This is a must see! A great trip for adventurers. A small but still fuming volcano stands surrounded by green trees and black dried lava fields. Anywhere you look you can see lava. And if you look really good, far away, in the middle of black volcanic rocks you can make out an old white church tower locked there forever. The only sign that there used to be a village that has since disappeared under lava in the year 1944. Every day clouds of black smoke uprise from the crater of the volcano and the stones on its top are darn hot.
How to get here:
The best is to spend the night in Uruapan which is a nearby city. Here you get by bus from Pátzcuaro, Morelia or DF. Early morning Uruapan local buses will you take to a small Purépecha village Angahuan (about 30 km). This is where civilization ends. Small, simple houses, dirt roads and two half empty food shops. A group of local guides with horses will await you at the entrance to the village. They offer to take you to see the volcano as well as the church. If you have a lot of time (and I mean a lot of time), you can hike. Otherwise rather hire a horse. You will trot two hours before you get to the base of Paricutín. From there you have to climb about half an hour to the top of the crater. The way down is much easier and much more fun. It’s a slide! On one side of the volcano there is a crack from the top to the bottom filled with fine black volcanic sand. You just step to it. You can visit the church on the way to the volcano or on your return - in any case it is a little detour. There are few stands with local food nearby the church.
There is a possibility of accommodation in the cottages in the very Angahuan.