When you enter Casa Dragones' tasting room, you're greeted by a sleek, futuristic-looking space with obsidian-lined walls that narrow to a high, vaulted ceiling. Since it opened in 2016, it has become a must-see in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico's colonial capital, so I paid homage to the tequila gods on my first night there. A long-stemmed glass of Casa Dragones Joven, which the brand describes as a "tequila for sipping," was now on display at the altar-like bar. The manager, Eva Corti, an effortlessly stylish Italian with straight-cut blond bangs, was taking in the view from her own glass. She asked, "Can you see how clear it is?" "There are no flaws." We ran our noses along the rim in search of citrus and spice, flowers and wood aromas that we could detect. After that, we sipped quordle and I felt a rush of warm tequila fuzzies.
Corti told me a little bit about herself after we'd finished our last round of sipping. In the six years since she arrived in Mexico, she has lived in Mexico City, Oaxaca, Puerto Vallarta, and the Yucatán, but only in San Miguel felt like she had truly arrived. People are drawn to the place because of that. In fact, San Miguel de Allende has just been named the world's best city in the World's Best Awards for 2021, thanks to its stunning architecture, enthralling hotels, and infectious community spirit.
The World's Best Awards ranked San Miguel as the second best city in the world in 2020, following in the footsteps of 2017 and 2018. In fact, it's a place that many of our readers return to year after year and where many vacationers dream of setting down roots. Bob Pittman, the founder of MTV and Casa Dragones, bought a house in San Miguel just a few days after his first visit to the city. After Chicagoan Stirling Dickinson became director of the Escuela Universitaria de Bellas Artes, a local art institute, with the goal of turning San Miguel into an international arts colony, Americans have been drawn to its sloping cobblestoned lanes. The G.I. Bill brought a slew of WWII veterans to study there, and they spread the word about its beauty to the rest of the country. After a short time, it became a popular vacation and retirement destination for American citizens alike. According to Travel+Leisure readers, it's now the world's top city destination.
San Miguel de Allende is still a popular destination for artists, with a gallery-to-resident ratio that may be even higher than that of Santa Fe, New Mexico (which it has more than a little in common with). San Miguel, on the other hand, has emerged in the last decade as a culinary hotspot thanks to the arrival of restaurants like Moxi and peri. A number of high-end hotels have also opened in the area, bringing a new level of luxury to a previously backpacker- and bohemian-centric destination. It's no secret that San Miguel is becoming increasingly popular, which has prompted some residents to express concern about traffic and over-tourism. I disagreed, however, and instead enjoyed seeing mariachis and balloon vendors perform in front of the Parroquia de San Miguel Arcángel, the town's imposing neo-Gothic cathedral.
It's hard to knock San Miguel's most endearing feature, the city's gloriously anachronistic cityscape, down with just a few tchotchke sellers. There are hundreds of brightly colored doors leading to languid private courtyards, and the Parroquia, around which the entire town revolves. In large part, San Miguel's long history can be felt as you wander its plazas and churches and the endless covered market that snakes through its middle, resulting in the city's current colonial perfection. San Miguel de Allende was once the largest city in the United States, but after the Mexican War of Independence in the late 19th century, it faded into obscurity. Historic San Miguel has been spared this fate.
