Inland Michoacán attractions

In the eastern-most corner of Michoacán, straddling the border of México state, lies the incredible 563-sq-km Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve, a Unesco World Heritage site since 2008. Every autumn, from late Oct…

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 blackened, village-engulfing lava fields will be a highlight of …

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. It took almost a century to build (1660−1744), which explai…

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 the site up the hill. This is where Franciscan monks began th…

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 jewelry, copperware, ceramics and guitars from Paracho, and an en…

This 18th-century palace, originally a seminary and now housing Michoacán state government offices, has a simple baroque facade. Inside, its soaring historical murals (1960) in the stairwell and 2nd-floor hallways a…

From 1660 to 1767, the Palacio Clavijero, with its magnificent minimalist main patio, imposing colonnades and pink stonework, was home to the Jesuit school of St Francis Xavier. Today the enormous building houses a …

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. Begun in 1540, the church was not completed until the 19th cen…

Stroll through luscious avocado groves to the beautiful ruins of this ceremonial site called Tinganio in Purépecha, which predates the Purépechan empire and thrived from about AD 450 to 900. Rarely visited and beaut…

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 with birds and butterflies. The Río Cupatitzio bubbles over boul…