finally landed on the real El Porton.
For those of you looking for the El Porton bus stop in San Miguel de Allende, we’ve marked it below for your convenience. You’re welcome.
If you’re headed to Hotel San Ramon, you’ll be looking for a bus bound for El Vergel or Nigromante. Also, here’s a bus route map we found handy for our time in SMA.
“A bus driver without a belly doesn’t generate confidence”. Words to live by.
Back at the Trailer Park
We spent the next few days settling into our new digs at Hotel San Ramon and making a couple of trips into the city.
This is the view of the city from the hotel grounds, which was definitely not taken advantage of.
Like Bugamville where we stayed outside of Guanajuato City, there’s not much to say about Hotel San Ramon’s RV facilities. Pretty basic and definitely in need of an overhaul. 15-amp power outlets (20-amp service…maybe?), low-pressure water, serviceable sewage hookups, and lots of overhead foliage making getting a Starlink signal somewhat challenging.
When we arrived, there were 8 or 9 other RVs or trailers parked around the hotel grounds, but only two that were actually occupied.
The grassy grounds turned to mud after a good rain, making it impossible to leave without getting our footwear completely muddied and soaked, but that’s pretty much the case during rainy season anywhere in Mexico if you aren’t in the Centro.
Rainy season has compelled the kids to dive deeper into some of their interests, particularly Noe who is becoming quite the artiste.
More San Miguel
Inside Cafe isn’t cheap, but if you’re looking for something that stands apart from the regular parade of chilaquiles and hotcakes, it makes for a good brunch stop.
About as perfect of a cold brew as I’ve had in a very long time.
And…a breakfast grilled cheese sandwich? Where are we!?
Public Library
From the moment we arrived, the boys have been begging us to take them to SMA’s Biblioteca Publica. San Miguel certainly has one of the better one’s we’ve seen in Mexico, particularly with regards to kids’ books.
The boys would gladly spend all day here. Riley gravitated to a Hanukkah reworking of A Christmas Carol which fascinated him for a good long while.
Casa de Allende Museum
Museo Histórico Casa de Allende is a must-visit if you’re interested in the early Mexican history (and namesake) of this city. It’s the birthplace and ancestral home of one of Mexico’s founding fathers, Ignacio Allende, who was instrumental in the struggle for Mexican independence in the early 19th century.
