Mexico
San Miguel de Allende
Colonial light turning pink at dusk, every doorway hiding an artist's courtyard.
The light in San Miguel turns pink. Not metaphorically — at golden hour, the cantera stone of every building, every archway, every cobblestone absorbs the setting sun and gives it back in shades of rose that photographers cross oceans to capture.
San Miguel de Allende has been voted the world's best city to visit by Travel + Leisure readers multiple years running, and the recognition is deserved. The colonial centro, UNESCO-listed since 2008, is an impeccably preserved grid of 18th-century mansions, baroque churches, and hidden courtyards — many now housing art galleries, cooking schools, and boutique hotels. The Parroquia de San Miguel Arcángel, with its neo-Gothic pink spires, was designed by indigenous mason Zeferino Gutiérrez, reportedly working from postcards of European cathedrals. The city's expatriate community — largely American and Canadian artists, writers, and retirees — has created a bilingual cultural scene with fine dining, contemporary galleries, and thermal hot springs in the surrounding hills. Despite its polish, San Miguel retains the texture of a working Mexican city: the Tuesday tianguis market fills the streets with produce and pirated DVDs alike.
Couple
Rooftop terraces at sunset, the pink light, and the Parroquia's spires against a violet sky — San Miguel is Mexico's most effortlessly romantic city.
Solo
Art galleries, cooking classes, and hot springs — San Miguel's bilingual infrastructure makes it Mexico's most comfortable solo cultural immersion.
Friends
Wine tastings, gallery hopping, and rooftop dining — San Miguel delivers a polished group experience without losing Mexican authenticity.
- Voted the world's best city to visit by Travel + Leisure readers multiple years running.
- The Parroquia's neo-Gothic spires were designed by a self-taught indigenous mason working from postcards of European cathedrals.
- Art galleries, cooking schools, and hot springs — all within a walkable colonial grid.
- The light turns distinctly pink at golden hour, giving the city its famous warm glow.
Pan de cazo — deep-fried bread pillows with piloncillo syrup — from the Saturday artisan market.
Fine-dining mole tasting menus in converted colonial mansions with rooftop terraces at sunset.
Rye
England
Cobblestoned lanes so steep and crooked even the houses lean in to listen.
Shell Grotto, Margate
England
Millions of shells arranged in unexplained mosaics beneath a mundane street — origin unknown.
Abydos
Egypt
Temple paint vivid after thirty-three centuries, concealing an underground granite chamber that still puzzles archaeologists.
Casabindo
Argentina
Argentina's only bull ceremony strips ribbons from horns at 3,400 metres each August.
San Cristóbal de las Casas
Mexico
Highland mist curling through colonial arcades where Tzotzil women weave galaxies into cloth.
Oaxaca City
Mexico
Seven varieties of mole simmering in a city where every wall is an altar to colour.
Guanajuato
Mexico
A city poured into a canyon, its houses stacked like a tumbled box of pastels.
Hierve el Agua
Mexico
Petrified waterfalls frozen mid-cascade above a valley, their infinity pools warm and mineral-green.