30 within 3½ hours · 7 under 2 hours
Salamanca, the refinery town on the Lerma, has the Pueblos Mágicos of southern Guanajuato within an hour: Yuriria, with its fortress convent beside a lake, is closest, then Salvatierra's riverside convents and Comonfort's molcajete workshops. Cuitzeo and its vast shallow lake in Michoacán, Dolores Hidalgo where Independence began, and the hacienda village of Jalpa de Cánovas are all about an hour and a half. For a weekend, Pátzcuaro and Tzintzuntzan, or Querétaro's Bernal.
Best months for the area: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr (when most of these towns are dry with comfortable afternoons)
Day trips (under 2 hours) 7
Close enough to drive there and back from Salamanca in a day. Closest first.
~1 h · 65 km
Best: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr
Fiestas: Jan, Feb, May, Jul, Sep, Oct
~1 h 15 min · 85 km
Best: Jan, Mar, Apr, Nov
Fiestas: Feb, Jul, Sep, Oct, Nov
~1 h 40 min · 115 km
Best: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr
Fiestas: Mar, Apr, Oct
Weekend escapes (2 to 3½ hours) 23
Worth a night or two. Closest first.
~2 h 10 min · 145 km
Best: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr
Fiestas: Feb, Mar, Apr, Oct, Nov
~2 h 25 min · 165 km
Best: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr
Fiestas: Feb, Jun, Sep, Nov, Dec
~2 h 35 min · 175 km
Best: Jan, Mar, Apr, Nov
Fiestas: Mar, Apr, Jun, Jul, Aug, Oct
~2 h 35 min · 175 km
Best: Jan, Feb, Mar, Dec
Fiestas: Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
~2 h 35 min · 175 km
Best: Jan, Feb, Mar, Dec
Fiestas: Apr, May, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct
~2 h 40 min · 180 km
Best: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr
Fiestas: Feb, Mar, Sep, Dec
~2 h 45 min · 185 km
Best: Feb, Mar, Apr, Nov
Fiestas: Feb, May, Jul, Oct, Dec
On the map
Getting there
Salamanca has no airport with scheduled flights; the usual one to fly into is Morelia (MLM).
A car is the easiest way to reach most of these towns; the bigger ones also have direct buses from Salamanca. Each pueblo's page has its own getting-there notes.
Drive times are from OpenStreetMap routing without traffic. Times marked ~ are estimated from the distance and may run longer on mountain roads.