La Casa Dragones reopened in fall 2022 after a lengthy restoration project, now offering bookable tequila tastings and experiences, and during the North America’s 50 Best Bars celebration became the epicenter for an endless parade of bar parties, pop-ups and guest shifts galore. That spiritual home was a 17th century stable built for the Dragones cavalry, a band integral to winning Mexico’s independence in 1810. Since then, Casa Dragones has been part of the social fabric of San Miguel de Allende we consider San Miguel de Allende our spiritual hometown, and La Casa Dragones our spiritual home.” “It was our first party and our debut of Casa Dragones Joven. “We launched in San Miguel in August 2009, with a party in La Casa Dragones,” she says. One of the destinations in town that seems to be in the center of the celebrations is Casa Dragones, the lauded tequila brand founded by Bertha González Nieves. “I joke that if you see a white person that’s the local.” “Ninety percent of all the Mexicans you see here on the weekends will be tourists,” Morales says. In a town with approximately 100,000 residents, about 15 or 20% of whom can safely be assumed to be American, the dynamics at play in San Miguel are a bit different than in other places around the country. In other words, when Mexicans from elsewhere in the country started to come to San Miguel for their vacations and weekend trips, that’s when its tourism bonafides were established. “Then it all started to change when the Mexicans started to come to San Miguel,” says Jose Morales, a local driver and guide who was born and raised in San Miguel. Eventually it became a noted destination for American and Canadian travelers and expats by the middle of the 20th century. The town predates the Spanish arrival and conquest of Mexico, though was formally founded in 1542. “San Miguel is like the heart of Mexico.” He’s referring not only to its central locale, but also its history, art and culture. “It is a very small city, but it’s very beautiful,” says Joel Echeveste, the front office manager for Casa De Sierra Nevada, a Belmond Hotel. There’s a sensational culinary scene, luxury hotels and resorts, and that picturesque aesthetic that appears as if conjured up from a fairy tale. San Miguel de Allende is here to stay as one of the premier places to post up on holiday across the whole of Mexico, even while lacking the beachfront that so many stateside travelers prioritize when heading to the country. But has it also emerged in full as a world class destination and one of Mexico’s leading tourism draws? No doubt about it. Is San Miguel still an almost impossibly charming little village? Yes. Yet, in some ways, this raucous celebration signals an emergence, an elevation to a higher plane for the quaint commune already situated at a lofty perch of some 6,233 feet while resting atop such aforementioned lists and pulling in a range of additional accolades. It’s been honored as the “world’s best small city” by Condé Nast Traveler three years running, and its historic city center is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Clad in a black suit paired with a black dress shirt, Mauricio Trejo, the town’s municipal president, kicked off the night as dozens of bar teams awaited their ranking fates, surrounded by assorted friends and hangers-on, along with social media stars and scribes, either of whom could also be described as friends and or hangers-on. Hundreds of revelers from the international bar community gathered in San Miguel de Allende in early May for the North America’s 50 Best Bars 2023 awards ceremony.
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