Mexico: the Monarch Butterflies, Valle de Bravo and Teotihuacan

1. Jour 1 : Arrive in Mexico City

   Mexico City International Airport (MEX) to your hotel in the Centro Histórico

   • Environ 45 min de route
   • Welcome dinner
   • Nuit : Mexico City
   Détail du jour 1

   Fly into Mexico City International Airport (MEX), where a driver meets you in arrivals for the drive of about 13 km to a central hotel in or near the Centro Histórico. Aim to land by about 3 pm to join the evening walk. If you land in the morning, the driver still meets you and the hotel holds your bags until your room is ready; we tell you the check-in time when we confirm the hotel. Later arrivals join the group at dinner. The city sits at about 2,240 m, so take the afternoon slowly, drink water and go easy on alcohol: it is the first step in getting used to the height you will walk at later in the week. At about 6 pm your See Sight Tours guide meets the group for a short briefing on the butterflies, the season and the two sanctuary walks. Then we walk together along the Alameda Central and down the pedestrian Calle Madero to the Zócalo, lit up at night, with the Metropolitan Cathedral on its north side. The welcome dinner is close to the square.

   Compris

   • Pick-up at Mexico City International Airport (MEX)
   • Welcome briefing with your guide
   • Evening walk from the Alameda Central to the Zócalo
   • Welcome dinner

   Temps libre : Free until the early-evening briefing

   Activité : About 1.5 km of easy, flat walking on city pavements.

   

2. Jour 2 : Teotihuacan at opening, the Templo Mayor after lunch

   Mexico City to Teotihuacan and back, then the Templo Mayor beside the Zócalo

   • Environ 2 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Mexico City
   Détail du jour 2

   We leave the hotel early, ahead of the traffic and the tour coaches, timed to reach Teotihuacan, about 50 km northeast of the city, as the gates open. This was one of the largest cities of the ancient Americas, at its height in the first centuries AD, and has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987. With a local site guide we walk the Avenue of the Dead from the Ciudadela and the carved Temple of the Feathered Serpent to the Pyramid of the Sun and on to the Pyramid of the Moon, in the cool of the morning before the sun bakes the open stone. Whether the pyramids can be climbed depends on the site's rules on the day. Lunch is a sit-down meal near the site. Back in the centre by mid-afternoon, we visit the Templo Mayor, the excavated main temple of Aztec Tenochtitlan right beside the Zócalo, and its museum, home to the great carved Coyolxauhqui stone. The evening is free to eat where you like.

   Compris

   • Teotihuacan from opening with a local site guide: the Ciudadela, the Temple of the Feathered Serpent, the Avenue of the Dead and the Pyramids of the Sun and the Moon
   • Sit-down lunch near Teotihuacan
   • The Templo Mayor archaeological site and museum

   Option plus facile : Wait in the shade by the Pyramid of the Sun while the group walks on to the Pyramid of the Moon; the vehicle collects you at the nearest gate.

   Temps libre : Evening free

   Activité : About 5 km on foot, mostly flat but on uneven stone and gravel, at about 2,300 m. Bring a hat and sunscreen; there is little shade at Teotihuacan.

3. Jour 3 : A Mexico City market, then west to Valle de Bravo

   Mexico City to Valle de Bravo via Toluca

   • Environ 3 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Valle de Bravo
   Détail du jour 3

   After breakfast your guide walks you through the Mercado de San Juan, a covered market a few blocks from the Alameda, for its fruit, chillies, cheeses and stalls of staples sold by the scoop, and a coffee. At about 10 am we drive west, about 155 km and three hours with the city traffic, up over the mountains past Toluca and down through pine forest to Valle de Bravo, a lakeside town of whitewashed walls and red-tile roofs at about 1,800 m, where we stay three nights. Lunch is a sit-down meal in town when we arrive. The afternoon is yours: walk the cobbled lanes up to the main square and its parish church, or take a slow boat out on the lake, a reservoir created in the 1940s and now known for its sailing. Valle de Bravo sits lower than Mexico City, so it is a good place to sleep well before the first sanctuary walk tomorrow.

