🦋 The 10 Best Monarch Butterfly Tours in Mexico You Need to Book ASAP (Because They Do Sell Out)

How do I know they’re the best? I’ve been living in Mexico since 2018, and have seen the butterflies in person 🦋

I know what’s involved in amazing Mexico Monarch tours, so I personally vetted all the options in this article for quality, great reviews, 5 Star ratings, and positive feedback.

In short: All you have to do is book and enjoy, so let’s get to this list already!

The 11 Best Monarch Butterfly Tours in Mexico City

1. Seven Day EcoFriendly Monarch Butterfly Tour in Mexico

⭐️ Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars | ⏳ Tour Length: 7 days | 🦋 Check Rates and Availability

Want to book one of the top monarch butterfly tours from Mexico City? This 7-Day Tour checks all the prime boxes.

(Note: If a weeklong tour is too much, opt for this 1-Day Mexico City Butterfly Tour instead.)

On the 7-Day Tour, you’ll get to see the monarchs in two different sanctuaries, and enjoy several other great stops.

You’ll learn about the Mexico colonial era, Aztec history, Mexican wildlife and so much more.

You’ll also get one free day on this tour to explore the area around Valle de Bravo. Never heard of Valle de Bravo?

This lakeside pueblo magico (magic town) is known as “the Hamptons of Mexico City.”

Let your guide take the lead by having him arrange boat tours and farm tours or ask him to set up something specific. One traveler raved about parasailing at Monte Alto.

One thing is for sure, the monarchs were the highlight for most of the travelers on this tour. They called the experience “spectacular” and “absolutely amazing.”

They also loved their knowledgeable and attentive guide, who made the trip out-and-out incredible.

Best Monarch Butterfly Tours in Mexico City

2. Best Mexico City Butterfly Tour with Pueblo Magico Visit

⭐️ Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Stars | ⏳ Tour Length: 12 hours | 🦋 Check Rates and Availability

Head to Sierra Chincua Monarch Butterfly in Mexico Sanctuary on one of the best Mexico City monarch butterfly tours available.

This day trip will take you directly from your hotel to the mountains. Once there, you’ll hike for about 5.25 miles (8.5 km) until you reach the butterflies.

All the sweat will be worth it because nothing compares to the slight of millions of monarchs swishing through the trees. Wow!

After hiking back down, enjoy a fun visit to the magical town of El Oro. Re-fuel with a delicious lunch before making the three hour drive back to your hotel.

This tour includes a local guide, transport in a private vehicle, lunch, and hotel pickup and drop-off from Reforma Avenue, Polanco and the Mexico City Zocalo in Downtown Mexico City.

Best Monarch Butterfly Tours in Mexico City

3. Mexico City to Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary Sierra Chincua

⭐️ Rating: 4.8 out of 5 Stars | ⏳ Tour Length: 12 hours | 🦋 Check Rates and Availability

If you’re looking for a once-in-a-lifetime experience, check out this Sierra Chincua Butterfly Sanctuary Mexico Excursion.

With a super-storytelling host, several great stops, and delicious food included, this is definitely one of the best monarch butterfly tours Mexico City has on offer.

Start off with convenient hotel pickup, followed by a yummy breakfast, and comfortable transportation.

Next, spend a magical time in Sierra Chincua Monarch Sanctuary.

Hike for an hour, then watch the butterflies fluttering and coating the trees with their brilliant orange wings.

After enjoying the top monarch butterfly sanctuary Mexico City has available, you’ll visit the Valle de Bravo magic town.

Eat a yummy lunch, check out a waterfall, the pier, and the picturesque town center.

Although this tour makes for a long day, travelers loved their guide and driver, the delicious food, and the amazing butterflies.

Best Monarch Butterfly Tours in Mexico City

4. Mexico City to Butterfly Sanctuary Cerro Pelon Tour

⭐️ Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Stars | ⏳ Tour Length: 7-12 hours | 🦋 Check Rates and Availability

Looking for something unique? If so, you’ll want to book this incredible Monarch Butterfly Day Trip from Mexico City.

What sets this sanctuary of monarch butterfly in Mexico tour apart is that it will take you to one of the lesser-known butterfly sanctuaries: the Cerro Pelón Sanctuary in Estado de Mexico (Mexico State).

Not many tourists come to this area, but your guide will have everything worked out and running smoothly.

Relax during the drive, then ride a horse for two hours up to a stand-out monarch butterfly forest in Mexico.

Spend time at the top drinking in the awe-inspiring sight and learning fascinating data points from a forest ranger.

