“Omigod. It’s gorgeous!”

Such was the tenor of comments uttered by our group of normally jaded travel writers as we viewed the colorful rooftops of colonial Guanajuato.a university town in central Mexico, for the first time this October. Comparisons were thrown out: Portofino. San Francisco.

Nah. Just the absolute best of what Mexico has to offer.

Over the next few days, surprises kept coming. The macabre stories at Museo de Momias (mummies).  The Churrigueresque facade of San Cayetano de La Valenciana, a Baroque church built by a silver baron. Haute Mexican at Las Mercedes, where standout dishes included a salad of cacti and squash blossoms.

Yet Guanajuato was at its best in the evening, when mariachis strolled through La Jardin and its plazas filled with laughing students and friends meeting up for drinks.  It felt just like Europe – only with tasty chorizo tacos sold streetside. Bliss.

What destination surprised you this year? Tell me below!

Read more 2009 Year in Review posts: Yesterday, Best Bargain

Coming tomorrow: Worst Experience.

2009 Travel in Review: Best Surprise is a post from: Chris Around The World: A Journalist's Travels on the Road

I’ve put together two trip reports so far from my week in Mexico: Guadalajara and Guanajuato. San Miguel de Allende is still to come (and may have to wait until I get back from the Caribbean). I really loved this region of Mexico, Guanajuato in particular. I would love to go back and study Spanish here. I’m also inspired to visit other Colonial Mexican cities such as Oaxaca and Campeche.

To read about Guadalajara, click here.

To read about Guanajuato, click here.  

Mexico trip reports is a post from: Chris Around The World: A Journalist's Travels on the Road