67 Best Sights in San Miguel de Allende and the Heartland, Mexico

Tequis has a well-deserved reputation for high-quality craftwork, from wicker baskets to opals; head to the Mercado de Artesanías for woven goods, wood, ceramics, and jewelry.

If you have a sweet tooth, don't miss Morelia's candy market. All sorts of local sweets are for sale, such as ate (a candied fruit) and cajeta (heavenly caramel sauce made from goat's milk). Wooden knickknacks, cheap jewelry, and handcrafted acoustic guitars are among the nondigestible crafts.

It's a 10- or 15-minute walk from Jardín de la Union to see this 1910 structure of pink quarry stone, cast iron, and glass, designed by the one-and-only Gustave Eiffel.

T-shirts and cheap plastic toys fill the balcony stalls, but the lower level is full of fresh produce, hot food, and colorful basketry, as well as peanuts and regional candies (some shaped like mummies).

From 1586 until 1960 this mine supplied Zacatecas with most of its silver. Most tours are in Spanish, but props and dioramas within the individual caves (those that aren't flooded) help re-create a picture of the miner's life. Visitors enter on a little train, but there is walking, too, and plenty of steps; wear sturdy shoes and bring a sweater. There's a snack shop, a museum where you can see examples of different minerals and fossils, and, of course, the obligatory gift shop.

Located in the former home of an Independence fighter, this charming museum facing the main square is also known as la Casa de Mariano Abasolo. While the placards are in Spanish only, most of the small artifacts on display—everything from finely embroidered tea towels, to lapel pins with the image of "President for Life" Porfirio Díaz, to carefully preserved cigar bands several centuries old—speak for themselves. There are also a number of black-and-white photos of Dolores Hidalgo in the days before the Mexican Revolution.

What is now a two-story museum was acquired in 1801 by José María Morelos and was home to generations of the independence leader's family until 1934. It exhibits family portraits, various independence-movement artifacts (including a camp bed used by Ignacio Allende), and a fragment of the blindfold Morelos wore at his execution. Display tags are in Spanish only, but interesting information about the independence movement is presented in both English and Spanish.

The birthplace of Diego Rivera contains family portraits, period furniture (late-19th- and early-20th-century pieces re-creating the painter's family home), and finished works and sketches by Mexico's foremost muralist; among them are his studies for the controversial mural commissioned for New York City's Rockefeller Center. Completed in 1933, the mural's portrait of Lenin and overall Communist bent prompted Rivera's benefactors to destroy it immediately after it was displayed. The museum's upper galleries show revolving contemporary art exhibitions, often from other countries.

Once Father Hidalgo's home, Museo Casa Miguel Hidalgo is now a museum with copies of Hidalgo's important letters and other independence memorabilia.

José María Morelos's birthplace is now a national monument and library, with mostly literature and history books, naive paintings of the rebel, and prints of old Morelia (as well as two murals by Morelian Alfredo Zalce). In the back courtyard, a marker and an eternal flame honor the fallen hero.

While not something to go out of your way to visit, this museum is just a few blocks from the more interesting Museo Casa de Morelos.

On a lovely property a stone's throw from both the aqueduct and the Bosque Cuauhtémoc, this late-19th-century summer home is now Michoacán's principal contemporary-art museum. The permanent collection has work by famed muralist, lithographer, and illustrator Alfredo Zalce, a Pátzcuaro native. Some of Mexico's leading contemporary artists have temporary exhibitions here. Dance, cinema, theater, and music performances are held regularly in the small auditorium.

Focusing on European and Mexican artworks, this baroque 18th-century Augustinian monastery-turned-museum exhibits paintings from the 17th through 19th centuries, as well as rotating exhibits of 20th-century art. Ask about the symbolism of the columns and the figures in conch shells atop each arch on the fascinating baroque patio.

The 16th-century home of the Colegio de San Nicolás Obispo now displays colonial and contemporary crafts, such as ceramics, masks, lacquerware, paintings, and ex-votos in its many rooms. Information is in Spanish only. Behind this building is a troje (traditional Purépecha wooden house) braced atop a stone platform.

