Chantal Trujillo is a Mexican-Spanish actress from San Diego, California. The style-obsessed Made in Mexico star recently became engaged in Valle De Guadeloupe and chose San Miguel de Allende, the UNESCO World Heritage site, as her upcoming wedding destination locale. She shares her favorite spots in the cobble-stoned city below…

Where are you from and where do you live now? San Diego, CA & Mexico City. SD is home, it always will be. Mexico City is where I built my career & my love.

What is the first thing you do when you return to San Diego? See my family and catch one of the famous sunsets.

Best and worst part of living in Mexico? The opportunities and the traffic.

Why did you decide to have your wedding in SMDA? It’s a wonderful place to spend a weekend. Small, Beautiful. The perfect wedding destination especially for my American invitees.

When was the first time you visited SDMA? It was my first weekend trip outside of Mexico City. Probably about 7 years ago. I fell in love since that first trip. I always knew it was going to be a special place for me.

Best way to get there from CDMX? Roadtrip!

Favorite Hotels? So many amazing choices. It depends on what you are looking for. International: Rosewood. Boutique: L’otel, Dos Casas or Hotel Matilda. Belmond’s Casa de Sierra Nevada is the perfect in-between.

Best pool? The Rosewood.

Restaurants/Bars?

• La Casa Dragones- González Nieves is one of the first women to hold the rare distinction of Maestra Tequilera by the Academia Mexicana de Catadores de Tequila. Visit the Casa Dragones’s tasting room in the former 17th-century Dragones stables.

• Bovine Brasserie and Steakhouse by Chef Paul Bentley.

• Chef Donnie Masterton’s The Restaurant is in a historic building with an open patio that specializes in “global comfort food.”

• Jacinto 1930 is a perfect stop for lunch because it’s in Dôce 18 Concept House, which houses a variety of shops and purveyors. Order the tuna tostada!

• Cent’anni Italian restaurant and lounge for its great live jazz and blues.

• Quince Rooftop and La Azotea (on the roof of Pueblo Viejo restaurant) are quite casual and fun, while Rosewood’s Luna Rooftop Tapas Bar is a little fancier.

• Cumpanio is a sleek new gourmet bakery/café just off the Jardín, the city’s main square with its signature pink Gothic-style cathedral.

• Casa Allende has innovative Mexican food created by celebrity television chef Eduardo Osuna

• Dos Casas is the setting for the star Mexican chef Dina Butterfield’s simple but sophisticated specialties at restaurant Aperi.

• Mivida is a collaboration between Mexican Greta Ortega and Italian David Garibaldi.

• La Sirena Gorda is a little cantina, dating back to the 1920s, and known today for its fish and surf-’n’-turf tacos.

• Sazón is the cooking school by the Belmond Sierra Nevada and offers market tours. Paco Cárdenas, the proprietor of the popular patisserie/café El Petit Four, also leads a weekly market tour, followed by a cooking class at his home.

• Pani is the best bakery in San Miguel, and the line around the block is the proof.

Activities?

• Parroquia de San Miguel Arcángel, a majestic church with towering pink spires in the heart of town. Stroll around the surrounding Jardin in the town square after.

• Centro Cultural Ignacio Ramírez, an art school in former convent with a cafe.

• One of the best and easiest day trips out of San Miguel is the six-mile journey to the village of Atotonilco, where the main attraction is the “folk-baroque” Sanctuario de Atotonilco, which, like San Miguel, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Built in the mid-1700s, it is decorated with religious frescoes by local artist Miguel Antonio Martinez de Pocasangre. Go on Sunday for market day.

• The natural hot springs at La Gruta offer a café, grotto, and a series of pools of varying temperatures.

Shopping?

• Fabrica la Aurora- a former textile mill, which has been restored and turned into a vast art and design center housing some 60 galleries and boutiques. Don’t miss acclaimed self-taught Mexican artist Juan Ezcurdia’s studio, where you will see him at work when he’s in town. Also check out the still lifes of James Harvey, and Elena Brown Guiness’s collection of important contemporary Latin American works. Besides art, the Fabrica showcases antiques, home furnishings, and jewelry.

• Mercado de Artesanías- a market filled with handicrafts, fabrics, jewelry, and street food.

• Dôce 18 offers great one-stop shopping for fashion, design, and food.

• Casa R is a unique design store.

• Recreo sells great original-looking ponchos and capes.

• Casa Armida and Hoja Santa boutiques.

• Take a day trip to Dolores Hidalgo to shop for the beautiful blue and white Talavera pottery the region has come become known for. Some favorite outlets are Talavera JMB and Talavera Vazquez.

Spa? The spa at Hotel Matilda! Or try the ancient pre-Colombian purification ritual known as Temazcal offered at the Laja Spa at the Belmond Casa de Sierra Nevada— it involves sweating away your cares and demons in a dark, domed stone hut heated to sauna-like temperatures with volcanic rocks.

Text: Veronica H. Speck Follow : @chantaltru