The sweeping landscape of Mexico’s central highlands (also known as the Mexican Altiplano) is home to some of the country’s most picturesque and agreeable colonial towns and cities which offer an abundance of character and culture—and the benefits of mountain living.

The benefits of mountain living in Mexico

Living at elevation —typically, Mexico’s inland colonial towns and cities are situated at elevations of at least 4,000 feet above sea level— offers several benefits:

Ideal climates

Many places situated at elevation in Mexico offer the benefit of year-round temperate, low-humidity, climates created by a combination of the locations’ latitude and an average elevation around 6,000 feet above sea level which make it a pleasure to live and be outdoors, and an ideal location to enjoy active outdoor activities.

Enjoy plenty of daylight all-year

Year-round and especially during the winter, you benefit from at least ten hours of daylight every day of the year, with no shortage of daylight hours in the winter, and you also enjoy extended light into the evenings during the late spring and summer months.  You can learn about climates through the seasons in Mexico here on Mexperience.

Fresh highland air and breathtaking views

Enjoy crisp, fresh, mountain air which complements the magnificent views from local vantage points, and elevations that can aid your good health and general well-being without being too high so as to become uncomfortable.

Access to good local infrastructure and amenities

Many of Mexico’s popular colonial highland towns and cities offer provincial living with plenty of local fresh food and produce markets, (much of it grown locally), independent shops and boutique traders, with accessibility to popular big-brand stores, outlets, and supermarkets as well as specialized stores offering foods and homewares foreign residents often seek out when living here. Most colonial cities also have adequate-to-excellent healthcare facilities locally; in smaller towns, more extensive facilities are available in larger nearby cities.

Well-connected to transport links

You’ll discover that the highland towns are well connected by modern roads, most are serviced by frequent intercity bus services, and some also have airports nearby. High-speed internet access is available in your home, as well as wireless data over advanced mobile networks which form part of Mexico’s extensive communications infrastructure.

Integrate into genuine local communities

Many of the colonial towns and cities offer you the opportunity to participate and integrate in local communities.  Here you can discover authentic neighborhoods and real local community spirit, and if you choose to, you can integrate with local lifestyles and community groups, and forge long-term friendships.

Considerations for mountain living in Mexico

Mountain living isn’t for everyone.  Some people yearn to be near the ocean with year-round warmth, whereas highland towns tend to be cooler—and may even get cold at times during the winter months.  A very small number of people find that they can’t adjust to living at higher elevations, while others find the mountain towns too remote, rural, or provincial for their lifestyle preferences or intentions.

If you’re unsure, visit for an extended stay

An ideal way to determine if mountain life in Mexico will suit you is to invest in a trial period —perhaps six months to a year— and see how you respond to the experience.  When you take the time to explore, you’ll discover thriving communities where, when you’re prepared to integrate, local people will come to know and greet you by name, you’ll cultivate appreciable relationships, you’ll give and receive value as you trade at the local markets through transactions which feel human and personal… and over time, you become the community you seek.

When you look with care you’ll also find the very best of Mexico in these places—people, culture, climate, food, amenities, and real local communities. For some, Mexico’s highland towns and cities become exceptionally special places to live.

Choosing between urban and (semi) rural settings

Other than Mexico City, Guadalajara, and Monterrey, Mexico’s highland towns and cities are situated in provincial (rural or semi-rural) settings and we recommend your consider whether living in the Mexican countryside would suit you, as well as giving careful thought to your lifestyle needs as a whole as you short-list potential places to live instead of looking at certain aspects in isolation.

As with other places you may consider moving to in Mexico, you’ll need to plan and prepare for your new lifestyle, you might need to acclimatize to the higher elevation, and you’ll need to be prepared to forge your own story here. Hundreds of thousands of foreign residents enjoy a good life in Mexico; with some considered choices and forward planning, you could as well.

Explore highland towns and cities in Mexico

Here are some of the more popular colonial towns and cities foreign residents have settled in, as well as some which are less well-known and gaining attention in recent times.

Mexico’s colonial heartland

Querétaro, Guanajuato and San Miguel de Allende for traditional colonial highland cities; Aguascalientes for a more contemporary living lifestyle; and Zacatecas if you’re seeking a mountain city off-the-beaten-track and on the edge of a mountain frontier.

South-central highlands

Cuernavaca, Tepoztlán, and Puebla.  These traditional provincial highland places are situated conveniently close to Mexico City and yet are far enough removed from the congestion of the capital to enjoy a genuine provincial atmosphere and feel.  For a more rustic option off-the-beaten track in this area, consider Taxco.

