You won't find any high-rise Holiday Inns in San Miguel de Allende (SMA). This is a 'casa town' - a town full of preserved, restored, & yes, 'new' colonial architecture built to conform to the strict building codes here. The codes were enacted to preserve the unique colonial character of this old community which was nominated a heritage city by the government in 1926.

Privately-owned rental casas aka vacation homes, most of them packed with colonial charm, are a popular accommodation choice in SMA, and especially popular with the long-stay crowd, the well-heeled, or a group of people who share the house & rent.

The rentals can be inexpensive or jaw-dropping extravagant, simple or luxurious, small (as in a casita or townhouse), to large or huge. The expensive ones usually come with maid, cook & gardener. There are also many luxury/boutique bed & breakfasts here. For the solitary traveler or those on a limited budget, there are apartments or studios for rent, often on the 2nd floor, in grand old restored buildings, many with a rooftop terrace or garden.

This rental web site lists a number of upscale casas: http://www.casaselegantes.com/

This popular 'vacation rentals by owner' site has vacation home rentals all over the world. This is the SMA page. It has a good variety of rentals including studios: http://www.vrbo.com/vacation-rentals/mexico#1561

Ps - Please excuse some of the poor quality photos. I was using my new/refurbished Nikon Coolpix 3100 camera the first few days, but i wasn't happy with it or the results so I reverted back to my trusty Pentax Optio 330gs. It has a lot of miles on it but it's still humming along ;o)

All of my journals from this trip can be found at: http://www.worldisround.com/browse/NorthAmerica/Mexico/Guanajuato/