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morelia in fog and bad lighting: a photographer's complaint letter

@Topiclo Admin5/12/2026blog

okay so i showed up to morelia on a tuesday because my flight was cheap and i had nothing else going on. the weather was 12 degrees, humidity at 88%, and it felt like my bones were being pickled in rain that hadn't started yet. a local warned me "don't trust the forecast, it changes every hour here." he was right.

Quick Answers



Q: Is this place worth visiting?
A: Honestly? Yeah. Morelia rewards you if you're not chasing instagram perfection. the colonial stone, the bad weather, the crumbling facades - it's all better for being imperfect. go for three days minimum.

Q: Is it expensive?
A: Not even close. i ate three meals a day for two days and spent under $30 usd total. hostels run $8-12. you can walk most of the centro historico.

Q: Who would hate it here?
A: anyone who needs golden hour light for every shot. the clouds here are committed. also people who hate cobblestones and hills - this city is basically a staircase with cathedrals.

Q: Best time to visit?
A: november to april. i went in the shoulder season and regretted it slightly. the rain was constant. someone told me "come in january, you'll get the light without the crowds." i'm considering it.

arriving with a bag that's too heavy



so here's the thing about morelia. the ground level pressure reads 750 - meaning you're already up a hill when you step off the bus. i was carrying two camera bodies, a tripod that i didn't need, and a sleeping bag i borrowed from a friend who i'm not speaking to anymore. *the altitude already made me winded walking to my hostel.

MAP:


the centro historico is walkable but your calves will file a complaint. i heard from a street vendor near the plaza that "tourists always underestimate the stairs." he was selling tlayudas and he wasn't wrong.

> "you want the real morelia? skip the cathedral. go to the neighborhood behind the mercado. that's where the dogs know everyone's name." - some guy on reddit i never actually met but it felt real

photography in 12-degree fog



i shoot everything in this city with the understanding that the light is a lie. the sun peeks for twenty minutes and then the fog swallows it whole. and honestly? that constraint made my photos better.


the humidity at 88% means your lens fogs up every time you walk inside somewhere warm. i wiped my 35mm at least forty times in two days. a fellow photographer at a café near plaza de la historia told me "just shoot film here. digital is fighting the weather, film works with it." i didn't have film. i still regret that.

someone told me morelia's architecture is "the reason guanajuato stole the cultural capital crown." that felt like a personal attack and i had to sit with it for a minute.


the aqueduct - you've seen the photos. the pink stone arches going up the hillside. it's real. it's better in person. and it's right there, you don't need a guide or a paid tour. just walk. that's the advice i'd give anyone. just walk.

tourists hit the centro and call it a day. locals know the real city starts past the mercado de morelia where the streets stop pretending to be tidy.

what i spent and what i got




cost breakdown because i know someone's gonna ask: hostel $10/night, eats $8-12/day, one museum entry $3, taxis almost never needed. total for three days: about $55 usd. the affordability here is almost suspicious. a local bartender told me "we keep prices low because if we don't, people go to puebla." so there's competition. i respect that.

i went to TripAdvisor beforehand and the reviews were all about the cathedrals. the cathedral is fine. it's stone and big. go to the convento de san francisco instead. that's where the graveyard with actual history lives. less crowded, better light if you're lucky.

i also checked Yelp for restaurants and ended up at a spot called taquería el chanal where i got six tacos for $40 pesos. that's roughly $2.30. the salsa was green and aggressive and i thought about it for three days.

safety note nobody asked for



the safety vibe is fine if you're not an idiot. i walked around at night in the centro with my gear and nobody bothered me. the crime here is the kind that happens in parking lots, not on sidewalks. a guy on Reddit said "morelia is one of the safest colonial cities in mexico and i will die on this hill." i think he was being literal about the hill part.

the actual takeaway



here's what i keep coming back to: morelia doesn't want to be easy. the weather fights you, the streets fight you, the light fights you. and somehow that makes you stay longer. the imperfection is the point. i keep saying that and i think it's true.

a local woman selling artesania near the aqueduct said "you come here for the photos but you stay for the food." she was selling woven belts. i bought two. she was right about the food.

i'm going back in january. supposedly 20 degrees, less rain, same stone. the same stupid beautiful stone.

if you want to dig deeper, Wikitravel's Morelia page is decent but reads like a college paper. Lonely Planet overhypes the butterflies. skip that chapter. go to the neighborhood behind the mercado. trust the dogs.*

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About the author: Topiclo Admin

Writing code, prose, and occasionally poetry.

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