At the top of Cerro de la Bufa is the Museo de la Toma de Zacatecas, which has 10 rooms of historic objects such as guns, newspapers, furniture, and clothing from the days of Pancho Villa.

Mummified human corpses—once buried in the adjacent municipal cemetery—are on display in this unique and fascinating museum at the town's west end. In 1865 the first corpse, that of a French doctor, was removed to make room for new arrivals because the burial fee hadn't been maintained. Because of the mineral properties of the local soil, the cadaver was in astonishingly good condition upon exhumation. Today this and 100 other mummies are displayed: everything from tiny babies to old crones. The museum has been upgraded several times over the years, and despite the macabre subject matter, is artistically presented and well worth a visit. You'll need to catch a cab to get here; it's atop a steep hill.

Across from a small plaza with statues of Bishop Vasco de Quiroga and Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes, this history museum is in a stately mansion that was previously home to the wife of Agustín de Iturbide, Mexico's only native-born emperor. Among the 18th-century home's highlights is a complete Morelia pharmacy from 1868. On display are regional archaeological artifacts and exhibits about mining and indigenous culture.

During his imprisonment in a Spanish concentration camp in the 1930s, Spanish writer and journalist Eulalio Ferrer was so uplifted by Miguel de Cervantes's classic novel that he developed a lifelong passion for Don Quixote. This restored 19th-century home is a museum displaying Ferrer's collection of more than 600 pieces of art, all dedicated to the man of La Mancha. Gathered after he fled Fascist Spain for Mexico, the star-studded collection includes works by Salvador Dalí, Pablo Picasso, Jose Luis Cuevas, and Alfredo Zalce. The museum sponsors weekly free and inexpensive events, currently art films on Monday (free) and live music Thursday (MX$50), among other cultural events, usually at 8 pm. A bookshop and café front the museum.

Originally a Jesuit seminary and later a Dominican monastery, this building was used as a jail in the 18th century, and is now a museum that exhibits the work of Zacatecas artist and sculptor Pedro Coronel. Also on display is his extensive collection of works by Picasso, Dalí, Miró, Braque, and Chagall, among others, as well as art from Africa, China, Japan, India, Tibet, Greece, and Egypt.

Concealed by the former Convento de San Francisco's mellow, pink, 18th-century facade is a rambling structure of open, arched corridors, all leading through garden patios to rooms that exhibit, on a rotating basis, 3,000 of the museum's 10,000 máscaras (masks). These representations of saints and devils, wise men and fools, animals and humans were (and still are, in some parts of Mexico) used in regional religious festivals. The museum also has a remarkable display of puppets, pre-Hispanic art, photography, and paintings.

Because the collection can be overwhelming and the grounds are very pretty, you might take a snack and enjoy a small outdoor break during your visit.

This elegant 17th-century Franciscan monastery displays pre-Hispanic and indigenous artifacts from cultures of the region plus rooms dedicated to colonial history of Querétaro and the history of Mexico. There are early copies of the Mexican Constitution and the table on which the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed.

Formerly an 18th-century palace, the museum traces Mexico's history from its pre-Hispanic days through the Cardenista period, which ended in 1940. President Lázaro Cárdenas, a native of Michoacán, was one of Mexico's most popular leaders because he nationalized the oil industry and supported other populist reforms. On the ground floor is an art gallery, plus archaeological artifacts (many intact) from Michoacán. Upstairs is an assortment of colonial objects, including furniture, clothing, household objects, and religious paintings. Displays are labeled in Spanish only.

Notable graduates of this former Tridentine seminary, built in 1770, include independence hero José María Morelos, social reformer Melchor Ocampo, and Mexico's first emperor, Agustín de Iturbide. In the 1960s local artist Alfredo Zalce painted the extensive yet simplistic murals (on the stairway and second floor), which depict dramatic, often bloody scenes from Mexico's history. There's a tourist office here, too.

Across from el palacio de gobierno (state government office) is a national monument, an18th-century colonial building with lacy ironwork balconies, built from native pink stone. Today housing the Justice Department (Tribunal Superior de Justicia), its historical name is "Palace of the Bad Night," which, according to legend, was the home of a silver-mine owner. The mine had failed, so, left with only enough funds to pay his workers' final wages, he went to pray at the cathedral. On the way home he ran into a woman whose son was sick and gave her everything he had. Early the next morning loud banging on the door seemed to herald his doom, but upon opening the door he was instead informed that the mine workers had found the richest gold vein ever seen in these parts.

