Tour Description

Mexico City – Queretaro – San Luis Potosi – Zacatecas

These splendid colonial cities embody thousands of years of history and continue to entice travelers to return time and again. Their cobblestone streets are lined with mansions and historical buildings, and their beauty and folklore will steal your heart away.

Tour Itinerary

Day 1 Friday
Arrival in Mexico City, the nation’s capital, a metropolis with a striking contrast between the ancient and the modern. Your hotel will be in a modern glass high-rise building, but from your window you can contemplate a 400-year-old mansion. You’ll be transferred from the airport to the hotel Barcelo Reforma. Welcome cocktail and overnight.

Day 2 Saturday
This morning you’ll watch the city awaken over breakfast at the hotel. Afterwards, we’ll visit two of its most charming suburbs—San Angel and Coyoacan—both with quiet streets lined with historic, expensive mansions. Our first stop will be at the Bazaar del Sábado in San Angel. This indoor market has a festive atmosphere and showcases a beautiful display of arts and crafts. Then we’re off to Coyoacan, a charming suburb with narrow colonial-era streets and plazas brimming with a lively atmosphere. Here we’ll visit the home of Frida Kahlo, which was turned into an art museum. Lunch in Coyoacan. We’ll return to the hotel late in the afternoon. Dinner at Villa Maria restaurant. (B, L, D)

Day 3 Sunday
Enjoy breakfast at the hotel and then depart for the city of Queretaro, one of Mexico’s loveliest colonial cities and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This city has many flower-filled plazas surrounded by ornate, colonial structures. An easy pedestrian-only route will allow you to walk past most of the historical buildings and squares lined with churches, museums, shops, and cafés.

After lunch, you’ll have the opportunity to visit other important sites such as the Aqueduct— touted to be the seventh largest in the world—and the Cerro de las Campanas, a historical site in the mountains where Emperor Maximillian of Mexico was executed in 1867.

Not too far is today’s final destination: the 16th-century Hacienda Jurica, a beautifully restored plantation home that has preserved its architecture and charm. Dinner and overnight at the Hacienda. (B, D)

Day 4 Monday
Enjoy a relaxing breakfast and time at the Hacienda before our short drive to the city of San Luis Potosi. Before our arrival to the city, we’ll visit Santa Maria del Rio, known as the cradle of one of Mexico’s most popular clothing accessories: the rebozo, or the Mexican shawl. You’ll have a chance to see the artisans as they work with their traditional belt looms. Santa Maria is also known for manufacturing wood furniture and inlaid cedar boxes. We’ll have lunch in San Luis Potosi followed by a city tour of this 400-year-old city, nicknamed “The Garden City,” with its outstanding examples of colonial architecture. Overnight at Palacio de San Agustin, a 17th-century mansion, now a hotel museum. (B, L, D)

Day 5 Tuesday
Enjoy your breakfast— our destination for today is the city of Zacatecas. This is a 16th-century labyrinthine city and one of the most beautiful in Mexico; it’s also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Way back when, the wealth from the local silver mine paid for its many elegant buildings made of pink quarry stone. We’ll have lunch at a local restaurant that will include a taste of the local wine, then we’ll enjoy sightseeing some of the city’s architecture before checking in at our hotel. During the evening we’ll visit the Cerro de la Bufa, traveling up the cliff by cable car for a great view of the city. Dinner and overnight at the splendid Quinta Real. (B, D)

Day 6 Wednesday
Breakfast at the hotel and depart for the towns of Jerez, established in 1565 as a military post and now a town with charming colonial provincial architecture, and Sombrerete, a town with a collection of 17th-century architecture. Before our return, we’ll visit the Sierra Los Órganos, mountains full of igneous monolithic rock formations that look like organ pipes. On the way to the hotel, we’ll stop at the winery at Tierra Adentro, not too far from the hotel. Dinner and overnight. (B, L, D)

Day 7 Thursday
Breakfast and transfers to airport
(B)