We had four days three nights exploring the beautiful city of Morelia, the capital of Michoacan. Morelia was declared a Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO, in 1991. It is also one of the magic towns of Mexico.

When we first arrived into the city we had two missions to achieve, one to get some laundry done and the second mission was to get the aircon working in the van before we hit the hot and sticky coast again.

Unfortunately we only accomplished one of the missions  – we’ve got clean clothes, but we are hot – the aircon was not an easy fix, the van needed a new compressor. Bugger!

On our first day in Morelia we found the local tourist information centre and they gave us a brilliant walking map of the city. The map had five different colour coded walking tours with information about the various buildings and points of interest enroute. Bonus it was in English!

Glen was keen to explore the area around the old aqueduct first (the blue walking tour), this was just outside of the centro district. So we headed off on this walking tour first, it was a short drive from where we were staying.

The aqueduct was built in 1785 and brought potable water into the city. 

Our next stop was the Sanctuary of Guadalupe, a stunning church that  was built in the early 1700’s. The inside of the church is really something special – it got our vote for the best church interior in Mexico. 

Stunning interior

Dome Inside the Church

The “Tarascas” fountain is a beautiful sculpture that remembers the purhépechas, the local indigenous population of Michoacán. It symbolises three important purépecha women: Atzimba, Tzetzangari, and Erendira the last one remembered for being the one that fought against the Spanish people.

One of our favourite buildings in Morelia is the former Convent of San Buenaventura a building dating back to the 16th century. The convent is now Morelia’s House of Handicrafts. In the House of handicrafts, which is located on the ground floor it displays  beautiful handicrafts from around the Michaocan region. The nuns bedrooms upstairs now exhibit and sell the work of local master craftsmen as well as the collections of the many handicraft types practiced throughout the state.

Outside the convent is a large plaza that had a great display of fairy lights. Love it!

The buildings and museums in Morelia are incredible and there are so many. While we tried to get around all of them on the walking tours, there were some we didn’t manage to visit in our fours days. We had to leave something for next time.

Our accommodation in Morelia was a mixed bag, two nights in a nice hotel on a hill overlooking the city. One night in Estacionamiento San Jeronimo (a secure car park), recommended by an app we use called IOverlander. Ismael who owns the car park welcomes travellers and their campervans. He only speaks Spanish, and is a very kind caring soul. The next morning when we woke up he had gone and got us breakfast.  We didn’t get service like that in our nice hotel.

Our last morning in Morelia we did one last walking tour around the red walking area. This included the large Cathedral in the centre of Morelia made of a pink stone from the region.

The Las Rosas garden and convent another beautiful place to see. The ancient nun convent was turned into a Spanish girls orphan. At the end of the walk, we rested our feet for a bit and had a drink in the square. This convent is one block down from Clavijero Cultural Center at Santiago Tapia Street.

We ate ourselves silly in Morelia, enjoying its lovely street food and restaurants. Renee who we housesat for in San Miguel recommended a restaurant in the main square called Lu Cocina Michaocana, a restaurant that serves traditional Michaocan food with flare. It was a great place to enjoy a meal and people watch. We had Enchiladas de jícama – flowers of the hibiscus. Man it was yummy, and really different.

Glens vote for the meal of the moment in Morelia goes to a cafe along Benedicto Lopez Street across the road from the car park where we were staying. There they made large fresh quesadilla stuffed with the filling of your choice. They were HUGE, and very tasty. We didn’t need dinner that night.

Morelia is well worth a visit, it is a four hour drive from Mexico City. The city is  surrounded by hills and mountains, and is an easy place to wander round and be a tourist in. We felt safe both during the day at night in the city centre, and for Mexico the city is very clean.  Unfortunately due to warnings from the US Government about the dangers in the State of Michoacan it scares away some tourists. Michoacan tourists are mostly Mexicans on holiday – 85%, the rest are from overseas.