22 within 3½ hours · 8 under 2 hours
Zamora, the strawberry town of the Michoacán lowlands, has the Pueblos Mágicos of the west within an hour: Jiquilpan, the birthplace of President Cárdenas, with its Orozco murals; Cotija, the cheese town; and Paracho, where Mexico's guitars are made, up on the Purépecha plateau. Mazamitla's cabins in Jalisco, and the lake towns of Pátzcuaro, Tzintzuntzan and Santa Clara del Cobre, are about an hour and a half. For a weekend, Ajijic on Lake Chapala or Tacámbaro.
Best months for the area: Jan, Mar, Apr, Nov (when most of these towns are dry with comfortable afternoons)
Day trips (under 2 hours) 8
Close enough to drive there and back from Zamora in a day. Closest first.
~50 min · 60 km
Best: Jan, Mar, Apr, Nov
Fiestas: Mar, Apr, Jun, Jul, Aug, Oct
~1 h 35 min · 110 km
Best: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr
Fiestas: Feb, Mar, Apr, Oct, Nov
~1 h 40 min · 115 km
Best: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr
Fiestas: Feb, Jun, Sep, Nov, Dec
Weekend escapes (2 to 3½ hours) 14
Worth a night or two. Closest first.
~2 h 20 min · 155 km
Best: Jan, Mar, Apr, Nov
Fiestas: Feb, Jul, Sep, Oct, Nov
~2 h 50 min · 195 km
Best: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr
Fiestas: Jan, Feb, May, Jul, Sep, Oct
~2 h 55 min · 200 km
Best: Jan, Mar, Apr, Nov
Fiestas: Jan, Feb, Jul, Aug, Sep, Dec
On the map
Getting there
Zamora has no airport with scheduled flights; the usual one to fly into is Uruapan (UPN).
A car is the easiest way to reach most of these towns; the bigger ones also have direct buses from Zamora. 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.