The MICHELIN Guide has spent decades pointing out where to eat well. Today it also points out where to sleep well, and among the hotels it distinguished in San Miguel de Allende is Hotel Amatte San Miguel de Allende: it received a MICHELIN Key.
It is news we share with pleasure and celebrate in our own way, without hurry. Here we explain what this recognition means and what a stay in the upper part of the city is like.
What is the MICHELIN Key?
The MICHELIN Key is the distinction with which the Guide recognizes hotels, in the same way the Star recognizes restaurants. It is awarded in three levels, from one to three Keys. One Key is, in the Guide's own words, "a very special stay": a hotel with its own personality and service that always goes the extra step. It also offers considerably more than other hotels in its price range.
To award it, MICHELIN evaluates five things: architecture and interior design, the quality and consistency of service, the personality of the place, the value for money, and what the hotel contributes to its surroundings. The full definition is in the MICHELIN Guide's explainer on the Keys.
MICHELIN introduced the Key in April 2024 and opened it to hotels of every kind: vibrant and quiet ones, in big cities and in the middle of nowhere, cutting-edge design and those that celebrate the past. There is room for castles, lodges, tents and ryokan, a two-hundred-room hotel in a skyscraper and another with two rooms in a former watchtower. All can receive a Key, as long as they meet those same criteria.
A detail that is sometimes confused: MICHELIN Stars are for restaurants, and hotels receive Keys.
What the Guide highlights about Amatte
In Amatte's listing, MICHELIN describes a design hotel on a hillside overlooking San Miguel's artistic community. It speaks of a modern design with textures and a Mediterranean air, of the arches by the pool that recall the colonial legacy, of the edible and flower gardens, and of the rooftop with restaurant and bars.
There are 29 rooms, which we prefer to call nests, and the listing notes that from the studios to the villas the design remains consistent, with details such as wicker lamps and earth tones.
We tell it through materials: wood, clay and rammed earth, and a light that moves across the walls throughout the day. And if it's that artistic community that calls to you, at Fábrica La Aurora there is art, design and galleries to fill an entire morning.
MICHELIN also lists services that help you decide: 24-hour front desk, gym, concierge, rooftop bar and an excursion to nearby wineries. We tell you more about those vineyards in the Guanajuato wine route.
Among the MICHELIN Key hotels in San Miguel de Allende
San Miguel de Allende has several MICHELIN Key hotels, and Amatte is one of them. The city's list changes with each selection, so the most reliable way is to consult it directly in the Guide: the hotels of San Miguel de Allende in the MICHELIN Guide. It is a good starting point if you are comparing options for your trip.
How the pause is lived at Amatte
Start with the pool. Internally we call it "the grand piece": a design piece that organizes the landscape, with daybeds for doing nothing calmly. When the sun goes down, head up to the rooftop. The sunset over San Miguel is the event of the day, and it is enjoyed more with a signature cocktail in hand; we tell you more in sunsets from Amatte's terrace.
Then comes the table, and at Amatte there are several, all in our restaurants: the border cuisine of La Baha, the northern-cart seafood of Doña Livier, the birria with ramen of Cantón Birriamen and the cocktails of Aruma. Eating at Amatte is sitting down, looking out and wanting to stay. And to close the day, some nests have copper tubs hand-hammered by artisans from the region.
We are in the upper part of town, about five minutes by car from the center, with the city spread out at your feet and silence as a neighbor. If you're torn between the center and the heights, Historic Center vs. Upper Zone: Where to Stay? will help you decide.
The Guide has given its opinion. Yours you will know on arrival. We await you in our nests.
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