Puerto Vallarta and San Miguel de Allende have landed second and fourth place respectively in Condé Nast Traveler's Readers' Choice Awards for the world's best small cities — with Puerto Vallarta missing the top spot only to Victoria, Canada, which has now won four years running.
The poll drew responses from nearly 800,000 readers, and the two Mexican towns sat comfortably in a top 10 stacked with European heavyweights: Lucerne came fifth, Porto seventh and Venice ninth, while Florence edged San Miguel de Allende out of third.
San Miguel de Allende, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the highlands of Guanajuato, has now made the list seven years straight. Condé Nast pointed to its Spanish colonial architecture, colour-washed façades and a thriving art scene that draws expat creatives — including Fábrica La Aurora, a converted textile factory now filled with galleries and pop-up shops. The magazine also flagged the Rosewood hotel as a quiet escape in the middle of town.
Puerto Vallarta held onto its number two position for a second year, and the magazine took aim at its party-town reputation head-on. Yes, there are cruise crowds and spring break bars, but the judges steered readers toward the Old Town's cobbled, bougainvillea-draped streets, the Ocean Grill restaurant tucked into a rocky cove, and Yelapa, a beach village reachable only by boat.
Mexico cleaned up in the beaches category too, claiming six spots in the Americas rankings. Tulum came second behind Hawaii's Hanauma Bay, with Playa del Carmen (11th) and Playa de Akumal (13th) joining it from Quintana Roo. Balandra in Baja California Sur took fifth, Puerto Vallarta itself was 15th, and the hidden beach of Playa del Amor in the Marieta Islands rounded things out at 16.
For travellers, this is a useful double endorsement: two very different Mexican small cities, one Pacific beach resort and one highland colonial art town, both validated by a notoriously picky readership. They also pair well — a few days of coast followed by inland culture is an easy route through central-western Mexico, and the beach awards give you a ready-made excuse to extend either end of the trip.
