• Mexico Guide

  • Introduction to Mexico
  • Weather
  • Things not to miss
  • Getting around
  • Entry requirements
  • Money
  • Public holidays

• Explore Mexico

  • Baja California and the Pacific Northwest
  • The north
  • The Bajío
  • Northern Jalisco and Michoacán
  • Mexico City
  • Acapulco and the Pacific beaches
  • Veracruz
  • Oaxaca
  • Chiapas and Tabasco
  • The Yucatán

• Cities

  • Acapulco
    
  • Cancún
    
  • Guadalajara
    
  • Mexico City
    
  • Monterrey
    
  • Oaxaca
    

Mexico Guide

Northern Jalisco and Michoacán

Uruapan

• Accommodation
• Eating

URUAPAN, they say, means "the place where flowers bloom" in the Tarascan language, though Appleton's Guide for 1884 tells a different story: "The word Uruapan comes from Urani, which means in the Tarasc language ‘a chocolate cup', because the Indians in this region devote themselves to manufacture and painting of these objects." Demand for chocolate cups, presumably, has fallen since then, but whatever the truth, the modern version is certainly appropriate: Uruapan, lower (at around 1600m) and warmer than most of its neighbours, enjoys a steamy subtropical climate and is surrounded by thick forests and lush parks.