Layout of Colima
Colima sits in a wide valley between the Sierra Madre del Sur and the volcano, at about 500 m — high enough to be a few degrees cooler than the coast, low enough to stay warm all year. The city is the capital of the least populous state in Mexico, with 146,904 people in the municipality at the 2020 census, and it runs without a break into Villa de Álvarez to the north-west, which had 149,762; with Comala, Coquimatlán and Cuauhtémoc the conurbation comes to about 360,000.
The centro histórico is a small grid around the Jardín Libertad, the arcaded main square. The Palacio de Gobierno on its east side was completed in 1904 and carries murals painted by Jorge Chávez Carrillo in 1953 for the bicentenary of Miguel Hidalgo, who served as parish priest here. The cathedral beside it, raised to a basilica in 1962, is the sixth church on the site: the previous ones were brought down by earthquakes in 1806, 1818, 1900 and 1941. A block south, the Museo Regional de Historia holds the shaft-tomb ceramics for which the region is known, including the fat, hairless perros de Colima modelled between about 300 BC and AD 300.
The main streets are short. Avenida Rey Colimán and Calzada Galván carry traffic north–south through the centre; Avenida Felipe Sevilla del Río runs west to Villa de Álvarez; and the Libramiento Ejército Mexicano, the bypass, loops around the east side and links Highway 54D to Manzanillo with Highway 110 to Tecomán. The Central de Autobuses Foránea, for long-distance services, is on the eastern edge near the bypass; a separate suburban terminal closer to the centre handles Comala, Villa de Álvarez and the villages. Licenciado Miguel de la Madrid Airport (CLQ) lies about 20 km north-east at Cuauhtémoc and has only a handful of domestic flights a day, mostly to Mexico City; most visitors fly instead into Manzanillo (ZLO) or Guadalajara.
Distances from Colima
| Place | km | Time | How |
|---|---|---|---|
| Villa de Álvarez | 5 | 15 min | Av. Felipe Sevilla del Río, city bus |
| Comala | 10 | 20 min | Hwy 16, suburban bus |
| Colima airport (CLQ) | 20 | 25 min | Hwy 110 to Cuauhtémoc |
| Tecomán | 50 | 45 min | Hwy 110 |
| Cuyutlán beach and salt museum | 60 | 1 h | Hwy 110 then coast road |
| Ciudad Guzmán | 90 | 1 h 15 | Hwy 54D north |
| Manzanillo | 100 | 1 h 15 | Hwy 54D |
| Guadalajara | 220 | 2 h 30 | Hwy 54D, hourly buses |
| Puerto Vallarta | 390 | 5 h 30 | Hwy 200 up the coast |
| Mexico City | 700 | 8 h | Hwy 54D/15D via Guadalajara |
Comala, the volcanoes and the coast
Comala, 10 km north on the road towards the volcano, is a village of whitewashed walls and red tile roofs under a municipal ordinance that requires both; it was named a Pueblo Mágico in 2002 and gave its name to the ghost town of Juan Rulfo's novel Pedro Páramo (1955), although Rulfo was born at Sayula in Jalisco rather than here. The old haciendas on the same road, Nogueras and San Antonio, worked sugar and coffee on the volcanic soil.
The volcano dominates every northward view. Volcán de Colima at 3,860 m is among the most active in North America, with recorded eruptions since 1576 and a major explosive episode in 2015 that closed the airport and prompted evacuations of villages on the Jalisco side; Nevado de Colima behind it, at 4,260 m, is extinct, forested and open to walkers. Between the city and the cones, the archaeological zone of La Campana, on the north-western edge of the built-up area, holds platforms and plazas occupied from about 1500 BC and laid out on an axis pointing at the Volcán de Fuego; El Chanal, a few kilometres north, is the later site of the same tradition.
South and west, the state drops quickly to the Pacific. Tecomán, 50 km away, grows more limes than anywhere else in Mexico. Cuyutlán, on a black-sand strip behind a lagoon, has a museum of the salt works that have operated there since the colonial period and is known for the ola verde, a large green-tinged summer swell. Manzanillo, 100 km down Highway 54D, handles more container traffic than any other Mexican port. The Colima state map covers the whole of it, and the volcanoes map, the beaches map and the Pacific Coast page put the city in its wider setting alongside Michoacán to the south-east.
Questions about Colima
Where is Colima on the map of Mexico?
In the interior of the small Pacific state of the same name, at 19.24° N, 103.72° W and about 500 m above sea level, roughly 100 km inland from the port of Manzanillo and 220 km south of Guadalajara.
Can you see the volcano from Colima?
Yes. Volcán de Colima, also called the Volcán de Fuego, stands about 30 km north of the city and reaches 3,860 m; behind it the extinct Nevado de Colima rises to 4,260 m. Both summits lie inside Jalisco, not Colima, and CENAPRED monitors the active cone continuously.
How far is Colima from Manzanillo?
About 100 km by Highway 54D, an hour and a quarter by car and rather less than two hours by bus. The same road carries the container traffic from the busiest port in Mexico up to Guadalajara and the Bajío.
How old is the city of Colima?
The Villa de Colima was founded by Gonzalo de Sandoval on 25 July 1523, which makes it one of the earliest Spanish settlements on the Mexican mainland. Little colonial fabric survives, because earthquakes have repeatedly destroyed it — most recently in 1941, 1973, 1995 and 2003.
Is Colima safe to visit?
The state records one of the highest homicide rates in the country, driven by disputes over the port at Manzanillo, and the US State Department places Colima at its highest advisory level with an exception that has covered Manzanillo when reached by air or the toll road. Check the current State Department advisory before travelling.