A Moveable Feast

New hotels and farm stays show off the bold flavors of Querétaro, Mexico.

- Naomi Tomky

Crispy cauliflower and smoked ribs at Bárbaro.

AFTER A LONG DAY spent navigating the cobblestoned alleys of Querétaro, Mexico, I floated in the pool at Hotel Hércules for so long that the sun went down and the seafood bar closed. I sipped my Caballo Bayo—a refreshing English pale ale brewed on site and flavored with cacao—until hunger got the best of me.

I dried off and decamped to the hotel’s restaurant for house-made charcuterie, local cheeses, and olives from the 40-year-old trees that surround a marble sculpture of the hotel’s namesake demigod in the courtyard.

Moisés Guadarrama, a chef at Bárbaro

I grew up visiting friends in Querétaro (which is the name of both the city and its surrounding state), taking the three-hour bus from Mexico City and eating messy pambazo sandwiches late at night in the city’s busy squares. Lately I’d been hearing that Querétaro’s well-preserved Baroque architecture was the backdrop for a culinary awakening, with third-wave coffee roasters, farm stays, artisanal-cheese shops, and innovative breweries and wineries. So I decided to go back and see it for myself.

This time I flew from Seattle, where I live, into Querétaro’s recently expanded airport, which receives direct flights from seven U.S. cities, including Atlanta and Chicago. Querétaro is located in a hilly, semiarid region in central Mexico, and its tree-lined pedestrian streets seemed just as I had left them, bordered by buildings in a warm rainbow of buttery yellow, maroon, and persimmon.

A guest room at Hércules

The 40-room