The Pueblo Magico town of Patzcuaro
Located in the state of Michoacán, Patzcuaro is one of 177 “Pueblo Magicos” (Magical Towns) designated by Mexico’s Tourism department. The designation is meant to promote towns around the country that offer visitors a “magical” experience by reason of their natural beauty, cultural riches, or historical relevance. Click here to see a listing of Mexico’s Pueblos Magicos.
What makes Patzcuaro special? Well, the first thing that you’ll notice is how homogeneous buildings are: 1 or 2 stories high, with red tile roofs, painted in white with red trim along the bottom of the walls. Each building has stylized lettering, in red and black, describing the nature of the businesses inside. Even street signs are drawn on the walls in red and black. You won’t see ugly signs or placards in Patzcuaro. You’ll also see lots of churches, porticos, arches and courtyards dating back to the Spanish.
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You can’t help but feel like you’ve stepped back in time in Patzcuaro.
Patzcuaro is not a big place and everything revolves around the main square, named Plaza Vasco de Quiroga (also called Plaza Grande). Many of the town’s restaurants and cafés are located under the portico-ed buildings around the square and it’s a great spot to sit down with a drink and watch local life. We spent 3 days in Patzcuaro and every evening my mom and I (this was my yearly trip visiting her in Mexico) would finish the day with a margarita on the square. A few photos below:
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Sights in Patzcuaro
Patzcuaro is the kind of place where you wander around, sit on squares and go to markets. There’s no one sight that will leave you breathless, all together however they add up to a lot of things to see in such a small place and will leave you appreciating the history and how it’s been preserved. More importantly, Patzcuaro feels like “the real Mexico”. It – and the surrounding area – is famous for its indigenous culture and arts and crafts. People come here from all over Mexico to buy its textiles, copper works, pottery, baskets, and wood work. The countryside around Patzcuaro is also very pretty and has lots of historical and cultural highlights (to be covered further below).
For now here are a few sights in the town of Patzcuaro itself.
Patzcuaro’s most popular tourist site is the Casa de los Once Patios (House of Eleven Courtyards). It is a complex of courtyards and shops that today make and sell local crafts – but in the 1700’s it was a convent for Dominican nuns that grew to include 11 courtyards (there are 5 existing today). It is a great spot to do some shopping.
The town’s 2nd major square is Plaza Gertrudis Bocanegra, also called the Plaza Chica. You’ll see lots of locals sitting in the shady park (as well as dogs scratching themselves). On one side of the plaza you’ll see what used to be a church (the Ex Temple of San Augustin) which is now the Gertrudis Bocanegra library. Inside you’ll see a huge mural by Juan O’Gorman depicting the history of Michoacán.
Below: worth visiting on Fridays (only on Fridays) is the market on Plaza de San Francisco. Indians from the surrounding area come into Patzcuaro and sell their pottery and baskets. Really unique stuff and very inexpensive.
A few more images taken while walking around Patzcuaro.
Note: I recently did a poll asking people to vote for their favorite Pueblo Magico in Mexico. Patzcuaro won. All about that here.
Touring the Patzcuaro Region
There’s lots to see around Patzcuaro starting with the lake, Lake Patzcuaro. The most popular activity is visiting the island of Janitzio, recognizable by a huge statue (40 meters) of José María Morelos, a Mexican catholic priest and rebel leader who organized the Mexican war of Independence against the Spanish. By most accounts however, seeing the island is not worth it (very, very touristy and you’ll feel overwhelmed by all the kiosks selling crap).
Instead, book a tour as we did. It was one of the most interesting tours I’ve taken. Jaime (our tour guide) took us to a viewpoint overlooking the lake (first photo below) and then brought us to some of the historic towns in the area. The town of Tzintzuntzan was a highlight, a town with old Mesoamerican pyramids, old churches and a fantastic Franciscan convent recently visited by the Queen of Denmark (There’s a Danish connection here: a former Danish prince, a heir to the throne, turned to the priesthood and served in this convent where he fought for the right of the indigenous – managing in the process to piss off Vasco de Quiroga, the man who Patzcuaro’s main square is named after).
