Layout of Querétaro
Santiago de Querétaro was founded in 1531 on a shelf at about 1,820 m where the flat Bajío farmland runs into the first ridges of the Sierra Gorda. The colonial city was laid out on a grid, and about 200 blocks of it survive intact enough that UNESCO inscribed the historic centre on the World Heritage list in 1996, citing the unusual survival of both the Spanish grid and the winding lanes of the indigenous quarters beside it. The core is a chain of squares linked by pedestrian streets: the arcaded Plaza de Armas with the Casa de la Corregidora, now the state government palace; the Jardín Zenea a block west, beside the Templo de San Francisco and the regional museum; and Plaza de la Constitución, built over a former convent garden.
The east side of the centre ends at the aqueduct, 74 arches carrying 1,280 m of channel above Avenida Zaragoza and rising to roughly 23 m at its tallest, completed in 1738. It ends at the Convento de la Santa Cruz, on the hill where the city was founded and where Maximilian was held before his trial. He was shot on 19 June 1867 on the Cerro de las Campanas, a low hill 2 km west of the centre, now a park with a chapel paid for by Austria and a 20 m statue of Benito Juárez. The Teatro de la República, four blocks north of the Plaza de Armas, is where that court martial sat and where the Constitution of 1917 was promulgated on 5 February.
Around the old centre the modern city is organised by three roads. Avenida 5 de Febrero runs north–south and carries Highway 57 through the built-up area; Avenida Constituyentes runs east–west along the southern edge of the centre; and Bernardo Quintana loops around the whole thing as a ring. Querétaro Intercontinental Airport (QRO) is 30 km north-east near Colón, a 30-minute drive, and is one of Mexico's larger cargo and aircraft-maintenance bases as well as taking direct passenger flights to Houston and Dallas/Fort Worth. The main bus terminal stands south of the centre off Avenida Constituyentes, with separate halls for first- and second-class services.
Distances from Querétaro
| Place | km | Time | How |
|---|---|---|---|
| Querétaro airport (QRO), Colón | 30 | 30 min | Taxi, Hwy 200 state road |
| San Juan del Río | 50 | 40 min | Hwy 57D toll |
| Peña de Bernal | 60 | 50 min | Hwy 57D, then Hwy 100 |
| Tequisquiapan | 65 | 1 h | Hwy 57D, then Hwy 120 |
| San Miguel de Allende | 65 | 1 h | Hwy 57D, then Hwy 111 |
| Guanajuato | 155 | 2 h | Hwy 57D, Hwy 45D |
| Morelia | 190 | 2 h 15 | Hwy 45D, Hwy 43 |
| León | 200 | 2 h 15 | Hwy 45D toll |
| San Luis Potosí | 200 | 2 h 15 | Hwy 57D north |
| Mexico City | 215 | 2 h 30 | Hwy 57D south |
Districts and the country around
North of the centre, Jurica and Juriquilla grew out of colonial haciendas into low-density residential districts; Juriquilla also holds a UNAM research campus and much of the city's newer university building. East and south-east, El Refugio and the Centro Sur business district around the Estadio Corregidora, built for the 1986 World Cup, hold the office towers, hospitals and shopping centres put up during the growth of the past two decades. The metropolitan area now spreads into the municipalities of El Marqués and Corregidora, and the built-up area runs almost continuously along Highway 57 towards San Juan del Río, the state's second city.
East of the city the land rises into the Sierra Gorda. Sixty kilometres out, the Peña de Bernal stands about 350 m above the village of Bernal and is one of the largest freestanding rock monoliths in the world; it is the anchor of the wine and cheese route that runs on through Tequisquiapan, a spa town at the confluence of two rivers. Further into the range, four hours from the city, the five Franciscan missions built by Junípero Serra in the 1750s around Jalpan de Serra were inscribed by UNESCO in 2003 and sit inside the Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve, which covers about a third of the state.
Querétaro's position is the reason for its size. Highway 57D links Mexico City to Monterrey and the Texas border through the city, Highway 45D branches west through the Bajío to León and Aguascalientes, and Highway 120 climbs east into the sierra. See the Bajío region map, the state map, the road map and the airports map for the wider picture, and Central Mexico for the corridor south.
Questions about Querétaro
Where is Querétaro on the map of Mexico?
In central Mexico at about 1,820 m, where the Bajío plain meets the Sierra Gorda. It sits on Highway 57, the Mexico City–Monterrey axis, 215 km north-west of Mexico City and 65 km from San Miguel de Allende.
How far is Querétaro from Mexico City?
215 km by road on Highway 57D, about 2 hours 30 minutes outside the capital's rush hours. First-class buses leave Mexico City's Terminal Norte and the airport every half-hour or so and take around three hours.
What is the Querétaro aqueduct?
A masonry aqueduct of 74 arches running 1,280 m across the east side of the city, up to about 23 m high. It was built between 1726 and 1738 at the expense of the Marqués de la Villa del Villar del Águila to bring spring water to the convents, and it is the emblem on the state coat of arms.
Why is Querétaro growing so fast?
It has recorded some of the highest state economic growth rates in Mexico for two decades, built on aerospace manufacturing since Bombardier arrived in 2006, on car parts, and on data centres and back-office operations relocated from the capital after the 1985 earthquake and again after 2000.
Is Querétaro safe to visit?
Querétaro consistently records one of the lowest homicide rates of any Mexican state and is usually placed in the least restrictive band of the US State Department advisory. Conditions change, so check the current advisory before travelling.