In the mountains west of Mexico City

The highland lakeside towns of Chapala, and Ajijic are home to the largest community of foreign residents in Mexico; the city of Morelia offers old-world colonial elegance, and the ancient highland town of Pátzcuaro offers an attractive blend of colonial indigenous cultures amidst an intimate colonial setting. If you’re seeking an urban lifestyle at elevation, Guadalajara offers vibrancy, culture, and all the benefits of a large metropolitan city, and is close to Ajijic, Chapala, and Jocotepec—small towns settled along the northern shoreline of Lake Chapala and home to tens of thousands of foreign residents, most from the US and Canada.

Further south, to Oaxaca and Chiapas

Oaxaca City remains one of the most authentic and cultured colonial cities in Mexico; and further south, in the breath-taking state of Chiapas, you’ll find the highland mountain town of San Cristobal de las Casas—somewhat off-the-beaten-track and close to the traditional indigenous mountain communities of San Juan Chamula and Zinacatán.

Discover more places to live in Mexico

Discover interesting and charming locations to live, work or retire in Mexico, and articles with helpful insights about choosing a place to settle here.

Resources for Living & Lifestyle in Mexico

Mexperience offers you a comprehensive online resource of information and local knowledge to help you discover Mexico, explore choices, find opportunities and plan a new life in Mexico.  Our resources include:

• Detailed knowledge about planning a move in Mexico
• Insightful articles about living and lifestyle in Mexico
• Detailed insights about retirement in Mexico
• Practical insights for planning your Mexico lifestyle
• A regular Mexico Newsletter you can subscribe to for free

Place is personal, subjective, and important—and as you consider places to live in Mexico, Mexperience helps you to consider your choices and shortlist locations that may suit your lifestyle needs.

Discover places to live, work or retire in Mexico

To help you discover and explore potential places to live here, Mexperience publishes a curated list of locations to consider for living, working or retirement in Mexico—organized by popularity and notoriety and classified by the location type.

Our articles introduce you to key places where many foreign residents live now, emerging locations that are becoming increasingly popular with foreign residents, as well as those places that are less well known, or situated off-the-beaten path. We also publish a selection of detailed guides of places to live in Mexico:

The most popular places to live in Mexico

Discover locations that have for a long time, or in recent times, garnered considerable popularity with foreign residents (retirees and others) and have active communities of interest established at the location.

Emerging locations to live in Mexico

Discover locations that have, in recent years, been catching the attention of foreign residents and have fledgling or developing communities of interest present there.

Underexplored locations to live in Mexico

Discover places that do not have significant numbers of foreign residents already established and are generally ‘off-the-beaten-path’ for most foreigners considering Mexico for living and retirement. These places can offer attractions that may be of interest to some potential foreign residents and retirees seeking someplace more traditional, unusual, and with a lower concentration of foreign residents living there.

Detailed living guides

For detailed guides to selected places to live and work or retire, connect to our section with Guides to Living Places in Mexico

Most (but not all) of Mexico’s colonial cities are situated at elevations of at least 5,000 feet above sea level and if the place you choose is situated in these high lands you can expect cooler and more temperate climates year-round than you’ll experience in colonial cities which are situated at lower elevation or nearer to the coasts where temperatures soar, particularly during the late spring and through the summer months.

During late fall and throughout the winter, early mornings, evenings, and nights are cooler in colonial cities—even chilly in some higher places that may also require the warmth of a fireplace or other heating system. The spring and fall climates are close to ideal in most of Mexico’s highland colonial cities, featuring a temperate ambiance with occasional rainfalls between otherwise undisturbed sunlight, shining across crisp and deep azure-blue skies.

The late spring and summer months in Mexico’s highland colonial cities are warm and can get quite hot.  Most regions experience seasonal rains between June and October each year; these often take the form of torrential afternoon or evening downpours which cool the high summer temperatures and make the local flora radiate with color and fragrance.

Which colonial cities are people moving to?  The two big ‘expat enclaves’ of San Miguel de Allende and Ajijic/Chapala have been popular with foreign residents for decades, and their lure and appeal is still attractive to many who visit and call these places their home, full or part-time.

Foreigners researching places to live in Mexico will usually come across popular colonial locations like San Miguel de Allende, Ajijic, and Cuernavaca. Other places that are less well-known but which have have been rising in popularity in recent years include: Mérida, Puebla, Guanajuato, Querétaro, and Oaxaca. For places somewhat off-the-beaten-path, you might also consider researching San Cristobal de las Casas, and Morelia (with nearby Pátzcuaro).  If you’re seeking a colonial setting near the coast consider Mazatlán, Manzanillo, and Campeche.

