CITY: San Miguel de Allende

HOW LONG: 3 nights

ACCOMMODATION:

We stayed at the cutest Airbnb. It’s a bit of a walk uphill to get back, but you always have the option of a cheap uber. Garden & patio are very peaceful. Fresh fruit & water were provided at the beginning of our stay. Bed was very comfortable and wifi worked great. There was a fan which helped cool the room since there was no AC. They also provided beach towels to go to the hot springs. Wish we had more time here & would absolutely stay here again!

WHERE TO EAT:

San Miguel De Allende has some incredible restaurants. You definitely won’t go hungry! Here were our favorites:

• The Restaurant – Ambiance is incredible & was higher end than where I usually eat at while backpacking, but it was a nice treat! The patio had beautiful plants & we loved the al fresco dining. I had a yummy burger! This was recommended to us by our Airbnb hosts.
• Cafe Muro– French toast was fab & this cafe is located in a quiet area out of the hustle bustle. The staff were incredibly nice and we had the place to ourselves most of our meal. Great place to work on a computer as well.
• La Parada – Dinner with the wedding party on Friday night was at this restaurant. Really great food & cocktails!
• La Sacristía – yummy breakfast & cute outdoor seating
• Rosewood – The rosewood has a rooftop bar with incredible views over the city. Pop up for a drink at sunset!

WHAT TO DO:

There are supposed to be amazing hot springs here, but Ellie & I attempted to go to one (La Gruta) and were severely unimpressed. Kinda a bummer. Here’s a list of other options.

We also had a run in with a family friend who was also here for a wedding! Turns out San Miguel de Allende is a popular place for getting married 🙂

We loved walking around the streets of San Miguel; it’s just beautiful. The cobblestone streets are treacherous so plan to wear comfy shoes (aka no heels!!).

Besides that, the only thing left to do was attend a fabulous wedding!! Congrats to Billy & Monica!

Overall Thoughts:

We loved San Miguel de Allende. It’s charming, quaint, safe, colorful, easy to navigate, approachable & more. While it’s not the easiest to get to flight-wise (closest airport is 1.5-2 hrs away), you won’t want to leave. It’s definitely worth visiting!

CITY: Mexico City

HOW LONG: 3 NIGHTS

ACCOMMODATION:

We stayed at Wanderlust Hostel and honestly wouldn’t recommend it. We wanted to like it, but there were too many things that made us wish we had stayed elsewhere. Our private room had no outside window, which made it feel like a dungeon. The free breakfast was very strictly between 9:30-10am. The bathrooms weren’t that nice. But the toughest part was that the owners were weirdly short, curt and gruff with us. Every time we interacted they seemed to think we were bothering them. It was very strange. It wasn’t HORRIBLE but there are enough other great hostels to choose from in Mexico City.

WHERE TO EAT:

Ellie & I went to a few fun cafes & restaurants. I love traveling with her because we get to pick two meals and try them both!

La Ventanita Cafe – We ordered pancakes and French toast, and both agreed that the French toast was better!

Cibeles gran café– We got some yummy drinks and played cards here.

Freims– hip, trendy cafe with a lovely back terrace. Plenty of dogs & digital nomads doing their thing. Yummy brunch food!

Churrero El Moro – Small churro chain that makes delicious churros. Pro tip: get the thick hot chocolate to dip your churros into! We literally went back for seconds after the first round.

Antonella Caffe– we needed a quick bite to eat before heading to the airport and this place was great!

WHAT TO DO:

So in full transparency, Ellie & I were EXHAUSTED from my 30th birthday party + the wedding in San Miguel de Allende. This meant when we arrived to Mexico City, we both looked at each other & said “let’s not over do it here.” Well….. that turned into basically doing nothing. At the end of our time we both agreed that the trip to CDMX was a bit of a wash and we will need to come back here before we can really say that we’ve been to Mexico City. Whoops, but it happens when traveling this much!

We slept late (helped by the lack of natural light in our room lol), played lots of cards in cafes, caught up on life, walked through Parque Mexico, and went to movie with the hostel (we saw the Challengers and it was trippy but in a bad way; we both kinda hated it). That’s basically it haha.

Overall Thoughts:

I feel like I can’t even give real thoughts on Mexico City since we didn’t do much and our hostel wasn’t great. Mexico City definitely felt HUGE so I know there’s a lot to explore. I hope to come back soon and actually do so.

BUDGET FOR 6 DAYS IN Mexico:

I invited Ellie as my date so I paid for her trip to Mexico. Does this make the world’s best big sister?? I would think so!! But this explains why these numbers are higher than usual; it’s for two people 🙂

Accommodation: $540 ($90 per night)

Food: $300

Groceries: $0

Activities: $48

Local Transportation: $241

Total: $1,142 (Daily average: $190)

Transportation to next destination: $218 for the flights to Mexico (for both of us) + $152 (my flight to the Colombia)