Tequisquiapan — Tequis to nearly everyone — is a small colonial town in the dry hills of southern Querétaro, built around a broad plaza and the pink-and-white church of Santa María de la Asunción. Its streets are cobbled and arcaded, and on a weekday it is calm in the way that the bigger Pueblos Mágicos seldom are.
It is also the natural base for the Ruta del Arte, Queso y Vino. The vineyards, sparkling-wine cellars and cheese dairies of the region are scattered within half an hour of town, between here and the Peña de Bernal, and Tequis has the hotels, restaurants and tour offices to go with them. The other draw is the sky: hot-air balloons go up most mornings at sunrise over the valley.
Come for a couple of nights. Querétaro city is about an hour away, and San Juan del Río is just down the road. The wine and cheese fair at the end of May and the beginning of June is the busiest time of the year.