Uruapan

Three days of lava, springs and lacquer from Angahuan to the Tzaráracua

Begin three days in Uruapan at Plaza de los Mártires and La Huatápera, whose Moorish-style courtyard and stone chapel date from the town's founding; its rooms show Purépecha, Nahua and Otomí lacquer, copper and embroidery. Then see the 16th-century Plateresque doorway of the old Franciscan church opposite.

After lunch at the food stalls behind the museum, walk west to the Barranca del Cupatitzio national park, where paths follow the river past fountains, cascades and the Rodilla del Diablo spring. Stay until the light fades under the trees.

Day two. Leave at dawn for Angahuan, a Purépecha village about an hour away. Guides with horses take you across the lava to the ruined church of San Juan Parangaricutiro, half swallowed by the flows of 1943 to 1952. Fit walkers can continue to the cone of Paricutín itself, a long, tiring day on loose cinder. Eat local trout on your return.

Day three. Ride south to the Tzaráracua, where the Cupatitzio pours over a rock lip into a deep, fern-lined ravine, then spend the afternoon in Tingambato, a short combi ride east, whose small pyramid and ball court predate the Purépecha state. Finish with hot chocolate and uchepos back on the plaza.

Churipo, corundas and uchepos at the stalls behind the Huatápera

The covered food market behind La Huatápera is the best place to taste Uruapan's cooking, a mix of Purépecha village dishes and food from the rest of Michoacán. Open from breakfast until late, it serves corundas, small pyramid-shaped tamales under tomato salsa, cream and cheese, and churipo, a red beef and vegetable stew.

Start with corundas, small pyramid-shaped tamales wrapped in long corn leaves, served under tomato salsa, cream and crumbled cheese. Their sweet cousins are uchepos, made from fresh young corn and best eaten with a mug of thick hot chocolate or one of the many flavours of atole, the warm corn drink that comes sweet or spiked with chile. Churipo is the classic village stew: beef and vegetables in a red broth coloured with dried chiles, often served with corundas on the side.

Weekends bring out carnitas, pork slow-cooked in its own fat in big copper pots, a Michoacán speciality you will smell before you see it, and barbacoa of mutton. Squash-blossom quesadillas, flour tamales and plantains or sweet potatoes cooked in syrup fill the gaps.

Trout comes from the farm fed by the springs in the national park, and it is on many menus in town and in the villages near Paricutín. For a sit-down meal, La Mansión del Cupatitzio at the park entrance serves modern Mexican cooking in a colonial-style dining room. And you cannot leave without eating avocado, sliced thick on everything.

Palm Sunday crafts, dry winters and the summer rains in Uruapan

November to April is the best time for Uruapan, which sits high on the edge of the plateau: afternoons of 25 to 28 C, nights of 9 to 12 C and almost no rain, with February to April each under 12 mm. Skies are clearest and paths firmest then for the long walk across the Paricutín lava.

April and May push the highs to about 30 C. Dust from the dry fields hangs in the air, and the shade of the Cupatitzio park is welcome. The rains usually begin in June and peak in July and August, with more than 320 mm in each month. Mornings are often bright, then heavy storms roll in after lunch. The river, the fountains in the park and the Tzaráracua falls are at their fullest, but trails to the volcano can be slick and cloudy views are common. October is a good shoulder month as the green hills begin to dry.

The big event is the crafts fair held around Palm Sunday, when artisans from across Michoacán set up on the main square. Expect lacquerware, copper from Santa Clara del Cobre, guitars from Paracho, embroidered textiles and palm weavings, plus a contest for the best pieces. The town also celebrates its avocados with a fair later in the year, and each of the six old barrios holds a fiesta for its patron saint with music, fireworks and food stalls around its chapel.