"El Rosario" Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary

AMAZING! No words to describe how amazing this is. Best time: November - March on sunny days. Came here by a tour from Morelia (3 hour drive). Entrance fee is 150p per person. The first part is a bit of a climb (stairs, not extremely hard), but you can take a horse if you'd like. You'll see some butterflies but there's loads more to come. You can go with a guide (recommend, our guide Eva was very passionate and told us so much). The stairs and the horse ride and in a meadow. Here, there's more butterflies. From this part on, it's only possible to walk up. Be quiet or whisper from this point up until the top!!! It's a 10/20 minute walk to the top where the trees are flooded with the butterflies. The walk is incredible. ‼️ ‼️ Important ‼️‼️ Do NOT touch the butterflies. They have poison on their wings. If they get stressed or feel threatened they will release the poison. However, once they've done this, they won't be able to fly anymore. The guides speak little English, it's hard for them to tell this tot non-Spanish speaking visitors. If you or your children cannot behave (e.g. catching butterflies, screaming) or you as a parent are incompetent to make them (looking at you, woman with the striped scarf). Do NOT come here.

Unique experience to try once in a lifetime at least . This place is magical even though we got there early and the butterflies were not active yet but it was something to see and admire. Co e check ig out if you want to spend some time with these magical creatures ✨️.

Wow!!! So many butterflies. This is a bucket list place to visit. I recommend the horse ride to save about 15 minutes of steep uphill hiking. Our family split and two of us rode while the other two walked. The hikers got more interaction with the guide, who was very nice and helpful in pointing out different plants and things along the way. There are lots of opportunities to buy souvenirs and good food. The Monarchs are a precious miracle of nature. I really appreciate the sanctuaries and all the effort that people in Mexico, the USA, and Canada are making to save habitat and plant milkweed along the migration route. We can all contribute and let the government know it's more important than logging or farming in these unique places. This is the reason we came to Mexico. It was totally worth it!

We visited the sanctuary on Feb 18,2025. It was a reasonably warm day. It is quite a bit of climb uphill. We took the help of horses to go half way. From where the horses drop you, it is half way to where the actual site is. If you are not physically fit, it is advisable to take the help of the horses. The air is pretty thin at that height, and you can get out breath. When we reached the site, I was a bit disappointed, as the butterflies are quite far to view with naked eyes. If you are going with the expectation of being swarmed with butterflies all around you, you will be disappointed. There are plenty of butterflies, but they are about 50 to 60 meters away. Initially, you see black clusters that look like beehives. As it gets warmer, the clusters start turning orange. If it is bright sunny day, you might have better experience at being able to see more butterflies active. Bring binoculars to view them up close. If you are planning to take pictures with your cellphone, you will not get good pictures, as the butterflies are quite far. It is still a beautiful experience, to view the wonder of nature.

This is an amazing place. The people are very friendly and the butterflies are amazing. However be prepared for a very difficult hike up the mountain. There are 800 steps to start with followed by a 2km dirt trail that is almost straight up. Be aware the elevation is greater than 3000m. We hiked for 90 minutes and still had 35 minutes more to walk when we turned around. The butterflies at the pyramid were enough.

seeing the monarch butterflies has been on my husband’s bucket list for a long time. It was the whole reason that we booked our trip to Mexico City. Getting there from the City was a huge hassle but our hotel helped us to book transportation. It was a 3 hour drive there and more than 4 hours back because of traffic. The hike up to the reserve was nice but unfortunately it was rainy and foggy so all of the butterflies were sheltering in the trees. I felt so bad for my husband but I think he still really enjoyed the experience. There are tons of booths on the way up selling trinkets and/or food and the people working in the booths are very aggressive. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience but I’m not sure I would recommend losing a whole day by making the trek all the way from Mexico City.

Truly amazing. I visited at the end of the season, on a Tuesday, 3/18. I was concerned about my timing and the cloudy morning, but was up for a hike through the Michoacan woods regardless. This is a rural community in an argricultural region of MX. There is almost no english spoken, even amongst the available guides provided by the park, so bring your own guide if you want to learn more than what your eyes can tell you. Better yet, brush up on your spanish in order to better appreciate these caretakers of the Monarch Winter nesting area. Everyone was kind and pleasant, unlike when you visit a US beach town the weekend after Labor Day and the locals are completely jaded by the season. Yes, These are the considerations I make when planning travel😁 I stayed at Rancho Cumbre Monarca and HIGHLY recommend. They are close to El Rosario and it is a little oasis, particularly if you have dogs. Back to the experience: You get to the top and you see branches laden with butterflies. The color is dull and camouflage in The Forest, so you may not notice them right away… that is until the sunlight hits the branches and the butterflies drop like Oak leaves in the Fall catching on the wind. That is what makes this experience so hard for people to articulate is that the butterflies don’t fly away, they fall in clusters. It’s amazing. Of course they are flying in the air all around you after these drops but it was beautiful to withhold how graceful the whole dance is. This took some planning an effort to get to the sanctuary and I am so so thankful that I did it! Oh, and I was one of maybe half a dozen tourist that I saw in total that day.

Beautiful wintering grounds for the monarch butterflies. Well-maintained and the people are friendly.