A guide from the main square
Things to do in Querétaro, on foot from Plaza de Armas
We run a hotel on Plaza de Armas itself, so we can give you numbers instead of adjectives: how many minutes each of these takes on foot. The walkable core of Querétaro comes first, then the two day trips it makes a good base for.
Where you are
Why Querétaro is worth more than a lunch stop
Most US itineraries meet Querétaro as a stop. It's about three hours north of Mexico City by road, on the way to San Miguel de Allende, and the bus doing the run is an ordinary, comfortable way to travel here. What you find when you get off is an 18th-century colonial city whose historic center is a UNESCO World Heritage site, an aqueduct of 74 stone arches along its eastern edge, and a grid of andadores, pedestrian walkways where the cars simply stop. It's a working state capital rather than a resort town, so the squares fill with people who live here. Two or three days is a real stay.
On foot from the door
The historic center, in walking minutes
Six stops, all inside the old center, all on flat ground, none of them needing a ride in between. The times below are counted at our own front step, at an unhurried pace.
- Plaza de Armas
- You're on it. The hotel fronts the walkway of the square itself.
- Andador Libertad and Andador 5 de Mayo
- Both pedestrian walkways begin at Number 35 and run across the old center.
- Templo de San Francisco
- About 3 minutes on foot.
- Jardín Zenea
- About 3 minutes, the same block as San Francisco. It's the garden the city actually sits in on a Sunday.
- Museo de Arte, in the old San Agustín convent
- About 5 minutes. The museum is inside an 18th-century Augustinian convent, and the carved stone cloister is the building itself.
- Teatro de la República
- About 6 minutes. It's the room where the 1917 Constitution was signed.
The 3 minute walk to the Templo de San Francisco is the one distance a third party publishes. The rest we timed ourselves, so treat them as honest estimates rather than measurements.
Getting here
Two towns close enough to be back for dinner
Querétaro earns its keep as a base. Each of these is an easy morning out and an easy evening in, and neither one asks you to pack a suitcase again.
- Bernal
- About an hour northeast by car. The Peña de Bernal is one of the largest monoliths in the world, and the town at its foot is small enough to walk in an afternoon.
- San Miguel de Allende
- About an hour by car, and there are direct buses from the Querétaro bus station. If San Miguel is already on your itinerary, this is a leg you were probably driving anyway.
Those are driving times without traffic on the way out of the city. Buses to both leave from the Querétaro bus station, which is a taxi ride from the center rather than a walk.
Finding the door
Where you come back in at the end of the day
Number 35 on the Andador Libertad is the door with the hotel crest. Push it open and you're standing on the walkway of Plaza de Armas again, which is the exact point every number on this page was measured at.
Questions
What travelers ask before they come
- How many days do you need in Querétaro?
- One full day covers the old center without rushing it. Two lets you slow down and eat properly. Three or four if you want Bernal and San Miguel de Allende as day trips and still a morning doing nothing in the courtyard.
- Is the historic center walkable?
- Yes, and more than most, because a good part of it is closed to cars. Every stop on the list above sits within about six minutes of Plaza de Armas, on flat ground. The one thing to know is that the paving is old stone, so bring shoes you can walk on it in.
- Do I need a car?
- Not in town. The center is pedestrian, so a car is more of a problem than a help once you're here. For Bernal and San Miguel de Allende you'll want a car or a bus, and either works as a day out. If you're driving in, read how parking works on the where to stay page before you arrive.
- When's the best time of year to go?
- Querétaro sits at about 6,000 feet, so evenings are cool all year and you'll want a layer even in summer. Rain falls mostly between June and September, and usually in the late afternoon rather than all day. The city is fullest around the September independence holidays and at Christmas.
- What's the historic center like in the evening?
- Plaza de Armas is pedestrian and it stays lit and busy after dinner: the restaurants under the portales put their tables out on the walkway, ours included. Our door opens straight onto that walkway, so the walk home along the Andador is a few minutes and never leaves the pedestrian streets.
Book direct
Sleep on the square, and walk to the rest
We're the 18th-century building on Plaza de Armas itself, at Andador Libertad No. 35, and the times above were measured at our own front door. Book direct with the hotel and you're talking to the front desk that will check you in.