Nevado de Colima

The Nevado de Colima, also known by its Nahuatl name Tzapotépetl, is the older and higher of the two volcanoes that close off the north of the Colima valley. Its highest point, El Picacho, is usually given as about 4,260 m above sea level (some sources give a few metres more), which makes it Mexico's sixth-highest mountain. Despite its name, almost all of it lies in the state of Jalisco; it stands a few kilometres north of the very active Volcán de Colima, or Volcán de Fuego, and unlike its neighbour it shows no volcanic activity. Its eroded summit hides much of its history, but pyroclastic deposits from an enormous ancient eruption and debris avalanche have been found more than 80 km from the crater.

Both peaks are protected by the Parque Nacional Volcán Nevado de Colima, decreed by President Lázaro Cárdenas on 5 September 1936 and redrawn in 1940; since 1997 it has been managed by the governments of Jalisco and Colima, and about 89 percent of it lies in Jalisco, in the municipalities of Zapotitlán de Vadillo, Tuxpan and Tonila, with the rest in Comala and Cuauhtémoc in Colima. The slopes are covered in forests of pine, fir and oak, which give way above about 4,000 m to high-mountain grassland (zacatonal) and mosses. Pumas, white-tailed deer, coyotes and collared peccaries live here, and more than a hundred bird species have been recorded; the red warbler, a bird found only in Mexico, is the park's symbol.

The mountain is the usual high-altitude outing of western Mexico. A dirt road climbs from the Ciudad Guzmán side through the forest to the La Joya area, with cabins, picnic tables and official campsites, and on to antennas near 4,000 m, the highest point cars can reach. From the La Joya base camp the walk to the summit takes about three and a half hours and needs good fitness; it is not technical in good weather, but conditions change fast, with snowstorms, strong wind and very cold nights. Snow is irregular and most likely in January and February, and the first snowfall draws big crowds: on 18 January 2026 Jalisco's civil protection closed the park to more cars after 200 vehicles had entered by 6:15 in the morning.