Morelia
Patrimonio Mundial / Centro HistóRico · Morelia, Michoacán
A city built almost entirely out of one stone. Morelia was founded in 1541 as Valladolid and laid out with the discipline to use pink cantera for generations, so more than 200 colonial buildings in the historic centre read as one thing rather than a collection; UNESCO inscribed it in 1991. The cathedral's twin towers rise about 66 m, and an aqueduct of 253 arches built in the 1780s walks into the middle of town and is floodlit at night. The city took its present name in 1828 from Jose Maria Morelos, the priest-general of the independence war who was born a few streets from the square. On Saturday nights the cathedral is lit and fireworks are fired from its towers, free for the whole city to watch. Morelia sits at 1,920 metres, is broadly flat, and is a friendly base for the Monarch Butterfly sanctuaries about 2.5 to 3 hours east in season, for Patzcuaro and its lake about an hour west, and for craft villages. It eats well, with carnitas, corundas and the sweets of the Mercado de Dulces, and it costs far less than the coast.
Plaza de Armas, Centro Histórico, Morelia, Michoacán, 58000, Mexico
An open city - free, no gate. Museums generally keep daytime hours and close on Mondays; INAH Sunday free admission applies to Mexican nationals and residents only. ⚠ THE CATHEDRAL LIGHT-AND-FIREWORKS SHOW RUNS ON SATURDAY EVENINGS from the main square and is free - visitors routinely miss it by a day. The aqueduct and the Calzada Fray Antonio de San Miguel are floodlit nightly. ⚠ THE MORELIA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL IN LATE OCTOBER AND DAY OF THE DEAD AT THE START OF NOVEMBER FALL BACK TO BACK and fill the city - book months ahead. ⚠ MICHOACÁN CARRIES A TRAVEL ADVISORY; Morelia's centre, Pátzcuaro and the butterfly corridor are busy and policed, and the practical rule is no intercity highway travel after dark. ⚠ HOURS AND PRICES NOT VERIFIED FOR THIS FILE.