Finish off the tour with a visit to the town of Zitácuaro for a bit of sightseeing, and a yummy lunch in the market.

Travelers called this experience “memorable,” “unforgettable,” and “authentic”.

Best Monarch Butterfly Tours in Mexico City

5. Mexico City Monarch Butterflies Sanctuary Tour

⭐️ Rating: 4.89 out of 5 Stars | ⏳ Tour Length: 10 hours | 🦋 Check Rates and Availability

If you’re looking for the top monarch butterfly day tours Mexico City has to offer, this Mexico City Monarch Butterfly Tour is it!

The adventure begins with pickup from your CDMX hotel or Airbnb, a quick Mexican breakfast, and then transport to the butterfly sanctuary.

Wear good shoes, because you’ll have to hike for a while! But don’t worry, seeing the monarch butterfly Mexico migration is absolutely worth the effort.

Nothing compares to standing among millions and millions of flying butterflies. Trust us; pictures and videos can’t capture it.

Hike back down, then eat a delicious lunch of traditional Mexican fare. The tour ends with a drop off back at your hotel in Mexico City.

Best Monarch Butterfly Tours in Mexico City

6. Monarch Butterfly Tour from Mexico City with Gastronomy Workshop

⭐️ Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars | ⏳ Tour Length: 11 hours | 🦋 Check Rates and Availability

Do you love gorgeous nature, delicious food and learning about Mexican culture? If so, this Best Butterfly Tour from Mexico City is the perfect choice for you.

Not only will you visit a monarch butterfly reserve in Mexico, you’ll also participate in a hands-on gastronomy workshop to eat authentic Mexico food.

Start your day with a tasty breakfast, then hike up a monarch butterfly mountain Mexico to the Oyamel pine forests.

Along the way, you’ll learn about the monarch butterfly journey to Mexico from Canada.

Your guide will share about the biology, life cycle, predators and migration routes of the monarchs.

Next, learn how to prepare delicious pre-Hispanic Mexican cuisine like tortillas, molcajete sauce, cocoa and pulque.

Although this sanctuary of monarch butterflies in Mexico is a long drive from Mexico City, travelers said the trip was worth it — especially for nature lovers!

They also left many favorable reviews for their guides.

Best Monarch Butterfly Tours in Michoacan

7. Three Day Private Monarch Butterflies Tour from Michoacan

⭐️ Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars | ⏳ Tour Length: 3 days | 🦋 Check Rates and Availability

When it comes to Michoacan butterfly tours in Mexico, you’ve found one of the best.

Get plenty of bang for your buck with this great Three-Day Mexico Butterfly Tour in Michoacan!

During this tour, you’ll visit the colonial towns of Morelia, Santa Clara del Cobre and Pátzcuaro.

Here, you’ll see a copper museum and gallery, explore colonial-era architecture, and try off the beaten path restaurants.

The highlight, though, is visiting the top monarch butterfly sanctuary Michoacán Mexico has available.

You’ll get to enjoy this incredible natural phenomenon up close and personal.

Throughout your journey, your guide will share interesting facts about the monarchs, local history, local agriculture and more.

Travelers loved this tour! Visitors said that the guide, accommodations, and food were all spectacular and that the trip was “well worth every penny.”

Best Monarch Butterfly Tours in Michoacan

8. Monarch Butterfly Private Tour from Morelia Mexico

⭐️ Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars | ⏳ Tour Length: 8 hours |  🦋 Check Rates and Availability

Are you one of those people who love learning? If so, you’ll adore this tour to one of the Best Monarch Butterfly Reserves in Mexico.

Your expert guide, Alfredo, makes the excursion one-of-a-kind. Travelers were wowed by his knowledge and expertise!

This amazing monarch Mexico tour includes roundtrip private transportation from Morelia to the Santuario de la Mariposa Monarca.

This reserve is a sightseeing wonderland, with incredible views and even more incredible monarchs.

As you hike, you’ll see more and more butterflies, until they surround you on all sides. Hike back down, grab lunch, then return to Morelia to relax.

This tour includes private transportation and the entrance fee to the monarch butterfly biosphere reserve Mexico.

Best Monarch Butterfly Tours in Michoacan

9. Best Morelia Monarch Butterfly Group Tour (Private Groups)

⭐️ Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars | ⏳ Tour Length: 9-10 hours | 🦋 Check Rates and Availability

Spend about 2.5 hours observing one of the most incredible natural phenomena in the world on this Morelia Butterfly Tour for Private Groups.

