San Miguel sits in the middle of the Bajío, and almost everything worth seeing in the independence story is within ninety minutes. Buses leave from the Central de Autobuses on Canal; for the sanctuary, the hot springs and the pyramid, a shared taxi or a hired driver is easier than waiting for a rural bus.
Sanctuary of Atotonilco
Fourteen kilometres out, and the single best half-day trip from town: an eighteenth-century pilgrimage church whose interior is painted wall to ceiling, a UNESCO site, and the place Hidalgo took the Virgin of Guadalupe banner from on his way to war.
Dolores Hidalgo
Forty minutes north. The town where the Grito was shouted in 1810, now equally famous for Talavera tile workshops and for ice cream in flavours — avocado, mole, shrimp, beer — that sound like a dare and are not.
Guanajuato city
Ninety minutes west, and a different kind of place entirely: a silver town folded into a ravine, with traffic running through tunnels underneath it and the Teatro Juárez, the Alhóndiga and the university stacked up the slopes. Long enough to be worth an overnight, but it can be done in a day.
Mineral de Pozos
An hour northeast in Guanajuato state: a mining town that emptied out after the Revolution and is slowly refilling with galleries and instrument makers. The roofless smelting ovens and the Santa Brígida hornos on the edge of town are the reason to come.
Cañada de la Virgen
A Otomí ceremonial complex about half an hour southwest, on a private ranch, so it can only be visited with the official guided walk that leaves from the site's visitor centre — no independent access. The main pyramid is aligned so that the sun lights the inner sanctum at the equinox.
Santiago de Querétaro
An hour southeast. A bigger, less decorated colonial centre with a genuine working city around it, a vast aqueduct on seventy-four arches, and the hill where Maximilian was shot.