The Museo Regional de Historia, just off the Plaza Principal in a former colonial mansion, is the best small museum in western Mexico. The displays move chronologically from the shaft-tomb cultures of the centuries before Christ through the colonial period to the modern state of Colima.
The highlights are unquestionably the ceramics from the local Capacha and Comala traditions: the famous Colima dogs, but also bird-shaped vessels, musicians, and warriors that combine humour and craftsmanship in equal measure. Allow at least an hour. The labelling is in Spanish only but the objects speak for themselves.