After leaving Zihuatanejo, our next stop was going to be Guanajuato, the capital city of Guanajuato state, an expat destination that been has getting more press recently but is still largely under the radar compared to more well known locations such as San Miguel de Allende or Lake Chapala. The closest airport is Leon but checking airfares resulted in sticker shock, over $400 one way. Traveling overland is not recommended, especially for non-Mexicans, because of the issues with narcotics violence in the states of Guerrero and Michoacan.
The best alternative seemed to be fly to Mexico City, and we were able to get tickets for $55 per person, and then take a bus to Guanajuato. But slight problem: all of the flights from Zihuatanejo to Mexico City left in the afternoon and by the time we arrived in Guanajuato, it would be late at night. We prefer not to arrive at a new place late at night, plus it would be after the check-in time for our apartment anyway. Our choices were to spend one night in Mexico City and find our way to the correct bus station the next morning, or we could take a bus straight from Mexico City airport to Queretaro, and our bus the next day to Guanajuato would be only two hours rather than six. Mexico City is just too large for us and therefore wouldn’t hold any appeal as a potential expat location (although given more time, Ann would have liked to explore this city), so we chose Queretaro, and we are very glad that we did.
Mexico City to Queretaro
Pimera Plus runs non-stop buses from the Mexico City airport to Queretaro. The bus station is located on the top level of the airport (how convenient!) by door number 11, just follow the signs that look like a bus. Buses leave about every hour. At the bus station, we were able to buy tickets without any problem, 400 pesos* a person; we needed to wait about an hour so we decided to grab a bite to eat. Easy, with lots of eateries close to the bus station. We needed to return to the bus station 20 minutes before the bus to check our bags. Then proceed through security and down to the bus, where our backpacks were checked again. We almost missed the bus because the security guard at the top of the stairs misread our tickets and told us not to go down until the time of the bus departure. As it got close to departure time, we thought something was not quite right, so, experienced travelers that we now are, we approached the guard, and he admitted he had made a mistake.
The ride was uneventful and mostly in the dark, which was unfortunate. The Queretaro bus station is probably the nicest we have seen on our whole trip. Before leaving the bus station we purchased our tickets for the next day to Guanajuato for 230 pesos each for a 2 pm departure to give us time to explore Queretaro. Given the choice of whether to stay by the bus station or in the historic center, we opted for the latter, even though it is a 30 minute Uber ride, but…only 60 pesos. Another smart move! Our hotel, Hotel Madero was absolutely charming! A restored building on a pedestrian-only street, and quite the bargain at 960 pesos and a with 1 pm checkout time, just perfect.
Queretaro
The next morning walking out of the hotel, we looked around and couldn’t believe our eyes. What a gorgeous street, with lots of historical stone buildings, we could have been in Spain.
With a recommendation from the person at the front desk, we enjoyed a delicious traditional Mexican breakfast for a very reasonable price at La Llave. Then it was time to explore. We spent the next few hours wandering up and down various streets in the historica center, which as mentioned previously were reminiscent of Spain (at least for Ian; Ann won’t get to see Spain until May), popping into churches, taking a break watching the world go by in a park. In this particular park (don’t know about the many others), we saw charging posts amidst the greenery! .
Wandering into the next neighborhood reminded us of Antigua, Guatemala
While we spent our time mostly in the historical center, the other face of Queretaro is as a booming mid-sized city because a lot of Asian manufacturers, Samsung, Kyocera, etc., have moved into town. We didn’t see many gringo tourists or expats in Queretaro but we know they are here, and our Uber driver said that most of the tourists in town are Korean, which makes sense given the industry. As a side note, we met very few people during our time in Queretaro who spoke English.
*The exchange rate at time of writing was 18.5 Mexican pesos to the US dollar.
Next Up: San Miguel de Allende
Ian & Ann
10 Comments
Oh my goodness what a charming post. Great pics as well. I’ve never heard of this town but it sounds like a gem. Time to get out the map. Thanks Gypsies😘
Hi Kathy,
We had never heard of Queretaro either before we started researching our trip, but we are so glad we stopped there.
Ian & Ann
Queretaro sounds just great! I never went there while living in Mexico. I did go to Guanajuato and liked it. I especially remember the fabulous city music hall – old but gorgeous. Are you going to Guanajuato? You ended with ‘San Miquel del Allende’ next comment.
Hi Karen,
We’re actually in Guanajuato now, enjoying our two weeks here. We are simply posting San Miguel first as it was a day trip in the middle of our stay in Guanajuato.
Ian & Ann
beautiful photos. Was impressed by how uniform the green hedges are, just lovely. The hotel Madero looks pretty and very inviting. So glad you are enjoying. Stay well.Love
Hi Norma!!! I was thinking of you the other day! Would love to touch base with you. Love, Judy
Hi Ian an Ann, I have lots of catching up to do with your travels… this place looks lovely! Miss you. Love, Judy
Hi Judy,
Sure Norma would love to hear from you.
Yes, we enjoyed our short visit to Queretaro.
Ian & Ann
Hi Norma,
Those “hedges” are actually trees, groomed that way. And we saw some more like that when we visited San Miguel de Allende (next post) for a day. See you in just a month!
Ian & Ann
Certainly don’t see many people in the streets! But a beautiful city!
Hi Carrie,
That’s because Ian goes out of his way to try to take many photos without people – go figure. 🙂
Ian & Ann