Most people would not consider Cozumel as the ideal place to begin a journey to San Miguel but that’s where we started from on the day we traveled there. We took a non-stop flight to (MEX) Juarez International in Mexico City via Interjet connecting to another Interjet flight to (BJX) Del Bajio Airport in Leon, Guanajuato.
As is not uncommon in August, on the day we traveled, our early afternoon takeoff from CZM just beat a storm coming towards the island and while the entire flight to MEX was smooth; another storm was rapidly approaching MEX as we prepared to leave for BJX.
As we prepared to take off the late afternoon sky was dark with storm clouds with only a few visible clear patches. For the first 5-minutes after our takeoff our pilot flew in circles in a spiral ascent maneuver keeping in relatively clean air near the airport till we gained an altitude sufficient to get above the clouds. From that point on, we had a very short reasonably smooth ride into BJX.
We arranged to be met by a driver from Infotoursmx for the roughly one hour and 15-minute drive to San Miguel for a charge of $160 USD round trip (for the car). It is possible to take a shared shuttle for about $50 per person round trip but we had too much luggage on a late arriving flight and not knowing the landscape, it was worth it to us to have the private driver.
BJX is the airport most people visiting San Miguel tend to use but we discovered that it is also possible to take a shuttle ($120 USD per person round trip) or hire a private car ($300 USD round trip for the car) from the Mexico City MEX airport for a ride of about 3 ½ hours. When you consider the waiting time between flights and the actual flight itself, a private car from MEX is not all that bad an option and we made the decision that on our next visit to SMDA that’s the way we’ll plan to go.
The (QRO) Queretaro Airport is a 3rd option. It is slightly closer to San Miguel de Allende than BJX but the flight options into the airport are rather limited. Shuttle and hired car prices are the same as for BJX.