Cost of our nomad living in San Miguel de Allende

After having a wonderful time in Oaxaca City – where we experienced what authentic Mexico is – we spent 4 weeks in San Miguel de Allende (SMA) for the last leg of our 100+ days trip to Mexico. While Oaxaca City set the bar pretty high for us on so many fronts, SMA turned out to be our favorite place of all the places we explored in Mexico and we are definitely planning on coming back to.

Overall, we gave San Miguel de Allende a 5 out of 5 stars rating. Our accommodation was top notch and conveniently located in the city center. The abundance and quality of produce made cooking at home a breeze. The diversity of cuisine made going out to restaurants a delight. The transportation was convenient. And last but not least the community we met in SMA was the best we encountered during our time in Mexico. The two only drawbacks we would pay more attention as we return is commute and the air quality. SMA is pretty far from any airport, which can make the commute a bit longer. As for the air quality index (AQI), during our stay the AQI remained below 50 but air quality can be a problem in Mexico as we’ve realized during our 6 weeks stay in Mexico City.

With that being said, let’s look into what we liked the most, what we recommend, as well as the details about our budget and how the two of us spent $30 per person per day. Let’s go explore San Miguel de Allende!

Where We Traveled San Miguel de Allende, Mexico

Number of Days 4 weeks (from January 12, 2019 to February 9, 2019)

Type of Travel Married Couple, Slow Travel/Nomadic, Price Conscious

Total living cost $1747 USD (for 2 people) or $30 per person and per dayor $903 for person per month

Note: Unless specified otherwise, prices are in USD and were converted from MXN to USD using a 1:19 ratio. (so 1 MXN = 0.052 USD).

Before getting into the nitty gritty details of our budget, we will take a moment to go over what we did during our trip with this budget. If you came here just for the numbers, scroll down to out our budget section or fill-out out the form below to download our itemized budget spreadsheet if you want to know every single expense we had.  

What did we do / see and eat?

First of all, if you want to know what is happening in San Miguel de Allende, you must get your hands on the hard copy of Que Pasa San Miguel that comes out every Friday. This is the best way to be aware of local events that the city offers. You can also check it online.

Here are our favorites places to eat, shop and get entertained:

Our Favorite Grocery Stores/Markets:

San Miguel de Allende has A LOT of markets. We are listing our favorite by order of preference. They are all worth checking out at least once.

• Via Organica – This was the first place we went grocery shopping and it became one of our favorites. Not only their products are organic, they came from a farm close by that educate people on sustainable eating/living. We signed up for the tour of their farm which we highly recommend. The farm is both an ecological ranch & an educational model in regenerative agriculture and sustainable living. Their vision is to combat climate change, environmental degradation and rural poverty. It was very inspiring to see what they’ve achieve. They are providing food for both the restaurant & grocery store. The cost for the tour was 350 MXN pp (or 17 USD) for a 90 minutes tour + lunch. A portion of the proceeds are used as donation.

• Mercado Sano – This is a bit far from the center but was our second best grocery store / market we spent our time at. This place is on multiple stories and include a movie theater that shows english movies! On the weekend, they have an organic market outside of the building. Inside the building you will find a lot of gourmet shops such as sushi (& sashimi), frozen yogurt ice cream, sandwiches, kombucha and much more!

• Tuesday Market – This is the market you must go if you want to get food produce. It isn’t a tourist market but rather the market where locals go and we love that stuff! It is a massive market that brings most of the local producers together to sell their produce. You can also enjoy some fresh food and buy pretty much anything you can imagine from remote controllers to spare parts for your sink! It’s totally worth the experience.

• Mercado de Artesanias – This local market was a few minutes from our apartment and provided a fair selection of produce. You can also get food and shop for gifts as they also have pottery, jewelry and some clothes. It is a beautiful market that stretch on one long alley which makes for some great photo opportunities.

Our Favorite Restaurants:

• Casa Nuestra – I got treated to this new culinary experience in SMA by Mrs. Nomad Number for my birthday! We enjoyed the rooftop which was ours for most of our evening and lets you enjoy some of the best sunsets I have ever seen from the city. The food is European with a lot of Italian and Swiss dishes. I had a yummy Osso Bucco while Mrs. enjoyed some great salmon. The service was really great and I would happily come back!

• La Parada – We wrapped our stay in SMA by enjoying great Peruvian food from this restaurant that was recommended to us by some of the locals we met while hiking and loved it. You can’t really see what the restaurant looks like until you get inside and what a surprise! The setting is really cool, the service is great and the food is really delicious.

• Mario’s Mariscos Frescos – The best fish tacos we had in SMA. Pretty generous portion of fish and it sounds like the people that own the place are directly sourcing their fish through various places in Mexico.

• El Pato Barbacoa & Mixiotes – This is hands down the best barbacoa we found in SMA period (and even better than the one we found in Oaxaca). The lady there was wonderful. She offered us a selection of Barbacoa (they use lamb which was delicious), consome and Mixotes (which is a similar recipe than the barbacoa but that come with more juice as the juice of the slow cooked meat is kept).

