Guanajuato City

If one is interested in visiting Guanajuato I recommend Israel Torres as a tour
guide, for accommodations, taxis, car rentals, etc. He came recommended from people in Ajijic who frequently use his services.

Friends contacted him this busy Easter weekend and with two phone calls he found two hotels with vacant rooms in centro Guanajuato in their price range and with a discount. He then took them to both hotels to compare rooms, recommended excellent restaurants which were awesome. On Monday he willl take them on a guided tour using his car. He is totally bilingual and has a car. He is extremely prompt and came recommended from other friends who frequently use his services.

Guanajuato is a beautiful city and a world heritage site. It is very clean, friendly, safe and an hour from San Miguel. It is definitely worth visiting and a place one would easily consider living.

Israel can be reached on his cell 473 597 3953 israelt2007 at hotmail.com

Should you visit Guanajuato and have time drive the high mountain road from Guanajuato to Dolores Hidalgo. It is absolutely gorgeous, less than an hour and then one can carry on to San Miguel if they wish and do a big loop. John

PS The advantage of a guide is one gets the history, best places to eat, any area one should avoid, a drive to the outskirts and into the mountains overlooking the city and museums, points of interest. My friends have returned and they say a tour was well worth it for these reasons.

I am definately going to visit this place next time I'm down. Looks beautiful. I did visit Morelia last month and was blown away. Guess I should re-post the pics.

Bob

It's fabulous and one of our favorite places to visit, been there 3 times. I can tell you that you don't need a guide. Everything is accessible, good tourist maps at all the hotels, and taxis are very inexpensive. The best part is that the heart of Guanajuato is easily walkable.

CanuckBob wrote:I am definately going to visit this place next time I'm down. Looks beautiful. I did visit Morelia last month and was blown away. Guess I should re-post the pics.

Bob

Good idea on the pics, please repost

http://www.mexican-living-guanajuato.com/

From the silver mines to a romantic little town in Europe, Guanajuato is a must see. It is approximately a three and a half hour drive from Chapala and will cost you around 300+ pesos in tolls if you take the toll highways (cuotos). There are places to stop for banos and agua along the way.

Guanajuato, with its beautiful architecture in buildings, hotels, and churches, to pedestrian-only zones filled with bistros, shops and gardens, you will find yourself caught up in the energy of this flourishing ex-mining town. The Centro sits atop a series of tunnels, which you want to experience in a taxi! Statues of Don Quixote dot the landscape along with vendors selling their wares.

The town comes alive at night with a myriad of Mariachi, bistros and tourists strolling along the gardens. You can take a tram to the top of the Centro and have a viewpoint that will take your breath away.

While there are a lot of restaurants/bistros, if you want to enjoy the nightlife from a second story balcony, the Hotel San Diego‘s restaurant will delight all five of your senses. The waiters (Maxi) and busboys (Jesus) take care of whatever you need and provide you with a five-star experience. Price? For four people, with an appetizer, drinks and full meals, the cuenta and tip was $1600 pesos (you cannot get a meal like this anywhere else that I know of for approximately $40 Canadian/person!).

We stayed at the Mision Guanajuato Hotel, which is about a five minute taxi ride to the Centro, and a beautiful, quiet hotel, with a pool, bar, shops and restaurant. If I had to do it over again, I would want to stay right in the heart of the city; however, the $40 peso taxi ride is a better alternative than getting lost in the tunnels below the city!

Guanajuato is a must see, and if you want to do some shoe and purse shopping either along the way or on the way home, Leon is the place to go, and another gem in Mexico! While Leon is bigger than the city of Guanajuato, it has the old world charm of Europe and is known for its leather products.

So, fill up your wallet and gas tank, and experience a piece of Mexico like you’ve never experienced before!

Beautiful photos Bob.

I KNEW you'd like it! Great pix! Did you get to Santa Rosa?

No I don't think so.

Great pics Bob! I'm still laughing...twice you mentioned the tunnels!...and I remember them well. We kept pulling over in our VW and I had to jump out and run up a flight of stairs so I could report back to my hubby where the hell we were!
Next time you're over that way, make sure you go and see the Cristo del Rey (sp?). You can see the statue of Christ for miles but taking the road to the top and visiting the chapel just under the statue is spectacular. It represents the geographic centre of Mexico and the views are incredible.

We are in Guanajuato today. Light rain earlier this afternoon but beautiful now. We are staying at the Hotel San Diego and have a room with a balcony overlooking the plaza. The mariachi's have just started. Awesome.

BTW, if you want to avoid most of the tunnels and have a tour of the city at the same time you can take a windy ring road and come into the downtown core from the opposite end. We did this and it was no problemo getting into centro.

CanuckBob wrote:No I don't think so.

Great photos Bob....Deb and I will join you

Well you better hurry because we are already here........jajaja.

Nice pictures! I can remember when we were there 42 years ago in 1971.

Lucky uou had nice weather, last time we were there around the same time it was freezing cold and it was pouring, not so nice under these conditions.