San Miguel de Allende

Set on a steep hillside overlooking the Río Laja and dominated by red rooftops and domed churches, San Miguel de Allende might seem little different from any other quaint colonial town. Its distinct character, though, is soon apparent: San Miguel’s primary function today is as a picture-perfect version of Mexico for tourists (a Starbucks even graces the plaza), and it’s home to hundreds of artists and writers, as well as flocks of foreign students drawn to the town’s several language and arts schools. More visibly – like Álamos and several towns in Baja California – it has attracted a large population of US and Canadian expats (mostly retirees) and property prices here are on a par with San Francisco. The influx can be, in part, attributed to Tony Cohan’s popular book On Mexican Time, which tells the story of a writer and his artist wife who abandon smog-ridden Los Angeles for a quieter life in San Miguel, where they restore an old house, learn the local lifestyle and are slowly seduced by the colonial city’s unique charm. Now something like ten percent of the population are foreigners, some ten thousand of whom live in the vicinity more or less permanently, generally in peaceful co-existence with the locals.