Out itinerary
Arrive Mex City very late Friday night.(February)
4 days touring Merxico City (and day trips)
Depart by bus for San Miguel Allende Wed morning.
Tour San Miguel Wed afternoon and Thurs.
Depart by bus for Guanajuato about 5 Thurs afternoon.
Tour Guanajuato Friday.
Depart BJX very early Sat morning.
Are we leaving enough time for San Miguel? Would it be easier just to book a hotel in San Miguel and include Guanajuato if we have time via day trip from San Miguel? The problem is the BJX airport is 1 and one half hours from San MIguel and our flight is seven thirty Sat morning. The airport is only 45 minutes from Guanajuato.
Any comments are appreciated.

I've done it both ways and I enjoy staying in GTO. It's always nice to be in a town after the daytrippers have left and Guanajuato gets its fair share of daytrippers. SMA can be seen in a couple days. Obvioulsy if you had more time, then you would see more, but I'd rather also have the chance to spend time in GTO. Have fun!

You might consider hiring a driver early Friday for trip to Guanajuato, and just staying over on Friday night. It would be a shame to miss it entirely when you have that early morning flight on Saturday.

We liked San Miguel, but it was a little too Americanized for us. Still, it is a great place to relax after more high-energy touring in Mexico City. Guanajuato is entirely charming, with a special energy derived from the many students, but you can sample its flavor with a full day there on Friday.

I know bus travel is easy and comfortable in Mexico, but you do save time with a private driver, especially with a short trip.

We just returned from a similar trip (I'll post a trip report later today or tomorrow). We opted for Queretaro (two nights, day and a half) and Guanajuato (three nights, two and a half days). We intended to daytrip out to San Miguel, but never made it. Obviously then I can't comment on SMdA except to say that from our research it appeared to have the least to offer sightseers, although I gather it's a great place to live.

However that may be, these are fairly small, provincial cities, and you can cover the main sights in a day or two. That leaves plenty of time for just hanging around the zocalo, too.

Guanajuato is spectacularly beautiful. I'd spend at least a day.

Marilynl (or anyone who has on opinion) -what about hiring a c ar from Mexico City to San Miguel? Would this be extremely expensive?

I don't know. We took the bus for that part, and it took 4 or 5 hours. You could ask at your hotel. I would think at least $300--we recently had a driver from Morelia to Guanajuato, which I think was 3-4 hours, for around $200.