Dubbed La Casa de la Corregidora, this building now houses the municipal government offices, but in 1810 it was home to Querétaro's mayor-magistrate (El Corregidor) and his wife, Josefa Ortíz de Domínguez (La Corregidora). La Corregidora's literary salon was actually a cover for conspirators—including Ignacio Allende and Father Miguel Hidalgo—to plot a course for independence. When he discovered the salon's true nature, El Corregidor imprisoned his wife in her room, but not before she alerted Allende and Hidalgo. Soon after, on September 15, Father Hidalgo tolled the bell of his church to signal the onset of the fight for freedom. A replica of the bell caps this building, and two new murals in the central courtyard depict key players in Querétaro's history.

This multipurpose park at the eastern edge of the historic center (just three long blocks from the main plaza) has ancient trees, flower-lined paths ideal for a morning jog, a basketball court, and a children's play area with swings and fun things to climb. Local artists sell paintings and prints on Saturday, beginning at 10 am, on the north side of the park; during the first two weeks of February, more than a hundred vendors gather to sell mountains of decorative plants and baby fruit trees, as well as ceramic pots.

This is the largest zoo in Mexico, with more than 3,800 wild animals. It also has the largest aviary in Latin America. This is a great place to take the kids, and there's an especially exciting nighttime tour Friday at 7:30; otherwise the zoo closes at 5 pm during the week, or 6 pm on weekends.

The smaller of the city's two squares (it's also called Plaza Chica), this is Pátzcuaro's commercial center. Bootblacks, pushcart vendors, and bus and taxi stands are all in the plaza, which is embellished by a statue of the local heroine, Gertrudis Bocanegra. Nearby, a large outdoor mercado sprawls along Libertad and its side streets. At times the road is so crowded with people and their wares—fruit, vegetables, beans, rice, herbs, and other necessities of daily life—that it's difficult to walk. If you press on for about a block, you'll see an indoor market to your left filled with more produce; large, hanging slabs of meat; hot food; cheap trinkets; and locally made wool garments.

During the War of Independence, several rebel priests were brutally murdered on this site, and the plaza, known as Plaza de los Mártires, is named after them. Today sweethearts stroll along the tree-lined walks, friends chat under the silver-domed gazebo, and painters exhibit their work on sunny days.

Also known as Plaza de Armas, this immaculate square is bordered by carefully restored colonial mansions and is especially lovely at night, when the central fountain is lighted. Built in 1842, the fountain is dedicated to the Marqués de la Villa del Villar, who constructed Querétaro's elegant aqueduct. The old stone aqueduct, with its 74 towering arches, stands at the town's east end. Patio tables under the portico in front of Mesón Santa Rosa Hotel are the perfect place for a respite from shopping and museum hopping.

If you're driving, you might want to make a stop at Santuario de Atotonilco, which is 10 minutes off the Dolores Hidalgo Highway. Named a World Heritage Site in 2008, the sanctuary was built by Father Felipe Neri de Alfaro in the 18th century. In 1810, Independence leader Padre Hidalgo and his troops stopped here to claim the banner of Our Lady of Guadalupe before their successful march on San Miguel. The church is completely covered in murals that have earned it the title "the Sistine Chapel of Mexico." It also houses a venerated statue of Our Lord at the Column, a bloodied Christ leaning over a pedestal, which has been credited with several miracles. There's often a smattering of stalls selling statues, rosaries, crowns of thorns, and other religious souvenirs, and you may see pilgrims wearing bridal veils (even the men) and flagellating themselves as they enter the grounds for a week's penitence and prayer.

Adorned with bronze lion sculptures and a line of large Greek muses overlooking the Jardín de la Unión from the roof, the theater was inaugurated by Mexican dictator Porfirio Díaz in 1903 with a performance of Aïda. It now serves as a venue for works presented at the annual International Cervantes Festival and throughout the year. You can take a brief tour of the art deco interior.