With the exception of the most popular colonial towns, Mexico’s colonial settings offer (generally speaking) lower property purchase and rental prices than equivalent land and homes situated at popular Mexican beach-side towns and resorts. However, house prices in colonial cities have risen substantially in recent years and property prices across Mexico are no longer the bargain they once were.  It’s also worth keeping in mind that lesser-known colonial locations don’t tend to generate the same level of property sales turnover as the most popular locations do, so if you buy land or property away from a fashionable area, it might take longer to sell.  You can learn all about property purchase and ownership in Mexico here on Mexperience.

We recommend above all else that you take time to step back and consider your lifestyle needs and short-list locations in Mexico that serve those needs.

If you’re looking for a long-term investment and a foothold in Mexico that will provide you with a stable home, a good climate, decent access by road (some cities also have airports not far away); a lower cost of living than the US, Canada and Europe; and a place where you can be surrounded by culture and heritage, do some research here on Mexperience to learn about Mexico’s colonial cities and then go and experience a few of them in person.  You may be pleasantly surprised.

Queretaro is one of a group of old Silver Mining cities which also includes San Miguel, Zacatecas, Guanajuato and San Luis Potosi.

These cities all lie north-west of Mexico City. Each has its own unique character, features and atmosphere—but together they make up some of Mexico’s best inland travel experiences. These cities are friendly places; the areas are not overwhelmed with tourists as some of the coastal areas can be.

It is in the colonial cities that the real Mexico begins to emerge. You’ll see real people living real lives; experience magnificent scenery; stay at wonderful colonial hotels that offer terrific value for money; savor local foods and flavors as colorful and diverse as the cultures that created them.

The road network in this region is well developed and traveling through it is fast and efficient in most places. These cities are safe: crime is low and its a great region to consider if you want to treat your family to a real cultural experience in Mexico.

Santiago de Queretaro, or just Queretaro as its known, is a colonial city steeped in Mexican history. The Spanish took control of the city in 1531 and designated it the “third city of New Spain”. It was here where the father’s of Mexico’s Independence Movement met in secret to discuss the overthrow of their Spanish rulers.

Installed by the French in 1864, Emperor Maximilian surrendered here three years later in 1867 after a 100 day siege. He was subsequently executed by firing squad, on an order handed down by Benito Juarez in San Luis Potosi.

The Mexican Constitution, written in 1917, was composed here— the same document that underscores the rule of law in Mexico today. Queretaro was also the birthplace of the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI)—the political party that governed Mexico for 71 years, before Vicente Fox’s PAN (Partido de Accion Nacional) ousted the regime in July of 2000.

Queretaro itself is a bright, lively and very clean city. It’s just 130 miles north-west of Mexico City and is connected by high-speed modern highways (tolled).

The feel here is Baroque. Take time to browse its churches, its mansions with their graceful balconies, the myriad of tree-lined plazas and the quaint colonial side streets and alleyways. The local government in Queretaro strives to make the colonial city a pleasant place for people to live in and visit; and you will find that the historic colonial center is pristinely well kept and maintained.

This colonial city is one for walkers. Walk around the streets and discover little plazas leading off narrow alleys. At night, Queretaro lights up with a carefully orchestrated system of flood lighting, giving the whole place a wonderful look, feel and atmosphere.

Surrounding Queretaro are a series of beautiful small towns like Tequisquiapan and San Juan del Rio. This area is one of Mexico’s natural hot spring regions, which are a very popular attraction with locals and visitors alike. You’ll also find a good number of quality spas in this region, too.

Queretaro and its surrounding attractions are so close to Mexico City that it makes the destination an ideal one for visitors looking for a first stop on a colonial city tour starting from the country’s capital. Although day trips to Queretaro are easy from Mexico City, as well as other nearby colonial cities, it’s recommended that you spend at least one night here to have enough time time to experience Queretaro’s charm and elegance properly. Those who do, often stay longer, or come back for a longer stay later on.

Key Attractions

Colonial Center

Begin your exploration at one of the the town’s key plazas: Jardin Zenea. The bandstand dates back to the 1800’s and live music can be heard playing from it at weekends.

The main plaza is Plaza de la Independencia—central, and a very good place from which to explore the rest of city’s colonial charm.

For an excellent example of baroque architecture, visit the churches of Santa Clara and Santa Rosa de Viterbo, which you’ll find in the downtown colonial area of Queretaro.

Other places of historical and architectural interest include the Casa de La Corregidora, where Doña Josefa Ortiz de Dominguez lived (Heroine of War of Independence), La Casa de la Zacatecana, which is an excellent representation of the way that mansions looked and felt like during the colonial era, and the Cerro de Campanas (Hill of Bells), which is where Emperor Maximilian was executed after his capture here in 1867.

Queretaro also has a 1.3km Aqueduct (Acueducto) featuring 74 arches and is still used today as a means to transport water to the city.