• Orquidea Thai Restaurant – You will find two locations in SMA. We went to the one which wasn’t in the Livermore mall. The interior is pretty cool and the food was great. The only concern we had was that we felt the food was too salty. The owners are from Thailand and since the place was pretty empty when we arrived we found the service was pretty good. The waiter actually went out of his way to make us feel comfortable.

Our Favorite Local Stores:

• Panio – As a French, I’m always on the lookout for some good bakeries to get my fix of bread and I’m happy to report that Panio has pretty good bread and pastries! I came back a few times and they did not disappoint.

• San Augustin Chocolates & Churros – If you are a churros lover as I am, then you must stop by this place and try. Their churros come either as-is or with some chocolate sauce, which includes Nutella! Can you guess which one I got?
• Fantastic-Xocolatl – This is a very affordable place that sells chocolate, including dark ones that go all the way to 95% cacao. We took some for us and Mrs. Nomad Numbers brought some back home to share with her family.

Our Favorite Sights/Activities:

San Miguel de Allende is easily walkable and really easy to explore. If you don’t like walking, just hop on a local bus and explore the city. We also saw some touristy buses so you can probably hop on one of them as well if you want to discover this colonial place. There are no free walking tours available but you can find some paid ones if you’d like. We did not try them so can’t really comment on it.

Here is a sneak peak at some of the beautiful doors you will find while strolling the streets of San Miguel de Allende:

And here is a sneak peak at the streets themselves:

Outside of San Miguel de Allende we recommend the following destinations:

• La Gruta Spa – We spent the day relaxing in the hot Springs of La Gruta which was about 20 minutes from SMA. You can find two hot springs near SMA and we picked this one for its unique cave setting which was pretty cool as you can on our pictures. You enter from one hot spring then go through a cool tunnel before arriving in a Temazcal shaped structure which is enclosed so it feel like a sauna once you get there. While the place gets crowded due to its growing popularity, if you go either early or late in the day you can relax more. Cost: 225 MXN [200 for entrance + 25 for the bus ride RT[ (or 11 USD).

• Via Organica Farm Tour – You can sign up for this tour at the grocery store (see our favorite grocery store section). The farm is both an ecological ranch & an educational model in regenerative agriculture and sustainable living. Their vision is to combat climate change, environmental degradation and rural poverty. It was very inspiring to see what they’ve achieved. They are providing food for both the restaurant & grocery store. Cost for the tour: 350 MXN per person (or 17 USD) for a 90 minutes tour + lunch. A portion of the proceeds are used as donation.

• San Miguel Sunday hiking Facebook group – This group organizes hikes each Sunday at 7:45am in the surroundings of SMA. Most of the folks are American that are now living (or spending a big chunk of their time) in SMA. The group splits into 2-3 hikes which have different levels of difficulties. Carpooling is figured out on the spot and the only cost of the hike in 50 MXN (or 2.5 USD) that goes to the driver to cover gas. While the group age average is above 60, we met some really great friends during our time in SMA and could not recommend enough to join these lovely (and fit!) people.

• Botanical Garden – SMA has a botanical garden that double as a nature preserve with a majestic canyon just a few minutes from the city center. This place has great biodiversity, many different species of native plants and animals. The garden hosts an extensive botanical collection made up of cacti and other succulent Mexican plants, many of which are rare, threatened or in danger of extinction. To top it off, this place was sanctified as a peace zone by the Dalai Lama. Cost: 50 MXN (or 2.5 USD) per person. Make sure you have at least 2 hours to fully enjoy this place.

We haven’t had a chance to try to places below but they are worth checking out:

• Amigos de la Presa (Facebook group) – This is a kayaking group that organizes two kayaking events per week. This was recommended to us by the hiking group but we did not have the opportunity to join them. We will probably reconsider once we get back to SMA
• Hot Air Balloon Tour – If you wake up early, you will see a few hot air balloons flying over the city. It turns out that you can easily get on one of them. Tours usually include breakfast. Feel free to shop around as there are more than one company offering such experiences.

How much did we spend in San Miguel de Allende?

TL;DR; $30 per person and per day as a couple, or $903 per month per person!

With our previous trips to Montreal, Quebec City, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico city & Oaxaca City our average monthly spend per person was around $31 / person / day (Excluding cost of getting in & out). SMA was slightly under this average with a daily budget of $30 / person / day for a monthly budget of $900 per person.

For this budget, we explored the city and its surroundings. We splurged on a few really good restaurants, enjoyed great food at home and even spent time at a surrounding spa. We also did weekly hikes every Sundays with a great hiking group. And we did all of this while staying in an apartment located in the heart of the city with the most incredible view and sunset we could have hoped for. How did we manage to spend within this budget? Well lets look into each main budget category in more detail.

