4 Best Sights in Querétaro, San Miguel de Allende and the Heartland

If you have time to visit just one vineyard in the region's increasingly acclaimed wine country, consider heading to this respected operation in the Ezequiel Montes countryside, which offers a variety of tours and tasting experiences, including one that lets you horseback around the property's 125 acres of fields and plantings. Freixenet is especially known for its champagne-style sparkling wines, but the winery also produces some excellent still wines, including a dry white blend of Macabeo, Chardonnay, and Muscat, and an inky Malbec that pairs well with steak and pastas.

Querétaro has a number of smaller museums with idiosyncratic themes, and this one with an impressively extensive collection set among the many rooms, courtyards, and gardens of a historic house in the city center is one of the best. Exhibits touch on the history of calendars and calendar-making in different cultures around the world. You'll also find a vast array of framed calendars from the past century or so, including quite a few kitschy ones depicting pets, families, and suggestively posed women that were often distributed as advertising material. There's a nice view of the city skyline from the rooftop terrace, and a small café in the peaceful back garden serves coffee and light food.

This elegant 17th-century Franciscan monastery displays pre-Hispanic and indigenous artifacts from cultures of the region plus rooms dedicated to the colonial history of Querétaro and the general history of Mexico. There are early copies of the Mexican Constitution and the table on which the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed.

Also known as Plaza de la Independencia, this immaculate square is bordered by carefully restored colonial mansions and is especially lovely at night, when the central fountain is lit-up. Built in 1842, the fountain is dedicated to the Marqués de la Villa del Villar, who constructed Querétaro's elegant aqueduct. The old stone aqueduct, with its 74 towering arches, stands at the town's east end. Patio tables under the portico in front of Hotel Mesón de Santa Rosa are the perfect place for a respite from shopping and museum hopping.