Laguna de Yuriria

Laguna de Yuriria spreads out just north of the town, a shallow lake of about 7,000 hectares dotted with islands and fringed with reeds. Though it looks natural, it is partly a colonial engineering work: in 1548 the Augustinian friar Diego de Chávez y Alvarado, who also began Yuriria's great convent, had a canal dug to bring water from the Lerma River into an old marshy basin, creating a reservoir that is often called one of the first major hydraulic works in the Americas. Gates on the canal still regulate the flow.

The Purépecha name of the place is usually translated as lake of blood. The lake has several islands, including San Pedro, El Fuerte, and Las Cabras; San Pedro is now joined to the shore by a dirt road.

The lake is a protected area and, since 2004, a Ramsar wetland of international importance. More than 140 bird species have been recorded here, among them herons that nest in the reeds and American white pelicans. Migratory birds start arriving around October, so late autumn and winter are the best seasons for birdwatching.