Winning the World, Losing the Plot? What It Means to Be ‘Best City’ Again

A Local’s Take on San Miguel de Allende’s Shiny Title

For the fourth time, San Miguel de Allende has been crowned “Best City in the World” by Travel + Leisure, as voted by readers around the globe. And for those who call this city home, the news is often met with a familiar mix of pride, amusement, and a bit of exhaustion.

No one’s denying that San Miguel is beautiful. Cobblestone streets glow gold at sunset. Doors bloom in pastel tones. Jacarandas spill lavender clouds across the spring sky. But for locals, the glossy travel photos only tell half the story. And with each new accolade, the city feels that shift just a little more.

What does “best city” mean, really?

Is it the rooftop views or the way the light hits the Parroquia at dusk? Is it the Instagrammable brunches, or the creative energy woven through galleries and gardens? Maybe. But to those who live here, what makes San Miguel special isn’t just how it looks, it’s how it feels.

It’s the señora selling pan dulce from the same woven basket she’s carried for decades. The kids setting off firecrackers just because. The painter who’s been brushing color onto these walls for 30 years and still whistles while he works. These are the everyday stories that rarely make it into the magazines, but they’re what give this city its heart.

The double edge of being “the best”

Yes, recognition brings opportunity. Tourism drives the economy. It helps local businesses grow and puts artisans, chefs, and creators on the map. But it also brings pressure on the infrastructure, on the housing market, on the cultural balance that locals fight hard to maintain.

Ask any longtime business owner in the Centro, and they’ll tell you: it’s a dance. The honor of sharing San Miguel with the world is real. So is the challenge of holding onto what makes it irreplaceable.

The truth is: the visitors are welcome. But so is the responsibility to protect what can’t be packaged the rhythms of daily life, the textures of tradition, the soul behind the scenery.

Who defines “the best”?

A city isn’t just its colonial façades and boutique hotels. It’s the people. The vendors in the mercado. The café waiters who know your order. The families who’ve lived in the same barrio for generations. So when a headline declares San Miguel the “best city in the world,” the natural question is: best for who?

For some locals, it’s a complicated title. Rising prices have pushed people out of their neighborhoods. Wages don’t always match the cost of living. While some thrive from the exposure, others are left navigating a city that feels less and less like the one they grew up in.

Both truths exist at once, and both deserve to be heard.

What comes next

San Miguel has always attracted dreamers and there’s nothing wrong with dreaming. But growth without thoughtfulness comes at a cost. Now more than ever, the city needs smart development, inclusive opportunity, and cultural preservation that isn’t performative, but real.

To visitors: come. Enjoy. Fall in love with the view. But also understand that this place is not a product, it’s a living community.

Buy from the local tianguis, not just the designer shop. Visit the tortillería on the corner before heading to the rooftop bar. Ask questions. Learn a few words of Spanish. And remember that this place isn’t a fantasy built for you, it’s a city built by its people.

More than a destination

San Miguel de Allende didn’t become beloved through clever branding. It became “the best” because of the soul behind the surface, the slow pace, the fierce pride, the quiet beauty of lives lived out loud.

So yes, we’re proud. But we’re also protective.

Because San Miguel doesn’t want to be a backdrop. It wants to be a conversation.

And as the world keeps showing up, locals are just hoping it’s ready to listen.