6 days · Colima Detour

6 daysBalanced pacedistance-checked ✓ · updated Jul 3, 2026

1
Guadalajara
1 night · Overnight before heading south.
Day 1
🚗 3h — Toll road south to Colima, then up to Comala.
2
Comala
2 nights · Plaza afternoons, botanas and volcano views.
Days 2–3
🚗 1.5h — Down from the highlands to the coast.
3
Manzanillo
3 nights · Base for beaches and sailfishing, not the port itself.
Days 4–6
Reality check: Colima's security stats are among Mexico's worst; keep to Comala's plaza and Manzanillo's resort zone, travel by day, and check current advisories first.
By Renata SolísBased in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco · updated Jul 3, 2026

Is Colima safe enough for this trip?

Let’s deal with the elephant first. Colima state posts some of the highest homicide numbers in Mexico, and that’s real, not a scare stat. But those numbers concentrate in specific areas and cartel rivalries that have nothing to do with a visitor sitting in Comala’s plaza. The tourist parts of this route are calm. The move is discipline: stay in the places below, travel between them by daylight on the toll roads (the 54D and the 200), skip the back roads and night drives, and read a current advisory before you commit. The is Mexico safe pillar keeps a running read. Do that and this is a mellow six days.

Day 1: Guadalajara

One night, on purpose. Guadalajara is worth much more, but here it’s a launch pad. Land, sleep central, and get on the road early. If you’re not driving, ETN and Primera Plus run comfortable coaches south to Colima in roughly three hours, approximate. With an evening to spend, eat birria or a torta ahogada near the centro histórico, or go for the bars and terraces along Avenida Chapultepec. The toll autopista south is good, and the drive is straightforward in daylight.

Days 2–3: Comala

The reason to come. Comala is a small white-walled Pueblo Mágico where the ritual is slow: you sit under the portales on the plaza in the afternoon, order a round, and the botanas keep arriving free with each drink until you wave them off. The local pour is ponche comaleño, a sweet fruit-and-spirit liqueur sold in every corner shop. Behind the town rises the Volcán de Colima, also called the Volcán de Fuego, active and often smoking, clearest in early-morning light before the haze builds. Two nights lets you do one long plaza afternoon, one morning drive toward the viewpoints and the Hacienda de Nogueras with its Rangel Hidalgo museum, and nothing else. That’s the correct amount of nothing. Eat tatemado or pozole seco while you’re up here; the highland cooking is different from the coast.

Days 4–6: Manzanillo

Here’s what a friend who lives here would tell you: base yourself on the Santiago peninsula, around Las Hadas, Playa La Audiencia, or Playa Miramar, not down by the working port and its zócalo, which is industrial and not where you want to be after dark. The drive down from the highlands is about 90 minutes on the toll road. Manzanillo calls itself the sailfish capital, and a half-day fishing charter out of Santiago is the local thing to do; otherwise it’s beaches, seafood, and a slow coastal wind-down. Order pescado zarandeado or ceviche at a palapa on the sand and don’t overthink it. Three nights, no rush, then drive back to Guadalajara or fly out from Manzanillo’s own Playa de Oro airport (code ZLO), which has direct hops to a handful of cities. For timing the trip, the best time to visit page covers the coast’s rainy months and hurricane window.