Guanajuato Things to Do

This museum is located in the house where Diego Rivera was born. He moved from Guanajuato when he was 6 years old and never returned. However, his daughter purchased the home back from its later owners (who had subdivided the property and remodeled it into student housing quarters), and restored the home and moved an impressive collection of Diego Rivera's works into the property, which now contains four floors of his artwork, ranging from pencil drawings, to paintings and a small-scale replica of his famous "Dream of A Sunday Afternoon in the Alameda Central" (the original can be found in the Museo Mural Diego Rivera in the Alameda in Mexico City; see my Mexico City Things to Do Tip.)

The museum is just a few blocks from the main Plaza de la Paz. The ground floor was restored with original furniture from the period during which the Rivera family occupied the home while the upper floors contain his artwork.

The museum is open Tuesday through Saturday 10am to 7pm and on Sunday 10am to 3pm, with admission of $15 pesos (general) and $5 (students.)

Go see it, it is worth it to see the range of artistic styles that Rivera used during his lifetime of artistic achievement.

This Neo-Classical structure houses an impressive theater, complete with grand salons, parlors, atrium/skylights, etc. Run by the Instituto Estatal de la Cultura, a peek inside this magnificent building is worth the few pesos and minutes it takes to see the interior of this historic structure.

Performances are still held in the theater, and stepping into the foyer and the parlors and the main auditorium, all you have to do is close your eyes and reopen them to imagine stepping back in time and coming to this grand building. Unfortunately we visited during the day when there were no performances scheduled, but it must be a treat to see a performance in this majestic theatre.

Open Tuesday - Sunday
General Admission: $20 pesos

Besides being the state capitol, and a cultural/historic center, Guanajuato is a university town. The downtown is full of students and academics who gather to converse, read or pass the time in the many cafes and restaurants. Students can be seen with their notebooks and sketch pads around the city, in the museums, etc. Turn the corner, and your likely to run into a group of students, one playing the guitar with the others singing along. This university setting gives the town a vibrant, energetic feel to it.

The main campus of the state university is a cluster of big, colorful modern structures visible on a hill during the approach into Guanajuato. The original university building, however, is located in the central downtown area, and now houses the university's administrative offices. The University building originates back to the arrival of the Jesuits and their founding of the College of the Holy Trinity in 1732. The state of Guanajuato took ownership of the building in 1828 and renamed it the State College, and by 1945 it gained its University status.

It is an impressive building to look at, and as you can see, makes for a great photo opportunity.

I know the guidebook says that the view from Pipila is breathtaking at sunset, but I went at sunrise. It was absolutely spellbinding, and we were the only ones up there! We had the whole place to ourselves to watch Guanajuato come alive in the morning!!!

There are three main theatres in Guanajuato; Teatro Juarez, Teatro Principal and Teatro Cervantes. All three are absolutely beautiful and free to walk into and look around during the day. Teatro Juarez, which faces Jardin de la Union, has many cultural shows weekly and often is where the symphony plays. I saw an amazing pianist while I was in town for only 100 pesos. Teatro Principal also has shows but is less grandiose than Juarez. Still, an amazing theatre. As far as I noticed, there were no shows happening at Teatro Cervantes the three weeks I was there, but it's still an amazingly beautiful building.

When I was there, there was a clown who would do shows a couple times a day on the steps of Teatro Juarez. Even if you don't speak Spanish, he is still pretty damn funny. Just beware, he enjoys pulling helpless gringos front and center to be part of the show. I'm pretty sure I definitely increased his tips quite a bit the time I went.

It is a small colonial bridge in the downtown area with a curious history, it is probably one of the few bridges in the world that was built with the single purpose of being a way to enter a house. The house used to be on street level, but this street was lowered twice in order to allow carriages to drive on the road, as a result the house resulted to be located several meters over the street and it became impossible to reach the door. In order to correct this the bridge was built. The name was given because during the XIX Century a bell ringer (campanero) inhabited the place and he have the work of giving advice everytime a carriage was going to use the road.
As all the downtown of Guanajuato the zone is very nice, and the bridge is now used as a very small cofee shop.

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This place is in the surroundings of the city, and it is quickly gaining some fame so it is becoming a must see for many tourists.
The place was an Hacienda during the colony; since Guanajuato was a village dedicated to the production of metals, this one, as well as the other haciendas were used to "beneficiar metales" wich meant to separate the valuable silver and minerals from the useless rocks and sand.
Today the enormous property (22,000 sqauer meters) has been turned into a series of beautiful gardens in wich is very nice to walk around. Each one of them has a special design and have names such as the oriental garden, the arab garden or the orange trees garden. Appart from the ones open to the public I was told the Hacienda still has a lot of land wich has not been used yet, but may eventually be turned into new gardens for recreation.

Appart from the visit to the gardens wich is what has make this place famous, you can also visit the old hacienda building, wich shows how the people that owed it lived in colonial times, it also has XVIII century paintings and a famous chapel with a nice altarship, wich, altought there are many best ones in other places of my country, is a great piece of art.

Part of the charm of the place is to have a quite walk in the gardens, I am afraid that if this places fame keeps growing it may get crowded and so the walk may not be so enjoyable, but when I was there my and my family were the only tourists, and since it was the last place we saw before going back home it was a great way to say goodbye to a fantastic city.

The hacienda is open from 9:00 to 18:30 and you must pay a fee in order to enter with your camera or your video recorder.