Images of Guanajuato: Mexico’s Most Beautiful City?, Guanajuato, Mexico

I’m finally wrapping up my series of photographs from our trip to Mexico back in late May (it’s been fun, right?) with our final destination, the city of Guanajuato, located in central Mexico. Now, if you remember in my post about San Miguel de Allende, I wrote that for the fourth year in a row, Travel + Leisure magazine chose San Miguel de Allende as the 2019 top city travel destination in Mexico. Moreover, in the magazine’s “World’s Best” rankings, which are chosen by surveys of over 17,000 Travel + Leisure readers, San Miguel placed second in the 2019 World’s Best Cities section after having won World’s Best City in 2017 and 2018!

So, when my daughter and I made our way via Uber from SMdA to Guanajuato, I figured we’d seen the best city Mexico had to offer. Well, we were wrong. So wrong. Maybe the folks at Travel + Leisure and their readers never bothered visiting Guanajuato because if they did, they’d probably agree that it is the loveliest and most charming city in Mexico. Well, the loveliest city we visited at least, and one of the most charming cities I’ve ever visited (and I’ve been to some really good ones).

Wow. What a city. San Miguel de Allende (as nice as it was) wasn’t even in the same ballpark as Guanajuato - and I only saw a small portion of the city (all the while fighting a serious case of Montezuma’s Revenge!). Like San Miguel de Allende, the historic center of Guanajuato is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The town’s fine Baroque and neoclassical buildings, resulting from the prosperity of its rich mining history, have influenced buildings throughout central Mexico. This is a truly magical city, wish I had stayed a few days more. Next time. ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).