31 within 3½ hours · 4 under 2 hours
León is the gateway to the Bajío, and its airport is the one most visitors to Guanajuato's Pueblos Mágicos fly into. Lagos de Moreno, a baroque city of the Altos de Jalisco, and the walnut-orchard hacienda village of Jalpa de Cánovas are under an hour away. Dolores Hidalgo, where Independence began, is an hour and a half; Yuriria with its lakeside convent just under two. For a weekend, the Aguascalientes pueblos, the silver towns of Zacatecas and Querétaro's Bernal and Tequisquiapan are all within three hours.
Best months for the area: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr (when most of these towns are dry with comfortable afternoons)
Day trips (under 2 hours) 4
Close enough to drive there and back from León in a day. Closest first.
Weekend escapes (2 to 3½ hours) 27
Worth a night or two. Closest first.
2 h 14 min · 151 km
Best: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr
Fiestas: Jan, Feb, May, Jul, Sep, Oct
2 h 17 min · 167 km
Best: Jan, Mar, Apr, Nov
Fiestas: Jan, Mar, Apr, Jun
2 h 36 min · 182 km
Best: Jan, Mar, Apr, May
Fiestas: Jan, Mar, Apr, Jul, Nov
3 h 2 min · 249 km
Best: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr
Fiestas: Feb, Jun, Sep, Nov, Dec
3 h 3 min · 243 km
Best: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr
Fiestas: Feb, Mar, Apr, Oct, Nov
3 h 7 min · 200 km
Best: Jan, Feb, Mar, Dec
Fiestas: Apr, May, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct
3 h 8 min · 233 km
Best: Jan, Mar, Apr, Dec
Fiestas: Mar, Apr, Jun, Oct, Dec
3 h 25 min · 211 km
Best: Jan, Mar, Apr, Nov
Fiestas: Mar, Apr, Jun, Jul, Aug, Oct
On the map
Getting there
León has its own airport, León (Bajío) (BJX), so you can fly in and rent a car there.
A car is the easiest way to reach most of these towns; the bigger ones also have direct buses from León. Each pueblo's page has its own getting-there notes.
Drive times are from OpenStreetMap routing without traffic. Times marked ~ are estimated from the distance and may run longer on mountain roads.