There are 5 beautiful things to see in Morelia, Mexico. Of course, there’s a lot more than this list, but these selected few, are places that are sure to have you enjoying yourselves with the kids.
Morelia is a UNESCO world heritage site and many of the buildings in the city are built colonial style from the 17th and 18th century.
Not much has changed since then in terms of architecture and design, which makes it perplexing as all the features and aspects are in excellent condition.
We drove into Morelia, from Tolantongo which is located about 340km or 5.5hrs away. It is about 4hrs or 300km from Mexico City.
It is in the state of Michoacán and we arrived in the night when it was ice-cold temperatures and we were freezing our bottoms off.
Accommodation
Finding our accommodation proved difficult as there are many units within a single building. I mean you could get lost in the maze.
This was hard to see from the street as many buildings were joined together surrounded by one-way streets.
We had to contact our host, in the end, to get him to find us as it turns out we drove past the entrance many times. On the plus side, overnight street parking so close to the city was free.
Our accommodation was booked through Airbnb and we had no idea that several flights of stairs were waiting for us to climb, carrying two babies and a large piece of luggage just after midnight.
We were so lucky that we found an accommodation that accepted check-in so late in the night. Late check-in seems to be a very rare feature offered anywhere in Mexico, or at the very least the places we travelled to.
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Stroll through and get lost in the city
Upon entering Morelia, first impressions of the city were that it was elaborate with grand and traditional architectural designs.
The city turned out to be a historic attraction. We weren’t initially aware of this as we only needed an overnight stop on the way to Uruapan.
We ended up staying an extra night since it was a beautiful city with stone roads, monuments, squares and mansions that seemed to have stopped with time.
Morelia Cathedral
Morelia Cathedral is a majestic sight, especially if you had the vantage point that we had. We were nestled in a nearby rooftop bar called El Campanario Cafe & Bar fuelling up with tasty Mexican enchiladas and empanadas.
It is a Roman Catholic Cathedral built Baroque-style and made of pink stone.
At sunset, the grandeur was amplified with lights shining against the pink stone walls along with pink rays of sun in the background.
Centro Histórico de Morelia
Centro Histórico de Morelia, or Historic Centre of Morelia, is situated adjacent to the Cathedral and is surrounded by great places to explore with parks, local eats and little boutique stores.
We found that the best way to get around was on foot. We initially tried to go around with the car, but we ended up stuck in traffic for 30 mins, for a distance we could have walked in 10 mins.
We parked our car close to our accommodation on Calle de Velázquez de León.
The Mercado Independencia
The Mercado, or ‘markets’, is another place to check out and get a whiff of the local fresh produce, baked items and crafts. We bought some fresh strawberries and blueberries that were delicious and went down a treat.
Morelia Aquaduct, Tarascas Fountain and Morelos Square
There are other places to see such as Morelia Aquaduct which has 253 eye-catching arches. These arches were made with just over 1800 metres of the city’s signature Pink Stone.
Morelia Aquaduct
The Aquaduct is one of the best preserved structure of its kind, which greatly helped when it was getting listed on UNESCO.
It was built to serve the town with drinking water during the time of a drought that went on for 2 years.
Tarascas Fountain
Tarascas Fountain, is a sculpture made in 1984 of three women holding a fruit bowl. You can capture some great photos at this point or catch your breath on one of the benches and power up for your next walk with some snacks.
Morelos Square
Plaza Jardin Morelos, or Morelos Square, is another destination you can add to your list. It is the largest public square on the historic centre of Morelia. It has some planters lined up along the sides with a rectangular walkway made of the city’s Pink stone. There you will find the Morelos equestrian monument sculpted by an Italian sculptor in 1913.
Food Carts in Morelia
There are many food carts that are all around town with their little mobile carts selling different types of snacks.
You might see one person in one part of the city and later in the day, you might see the same person again.
They tend to pick a spot, stay for a while, then cart themselves to another part of the city so they can serve new customers.
There was one selling homemade fried chips, another selling churros, amongst other things.
We went for the freshly wrapped warm churros, as it felt like it would be the perfect choice for the cold weather and to warm us up.
They had three choices of toppings, but only two were available at the time we made a purchase – chocolate, condensed milk and strawberry. The condensed milk option ran out for us and was the popular choice.
There are so many carts of the same types of snacks around the same area. Yet some of them end up having a line forming for customers to get served.
We spent most of the day shopping and exploring the little stores along the streets. This is a fantastic opportunity to buy items for yourself and your family or gifts such as souvenirs for your friends.
That night from Morelia we drove towards Uruapan, which was the closest city to one of the youngest active volcanoes in the world.
Morelia ended up being one of our favourite spots in Mexico. What’s funny is that it wasn’t initially on our itinerary but seeing these 5 beautiful places in Morelia, Mexico gave us many moments of jaw-drops and wonderment.
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Things to take
- Camera
- Hat
- Walking shoes
Costs
There is no admission fee for the Cathedral. It can become very crowded on weekends so the best time to visit would be weekdays.
Hours
6:00am – 9:00pm
Location
Av Francisco I. Madero Pte S/N,
Centro histórico de Morelia, Morelia
Michoacán 58000
Great travel guide! Thanks