Guadalajara
Standing proudly at the eastern end of dramatic Plaza Tapatía is one of Guadalajara’s architectural landmarks, and a Unesco World Heritage site since 1997…
Must-see attractions in Western Central Highlands
Reserva de la Biósfera Santuario Mariposa Monarca
Inland Michoacán
In the eastern-most corner of Michoacán, straddling the border of México state, lies the incredible 563-sq-km Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve, a…
Inland Michoacán
The upstart Volcán Paricutín (2800m) might be less than 80 years old, but clambering up the volcanic scree slopes to its summit and looking out across…
Western Central Highlands
Volcán Nevado de Colima (4260m) is accessible on foot from the last week of October till the first week of June. Patches of pine forest cover Nevado’s…
Guadalajara
Guadalajara’s cathedral is the city’s most conspicuous landmark with distinctive neo-Gothic towers built after an earthquake toppled the originals in…
Guachimontones Archaeological Site
Guadalajara
Just 40km west of Guadalajara is the fascinating and distinctive archaeological site known as Guachimontones – one of the only ancient ruins in the world…
Morelia
Morelia’s cathedral, considered by many to be the country's most beautiful, dominates the city center, where it flanks rather than faces the central plaza…
Antiguo Convento Franciscano de Santa Ana
Inland Michoacán
South of the lake and just west of Hwy 120 lies this enormous religious compound built partly with stones from the Purépecha yácatas (temples) taken from…
Guadalajara
One of the city's most important churches, the Basílica de Zapopan, built in 1730, is home to Nuestra Señora de Zapopan, a petite statue of the Virgin…
Museo de Artes e Industrias Populares
Inland Michoacán
Highlights among the well-curated exhibits of this impressive folk-art museum include a room set up as a typical Michoacán kitchen, cases of gorgeous…
Guadalajara Region
If you have time for only one distillery tour while in Tequila country, make it this one. Here you'll see the entire process, from piña harvesting to…
Museo Regional de Historia de Colima
Western Central Highlands
This excellent museum in a colonial era casona (mansion) has an extensive collection of well-labeled artifacts spanning the region’s history, from ancient…
Guadalajara
On Thursday and Sunday, Tonalá bursts into a huge street market that sprouts on Avenida Tonaltecas and crawls through dozens of streets and alleys and…
Guadalajara
This superb collection of over 500 pieces of national folk art is housed in a converted religious mission and includes well-displayed miniature figurines,…
Centro Cultural Juan Beckman Gallardo
Guadalajara Region
Opened in 2018, this gorgeous colonial-style cultural center is home to a modern museum with well-curated exhibits on the history and culture of the…
Morelia
This 18th-century palace, originally a seminary and now housing Michoacán state government offices, has a simple baroque facade. Inside, its soaring…
Morelia
From 1660 to 1767, the Palacio Clavijero, with its magnificent minimalist main patio, imposing colonnades and pink stonework, was home to the Jesuit…
Basílica de Nuestra Señora de la Salud
Inland Michoacán
Built on a hill atop a pre-Hispanic ceremonial site, this cathedral-cum-pilgrimage site was intended to be the centerpiece of Vasco de Quiroga’s utopia…
Tingambato Archaeological Site
Inland Michoacán
Stroll through luscious avocado groves to the beautiful ruins of this ceremonial site called Tinganio in Purépecha, which predates the Purépechan empire…
Western Central Highlands
Comala’s obligatory sight is this former home of Mexican artist Alejandro Rangel Hidalgo (1923–2000), which now contains a museum dedicated to the man’s…
Parque Nacional Barranca del Cupatitzio
Inland Michoacán
This incomparable urban park is just 15 minutes west of the main plaza, but it’s another world. Tropical and subtropical foliage is thick and aflutter…
Inland Michoacán
Pátzcuaro’s leafy main square – more commonly known as 'Plaza Grande' – is Mexico’s largest plaza after the Zócalo in Mexico City and the only one in the…
Western Central Highlands
Overlooking Comala and Colima, 23km and 30km to the north respectively, is smoking Volcán de Fuego (3820m), Mexico’s most active volcano. It has erupted…
Museo Antiguo Convento Franciscano de Santa Ana
Inland Michoacán
House in the former Franciscan Monastery of St Anne, this fascinating museum showcases Purépecha culture and history and documents the arrival of the…
Guadalajara Region
Free Spanish- and English-language tours are available at the high-end 100% agave distillery Tres Mujeres, where some 40 different tequilas are produced,…
Guadalajara
Just south of Avenida Javier Mina and the Mercado San Juan de Dios, this is the very birthplace of mariachi music. By day it’s just a narrow walking…
Museo Universitario de Artes Populares
Western Central Highlands
Colima's best museum, this is a showcase for folk art including a superb collection of masks, mojigangas (giant puppets), musical instruments, baskets and…
Guadalajara
Among the best of the many ceramics museums in the greater Guadalajara region, this one focuses largely on works from Tonalá, arguably the finest in…
Morelia
Housed in a dozen rooms of a renovated late-18th-century baroque palace, this museum contains an impressive array of pre-Hispanic artifacts, including a…
Guadalajara
Guadalajara's most important museum tells the story of the city and the surrounding region, somewhat haphazardly, from prehistory to the revolution…
Reserva de la Biosfera Sierra de Manantlán
Western Central Highlands
A 1396-sq-km swath of the jungle-clad limestone mountains northwest of the city of Colima is protected by Unesco as critical habitat. It is certainly…
Inland Michoacán
Some 12km south of central Uruapan, the wild Río Cupatitzio makes its last act count. It pumps hard over the vine-covered, 30m-high red-rock cliffs and…
Tzintzuntzan Archaeological Site
Inland Michoacán
This site comprises an impressive group of five semicircular reconstructed temples known as yácatas, which are all that remain of the mighty Purépecha…
Guadalajara
The golden-hued Palacio de Gobierno, which houses the Jalisco state government offices, was finished in 1774 and is well worth visiting to see two…
Santuario de la Virgen de Guadalupe
Morelia
A standard baroque structure on the outside dating from 1708 to 1716, this hushed sanctuary to Mexico's patron is a different story within. Get ready for…
Colegio de San Nicolás de Hidalgo
Morelia
This building is now part of the Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo, which produced such scholars as Morelos, Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla and…
Inland Michoacán
This cool, rambling colonial edifice was built as a Dominican convent in the 1740s. (Before that, it was the site of the Hospital de Santa Martha, founded…
Guadalajara Region
Las Piedrotas are a large and impressive group of rock formations set in cow pastures in what's called the Valle de las Enigmas about 6km north of town…
Biblioteca Gertrudis Bocanegra
Inland Michoacán
On the northern side of Plaza Chica and occupying the cavernous 16th-century Templo de San Agustín, this stunning public library has a barrel-vaulted…
Morelia
This museum, arguably Morelia's best on the subject of José María Morelos y Pavón, resides in the former house of the independence hero, who bought the…