Accommodation: $17.13 / person / day

(Or $514 / person / month)

Accommodation is one of the most expensive part of our budget even as slow travelers. In SMA, we decided to book a 1 bedroom / 1 bath Airbnb loft in the centro area.

👉 You can check out our Airbnb rental listing here.

(This budget was on the higher end of the spectrum as you can find accommodation for less money.)

The place was part of 8 building complex with other similar rentals. We had access to a rooftop facing the center/churches and were walking distance from everything (restaurants, sights, grocery stores, and markets). The place was extremely quiet (compare to other places we stayed at in Mexico). One of the highlights of our apartment was the view from our dining area that was offering great views of the city along with incredible sunsets that we enjoyed along with our dinner. We also got free cleaning once a week which was a really nice treat to keep the place tidy.  

⇒ In total, for the length of our say, the 2 of us spent $994 on this apartment for a total of 28 nights.

Transportation: $0.03 / person / day

(Or $1 / person / month)

Since our AirBnB was walking distance from shops, restaurants and grocery stores, we mainly used transportation to go outside of SMA. The city offers public buses within the city center and from the city center to adjacent neighborhoods. Beyond that, you can take taxis or second class public buses. If you want to travel further there is a bus terminal where you can take first class buses that are very luxurious and affordable. Cost for the bus within the city limits is 8 MXN (or 0.40 USD) per person. Cost for a first class bus from SMA to Mexico City (3-4 hours drive) is 585 MXN (or 30 USD) per person. Uber service is available in SMA but not reliable at the time of writing so we are not recommending it.
⇒ In total, for the length of our stay, the 2 of us spent $3 on transportation.

Groceries: $6.40 / person / day

(Or $192 / person / month)

We mostly went grocery shopping at Via Organica + Mercana Sano + The Tuesday market where we were able to find a wide selection of fruits, vegetables and produce. Similar to other places in Mexico, most “tiendas” (small grocery stores) as well as big grocery stores carry of lot of extremely processed foods with limited to non existent organic items. You will find big grocery stores on the border of the city center with places like “La Comer”.
⇒ In total, for the length of our say, the 2 of us spent $372 on groceries. This covered 73/84 meals (breakfast, lunch & dinner) which is about $2.55 / meal.

Eating Out: $4.30 / person / day

(Or $129 / person / month)

San Miguel de Allende has a lot of restaurants but the tricky part is to find them as you might be walking in a street and won’t see many of them. We did pick fewer places than we usually do but compensated by splurging more on the food! Our favorites places were Casa Nuestra, El Pato Barbacoa & Mixiotes & La Parada (see our favorite restaurant section above for more details).
⇒ In total, for the length of our say, the 2 of us spent $241 on restaurants + $8 on snacks. Our restaurant budget covered 11/84 meals (mostly lunch or dinner). The average cost of our meals was $10.79 (including tax + tip) which is 3.5 times more expensive than eating at home (by doing the ratio between what a full day of eating out would cost vs a full day of eating at home as per our budget).

Activities: $1.96 / person / day

(Or $59 / person / month)

Our activities while in SMA included mostly hikes and visiting surrounding attractions. We recommend to join the  San Miguel Sunday hiking group for some great Sunday hikes and to meet a lovely group of hikers.
⇒ In total, for the length of our say, the 2 of us spent $113 on activities.

Miscellaneous: $0.26 / person / day

(Or $8 / person / month)

This section captures expenses that don’t fit in other categories. These were exclusively gifts for friends/family (300 MXN)
⇒ In total, for the length of our say, the 2 of us spent $16 on miscellaneous expenses.

Our Slow Travelers Tips

Slow travel is part of our philosophy. It gives us the opportunity to really connect with a place by not having to experience FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) and getting unnecessarily stressed for being on a schedule. With slow travel, we can see all the iconic sights and have time to spare to find the more offbeat spots that most tourists miss. Most of the time, those are the absolute gems. And as this blog post explains, we spend much less by leveraging “local” pricing and being able to leverage long stay discounts.

Here are some tips for anyone that plans to stay in San Miguel de Allende:

• Read Que Pasa San Miguel – This was our main source of inspiration when it came to finding what to do in SMA during our stay. You can also check it online.
• Use AirBnB – AirBnB is a website that allows homeowners, in destinations all over the world, the ability to rent private spaces (or entire apartments) for a fee. As nomadic long term travelers, we like to call AirBnB our home as it has helped us save a lot of money and provided us with really great places managed by wonderful hosts! Pro tip: If you sign up for AirBnB using our referral link, you will get a 55 USD credit (or the equivalent in your local currency), which should give you a pretty nice discount on your first night.

How did we save money for this trip?

• We used travel credit cards with sign-on bonuses to maximize free miles that we then apply towards our trip to travel for (almost) free.
• We walked when we felt like it 🙂 This helped us reduce our public transportation footprint while increasing our exercise activity. Double win!

So that’s it folks! Would you be interested in going to San Miguel de Allende? Is it as affordable as you thought it was? Feel free to share your experience and ask questions by leaving a comment below.