   Compris

   • Mercado de San Juan walk with your guide
   • Drive to Valle de Bravo
   • Sit-down lunch in Valle de Bravo

   Activités en option

   • A boat ride on the lake at Valle de Bravo, booked with your guide and paid locally

   Temps libre : Afternoon and evening free in Valle de Bravo

   

4. Jour 4 : Piedra Herrada and the first monarchs

   Valle de Bravo to the Piedra Herrada sanctuary and back, then La Peña at sunset

   • Environ 1 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Valle de Bravo
   Détail du jour 4

   Monarchs spend the night packed in clusters on the oyamel firs and only start to fly once the sun warms them, so there is no dawn start. We leave Valle de Bravo at about 9:30 am for the Piedra Herrada sanctuary, about 30 minutes away on the road towards Toluca, run by the local community. With one of its guides we climb a steep forest trail, 30 to 60 minutes up, to the colony at about 3,000 m; a horse can carry you most of the way, and the hire is in the price. On a sunny day, from late morning, butterflies drop from branches so heavy with them that they bend, and fill the air in orange drifts; in the quiet you can hear their wings. Visitors keep to the trail and keep their voices down. Lunch is back in Valle de Bravo, the afternoon is free, and near sunset we go up to La Peña, the rock lookout above town, for the last light over the lake.

   Compris

   • Piedra Herrada monarch sanctuary with a local community guide, entry included
   • Horse hire for the trail, for anyone who wants it
   • Sit-down lunch in Valle de Bravo
   • Sunset from La Peña

   Option plus facile : Ride a horse most of the way up and back; the last stretch to the colony is a short walk on foot.

   Option plus active : Walk the whole trail both ways, and walk down from La Peña to the town centre after sunset.

   Temps libre : Afternoon free in Valle de Bravo

   Activité : The first altitude walk: about 3 km round trip on a steep, dusty trail from about 2,800 m up to the colony at about 3,000 m. Walk slowly, rest often and bring a warm layer for the shade.

   

5. Jour 5 : El Capulín, a second colony

   Valle de Bravo to the El Capulín sanctuary near Donato Guerra and back

   • Environ 2 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Valle de Bravo
   Détail du jour 5

   The second sanctuary is El Capulín, run by the local community near Donato Guerra on the State of Mexico side of the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2008. We leave Valle de Bravo at about 9:30 am for a drive of about an hour through farm villages and pine forest, timed again for late morning, when the sun reaches the colony. The climb here is longer and steeper than at Piedra Herrada, up through oyamel fir forest to a colony at about 3,000 m or higher; walk it with a community guide, or ride a horse, included, for most of the way. A second colony on a second day means a cold, cloudy morning on day 4 does not cost you the butterflies in flight. Clustered monarchs look like grey-brown leaves until the sun touches them and the branches seem to come apart into orange wings. We are back in Valle de Bravo for a late sit-down lunch, the afternoon is free, and the farewell dinner is in town.

   Compris

   • El Capulín monarch sanctuary with a local community guide, entry included
   • Horse hire for the trail, for anyone who wants it
   • Sit-down lunch in Valle de Bravo
   • Farewell dinner in Valle de Bravo

   Activités en option

   • A boat ride on the lake at Valle de Bravo, booked with your guide and paid locally

   Option plus facile : Ride a horse most of the way to the colony and back, or stay at the entrance with a hot drink while the group walks.

   Option plus active : Walk the full trail both ways; the local guide sets the pace for the altitude.

   Temps libre : Afternoon free in Valle de Bravo

   Activité : The harder walk: a longer and steeper climb than at Piedra Herrada on day 4, to a colony at about 3,000 m or higher, on a dusty forest trail. Horses are included for most of the way. Bring a warm layer for the shade and water.

6. Jour 6 : Valle de Bravo back to Mexico City

   Valle de Bravo to Mexico City International Airport (MEX) via Toluca, or a hotel in the Centro Histórico

   • Environ 3.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner
   Détail du jour 6

   A slow last morning by the lake. Breakfast is unhurried, with time for a last walk down to the waterfront or up to the main square and its parish church, and at about 9:30 am we drive back east, about 170 km past Toluca and over the pass at La Marquesa, close to 3,000 m, where the pine forest gives way to the first views of the valley of Mexico. With the Mexico City traffic it is about three and a half hours, with a coffee stop on the way, and we reach Mexico City International Airport (MEX) at about 1 pm. Book a flight leaving after about 5 pm; the city's traffic is hard to predict, and the extra margin is worth it. If you are staying on in Mexico City, we drop you at a hotel in the Centro Histórico instead. From there the two trips linked below continue: south to Puebla and Oaxaca, or north to San Miguel de Allende.

   Compris

   • Drive back to Mexico City
   • Drop-off at Mexico City International Airport (MEX), or at a hotel in the Centro Histórico

   Temps libre : Free morning in Valle de Bravo until about 9:30 am

   Activité : No walking beyond an optional stroll before we leave. Book a flight leaving MEX after about 5 pm.

Faune et météo : Late December to early March is the dry season: clear, sunny days and cold nights, close to freezing in the forest. Monarchs fly when the sun warms them, usually from late morning to early afternoon; on cold or cloudy days they stay clustered on the trees.

• Mexico City2 nuits
• Valle de Bravo3 nuits