Between Tuesday and Sunday, there is a tour that will take you around 21 of the most historical buildings and places of interest in Queretaro and explain the history behind them. The tour starts from the local Tourism Office – see Practical Information for details of where to find this.

Wine Production

In recent years, the state of Querétaro has become one of Mexico’s top wine-producing regions, and wine and cheese tours are one of the highlights of a visit to this area.

Hot Springs & Day Trips

Just 40 miles west of Querétaro is the beautiful little town of Tequisquiapan. You can buy great arts and Mexican crafts here, and it’s also famous for its hot springs. This whole area has volcanic springs situated under it, so warm pools of water are said to be therapeutic and able to relieve the symptoms of arthritis, gout and insomnia.

Also nearby is the growing town of San Juan del Rio, which boasts high quality textiles and Mexican craftwork, as well as hot springs, and colonial architecture dating back to the 16th centuries.

Museums and Art in Queretaro

The Museo Regional (Regional Museum) offers visitors a selection of artifacts from pre-Hispanic, colonial and and republican times.

The Museo de Arte (Art Museum) hosts some of the finest collections of Mexican colonial artwork in the country, all housed in the fabulous 18th century Baroque architecture of Ex-Covento de San Augustin.

Getting There & Around

By Air – Situated 8km northeast of the city center, Queretaro’s modern international airport has regular flights to and from Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey. You can take a taxi or a city colectivo (the more economical option) to the city center. For detailed information about flights and flying, see the Mexperience guide to Air Travel in Mexico.

By Bus – You can travel to Queretaro on a luxury bus from Mexico City – the trip takes around 3 hours. You can get a bus directly from the Airport or from the Northern Bus Terminal in Mexico City. Buses run all day from Mexico City to Queretaro at least once an hour. For detailed information about bus transportation read the Mexperience guide to Bus Travel in Mexico.

By Car – Driving to Queretaro is very fast and efficient on the toll roads that connect the Capital to Queretaro. Take Highway 57D from Mexico City, Highway 57D (South) from San Luis Potosi, or Highway 111/57D from San Miguel de Allende. See additional information about Driving in Mexico and Mexico’s Toll Roads on Mexperience.

Car Rental – To explore Mexico’s colonial towns and cities, consider renting a car for your visit. Having your own car will give you more flexibility than using public transport options and, in some cases, offer you access to places which are otherwise difficult to visit without the use of a car. Read our guide to Car Rental in Mexico to learn what you need to know about car rental in Mexico and connect to the Mexperience Travel Center to reserve your Rental Car.

Taxis – Taxis in most of Mexico’s colonial towns and cities are not metered, so agree your price before you get in. Taxi travel is very affordable in Mexico, in comparison to the USA, Canada and Europe, and so provides a viable means of public transportation in Mexico. Your hotel can arrange taxis for you; some post their rates on a board in the lobby; taxi hotel rates are usually higher than cabs you hail off the street. If you speak Spanish, you will have a distinct advantage and be able to negotiate a price with the driver. For detailed information, read the Mexperience guide to Taxi Travel in Mexico.

Querétaro Essentials

Telephone: Connect to the guide about Communications in Mexico on Mexperience for detailed information about keeping in touch and the latest table of national dialing codes.

Exchanging Currency: Banks with ATM machines are found throughout the downtown area of Queretaro, especially around the main plaza. During business hours, they and the local Casas de Cambio will buy traveler’s cheques and cash from you as well. For detailed information about exchanging and managing your money, read the Mexperience guide to Money in Mexico.

Travel Insurance: We recommend that you are adequately covered with travel medical insurance and/or travel assistance insurance when you are visiting Mexico. Read the Mexperience guide to Travel Insurance in Mexico for full details and links to specialist insurance suppliers.

Internet Access: Internet cafes can be easily found in towns and cities across Mexico and WiFi is increasingly commonplace–from cafes, shops, hotels, and some cities even offer free WiFi in some defined public spaces.

What to Buy in Querétaro

Queretaro is well known for its sale of Opals—soft stones which have chameleon-like properties as they exhibit different colors and play games with the light they reflect. Queretaro still mines Opals for their local, national and international sale. Be sure to find a bargain for yourself here in Queretaro, where the stones are particularly good value for money.

Local Climate

Queretaro enjoys year-round hot, dry weather. The climate is ideal for taking part in a variety of outdoor sports and activities and for taking in the local culture, architecture and scenery. Rain is seldom a feature here; when they do come they tend to be during the months of April thru November. Rains tend to be fierce and brief in the late afternoon, leaving the evenings dry and cooled off.

Weather & Climates in Mexico

Learn more about the weather and climates through the seasons and regions by connecting to the Mexperience guide about Weather and Climates in Mexico