What to see in Guanajuato near Sanbernabé Tres

Theatre · 1903

Teatro Juárez

From Sanbernabé Tres: 1.3 km · 16 min walk

It took three decades to build and Porfirio Díaz opened it in 1903. Outside it is a neoclassical temple; inside it surprises with a Moorish-inspired foyer and auditorium full of gilding and velvet.

Eight bronze muses stand on the cornice watching over the Jardín de la Unión, and half the city sits on its steps to watch the afternoon go by.

Tip Check the programme: attending a performance is the best way to see the interior.

Lookout

Monumento al Pípila

From Sanbernabé Tres: 1.3 km · 16 min walk + funicular

The story goes that Juan José de los Reyes Martínez, a miner nicknamed El Pípila, strapped a stone slab to his back to shield himself from bullets and set fire to the door of the Alhóndiga de Granaditas, opening the way for the insurgents.

His monumental stone statue, torch held high, crowns Guanajuato’s most famous lookout: from here you see the whole city, with its domes and colourful houses.

Tip Take the funicular up and walk down through the alleys: the descent offers beautiful views.

Square

Jardín de la Unión

From Sanbernabé Tres: 1.4 km · 16 min walk

This triangular square, facing the Teatro Juárez and the church of San Diego, is Guanajuato’s meeting point. Its laurels form a green roof shading the iron benches and café terraces.

Music often plays in the bandstand and, at nightfall, the student minstrels gather their audience to sing their way through the alleys.

Tip Come at sunset, have a drink on a terrace and join a callejoneada.

Baroque church

Basílica de Nuestra Señora de Guanajuato

From Sanbernabé Tres: 1.4 km · 17 min walk

Built at the end of the 17th century, its ochre Baroque façade and towers dominate Plaza de la Paz, surrounded by the old mansions of the city’s wealthiest miners.

Inside, Our Lady of Guanajuato is venerated: a wooden statue that, according to tradition, was a gift from King Philip II in the 16th century.

Tip Visit Plaza de la Paz at night: the illuminated façade is one of the loveliest sights downtown.

Historic building

Universidad de Guanajuato

From Sanbernabé Tres: 1.6 km · 19 min walk

The university has its roots in an 18th-century college run by the Jesuits. Its main building, from the mid-20th century, rises above a monumental stairway that has become a symbol of Guanajuato.

Students bring the city to life all year round: many of the student minstrel groups and much of the cultural life are born in its classrooms.

Tip Climb the stairway: from the top there is a superb view over the downtown rooftops.

Legend

Callejón del Beso

From Sanbernabé Tres: 1.8 km · 22 min walk

Legend has it that Doña Carmen, daughter of a strict father, fell in love with Don Luis, a humble miner. To see her, he rented the house opposite: the balconies are so close that the lovers could kiss from one window to the other.

The ending is tragic, as every good legend demands, and today the alley is one of the most visited and photographed corners of Mexico.

Tip Go early to avoid queues; local storytellers recount the legend in front of the balconies.

Market · 1910

Mercado Hidalgo

From Sanbernabé Tres: 2.0 km · 24 min walk

Its huge iron-and-glass structure, with a clock tower visible from afar, opened in 1910. A local legend claims it was actually designed as a train station.

The ground floor has food stalls, fruit and traditional sweets; from the mezzanine you can see the whole market and find crafts and souvenirs.

Tip Come hungry: try enchiladas mineras and take home charamuscas, the local candy.

Museum

Alhóndiga de Granaditas

From Sanbernabé Tres: 2.2 km · 26 min walk

Built as a granary in the early 19th century, on 28 September 1810 it was stormed by Miguel Hidalgo’s troops, one of the first great episodes of the War of Independence.

Today it houses the Regional Museum of Guanajuato, with rooms on history, archaeology and folk art, and striking murals by José Chávez Morado on its staircases.

Tip Do not miss the staircase murals: they tell Guanajuato’s story in bold strokes.

Museum

Museo Iconográfico del Quijote

From Sanbernabé Tres: 1.3 km · 15 min walk

Born from the collection of advertising pioneer Eulalio Ferrer, the museum brings together paintings, sculptures and prints inspired by the Knight of the Sorrowful Countenance, by artists from many countries.

It is the best introduction to Guanajuato’s bond with Cervantes, which culminates every October in the Festival Internacional Cervantino.

Tip Take the chance to see the church of San Francisco on the same little square.

Church · 18th century

Templo de la Compañía

From Sanbernabé Tres: 1.4 km · 17 min walk

The Jesuits built it in the 18th century with a carved-stone Churrigueresque façade full of estípite pilasters and reliefs. Its original dome collapsed and was rebuilt in the 19th century.

From the city’s lookouts, its great dome is one of the silhouettes that help you find your way among the alleys.

Tip View it from the University stairway: it is the best angle on the façade.

Promenade

Presa de la Olla

From Sanbernabé Tres: 1.6 km · 19 min walk

The reservoir supplied the city with water from the 18th century. Around it grew the Paseo de la Presa, a tree-lined avenue where wealthy families built elegant Porfirian mansions.

It is Guanajuato’s calmest side: gardens, shaded benches and the hills reflected in the water.

Tip Go early in the morning; in season there are usually rowing boats for hire.

Museum

Museo Casa Diego Rivera

From Sanbernabé Tres: 1.9 km · 23 min walk

Diego Rivera was born in this house on Calle de Positos in 1886. Today it is a museum that recreates his family’s home on the ground floor and shows sketches and early works upstairs.

It is an intimate visit, very different from his great murals, that helps you understand where one of Mexico’s most important artists came from.

Tip Combine it with a walk to the Alhóndiga and the Mercado Hidalgo, close by.

Museum

Museo de las Momias

From Sanbernabé Tres: 3.2 km · 10 min by car

The climate and soil of the municipal cemetery naturally mummified the bodies exhumed from the 19th century onwards. Over time they became one of the country’s most famous —and unusual— visits.

It is a serious museum about death and memory, closely tied to the very Mexican way of looking them in the eye.

Tip It is about 10 minutes from the hotel by taxi; best early in the day, before the groups.

Mine and church

Mina y Templo de La Valenciana

From Sanbernabé Tres: 4.8 km · 15 min by car

La Valenciana’s silver made Guanajuato one of the richest cities of New Spain. Beside the mine rose the church of San Cayetano, with a pink-stone façade and gilded altarpieces in exuberant Baroque.

Up here you understand the city’s origins: without its mines, neither the Sanbernabé Tres mansion nor its “Silver Legacy” would exist.

Tip It is about 15 minutes by taxi; nearby there are mine entrances you can visit with a guide.