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If colonial history isn’t your thing, Jaime can take you to the artisan towns that dot this area. One of the things Bishop Quiroga did, in the 1500’s, was to gather the scattered indigenous people into towns and assign each its own task. Even today, you’ll have towns that specialize in mask making, copper work, basket weaving etc (an interesting post on the history of the colonial craft towns here).
Whatever your interests, Jaime will organize a tour for you and you’ll have an incredible time.
His email: [email protected], cellphone: 434 107-7150
Where to stay in Patzcuaro
I usually always stay in Airbnb apartments. But Patzcuaro is small and I wasn’t impressed by the apartment choices. Instead we stayed in the Hotel Casa Encantada which has a suite with 2-bedrooms. It was fantastic. Opened up by a very inspiring Australian/American woman, it is both a gorgeously restored colonial buildings as well as an art gallery in one (Victoria has actually painted or sculpted most of the work hanging in the rooms and the huge common space).
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I didn’t take enough photos, but if you’re looking for a place to stay look at their website. To enquire about rooms you can write Victoria here: [email protected]
Note: Let Victoria know you came from this website and she’ll give you 10% off on your stay.
Read the interview we did with Victoria: The life of a hotel owner in Patzcuaro (Mexico)
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Summary: Patzcuaro really is a very pretty, genuine town with a lot of history and attractions. It’s a romantic kind of place for a couple’s getaway. The countryside is beautiful. Could I stay here a long time? Probably not, it’s small. But for a few days it is ideal: picture-perfect with lots of colonial history and indigenous culture. We also met some friendly people along the way. Very nice town.
Related: A roadtrip through Mexico’s most beautiful towns and cities (by bus)
Related: Visiting the (overrated?) Pueblo Magico town of Valle de Bravo
Related: On Travel to Mexico – why I’m sick of the ignorance
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Amanda
Thanks so much for this! We are considering our first non-coastal visit to Mexico, and this looks like the perfect spot. We are definitely inspired – tiny margs and all!
Frank (bbqboy)
All the places I’ve been in Mexico are non-coastal 🙂 So many beautiful places and if you have a chance would recommend you also visit Guanajuato and San Miguel de Allende.
Mexico is gorgeous.
Tony
Beautiful coulourful pix Frank – I find so many of the ‘centros historicos’ of Mexican (but also a lot of other Latino countries’ ) towns and cities to be the attraction and essence of the culture. The Spanish colonial towns and cities – all planned and built on the ‘grid’ street system with their central plazas (almost always ‘de Armas’ …) with church/cathedral , government/municipal buildings etc – and usually a market close by – is what makes them ! The central plaza being the magnet for all social, community and political activities , festivals and celebrations. The overall homogeneity of style, design, building height etc adds to the overall attractiveness and beauty of the whole, despite the underlying ‘sameness’ – while arches, arcades, colours and decoration provide for some individuality and specific beauty (as is apparent with Patzcuaro , or in my experiences with cities like San Cristobal de las Casas, (Chiapas), Izamal (aka ciudad amarilla) (Yucatan) etc
The urban design (inherited largely from the Romans) was used by the Spanish throughout Latin America with great success – and it still holds up beautifully today. We have the odd city in the western hemisphere that reflects the ideal behind and concept of Spanish urban planning – like Savannah (Ga) – but nowhere was it more widespread and successful than in Hispanic America. Applied to smaller towns or larger cities (eg:- Lima, Arequipa have incredibly beautiful centro-historicos…) its what makes the places so attractive, pleasant and inviting. (Unfortunately, the modern ‘cinturons de miseria’ that surround so many of the ‘centro-historicos’ are something else entirely … urbanisation at its very worst !
Frank (bbqboy)
Thanks for that Tony, you are so very right.
You wonder, if it wasn’t for historical old cities (whether Spanish colonial as in Latin America or anywhere in Europe) what kind of ‘modern’ architecture we would have. Especially in the developing word. I think the ‘cinturon de miseria’ would basically be everything/everywhere. How depressing that would be. Thank god for the architecture of past centuries because most in the world would just be a collection of modern slums…