Depending on weather conditions, your expert guide will take you on a full-day tour to the Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary in either Sierra Chincua or El Rosario; both are butterfly sanctuaries near Morelia Mexico.

During your time at the reserve, you’ll get to see the migrating butterflies up close. The sight is sure to amaze you!

You’ll also have the chance to learn about Monarch conservation efforts, and get photographed in the midst of the orange melee.

Finish off your butterfly sanctuary private tour with a delicious lunch in Tlalpujahua — one of the Mexico pueblos magicos, or “magical towns.”

Travelers loved this tour with Rodrigo, and ended up taking several of his other tours as well.

This is definitely a wonderful way to get to see the monarch butterfly in Mexico.

Best Monarch Butterfly Tours in Michoacan

10. Two Day Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve Tour: El Rosario and Sierra Chincua

⭐️ Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars | ⏳ Tour Length: 2 days | 🦋 Check Rates and Availability

Enjoy an incredible two-day trip all about the monarch butterfly migration to Mexico.

During this unique tour from Morelia to see the butterflies, you’ll visit not one, but two, different monarch sanctuaries in Mexico.

On the first day, head to El Rosario, the largest monarch butterfly biosphere reserve Michoacán Mexico has to offer.

Hike or ride a horse into the high mountains. Enter a world teeming with beautiful butterflies. Drink in the experience, then enjoy a delicious lunch in the reserve.

On the second day, you’ll get to repeat the whole experience, but this time heading to the Sierra Chincua Monarch Butterfly Reserve.

Spend the night at Tlalpujahua, one of Mexico’s pueblos magicos (or, magical towns).

This tour includes pickup and drop off in Morelia, transportation, two breakfasts, two lunches, accommodations, guides, and entrance fees to the butterfly sanctuaries.

Mexico Butterflies Guide & FAQ

The insects migrate to avoid the cold northern winters.

Most years, monarchs begin to arrive in Mexico in early-November, just in time for Day of the Dead, one of the most important holidays in Mexico.

Given their arrival date, some Mexican communities consider monarchs sacred.

This reverence for monarchs goes back several centuries! In fact, monarchs appear in Aztec stone carvings and paintings.

Monarchs are said to carry the souls of the dead with them, bring them along on visits from the afterlife. Others consider them messengers from their ancestors.

Either way, monarchs are an important part of indigenous Mexican culture.

Standing in the midst of millions of fluttering monarchs is an indescribably amazing experience.

Taking a tour is an excellent way to visit a monarch butterfly biosphere reserve in Mexico.

Let someone else worry about the transportation and logistics, and spend all your energy enjoying the incredible monarchs.

All ages are welcome at the reserves to learn about the migration of the monarch butterfly to Mexico.

Anyone who has trouble walking or with balance is encouraged to ride a horse up the mountain rather than hike.

The best monarch butterfly Mexico dates tend to be between mid-January and March.

During these months, the weather is warmer, so the butterflies are more active.

However, it is still worthwhile to try and see monarchs in mid-November and December, if you happen to be visiting during those months.

While there will usually be less butterflies, you should still see a lot of them.

Keep in mind, you may have to hike higher into the mountains earlier in the season.

It’s a good way to stretch your legs after the long drive to see a monarch butterfly from Mexico City or Morelia, but also strenuous.

That’s because in Mexico, these months are warmer than November and December, so the monarchs tend to fly around more.

Of course, even during those peak months, the butterflies will be less active on cold and cloudy days.

If you have the option, try to pick days with a warm weather forecast for your monarch butterfly trip to Mexico.

Although seeing them on the trees is cool, it is amazing to have them flying and swooping en masse.

If you’re going to Mexico earlier in the year, you might still be able to see monarchs.

These incredible insects start arriving in Central Mexico in early-November (or sometimes even late-October).

These months tend to have warmer weather, which encourages the monarchs to flit about in search of food and water.

These months are considered peak Mexico butterfly season because this is when the Mexico monarch butterfly migration period is in full swing.

There can be millions and millions of monarchs coating the trees and fluttering through the air, making for an awe-inspiring experience.

Of course, during these peak months, any monarch butterfly reserve Mexico has available will be pretty crowded.

Try to go on a weekday rather than a weekend to avoid the crowds.

Of course, it is possible for them to arrive in the final weeks of October, or late-November instead.

A lot depends on the weather conditions they meet during their thousands-mile migration from Canada to Mexico.

Since the butterflies often arrive on Mexico’s Day of the Dead, they are associated with the festivities on that day.

Some people believe that monarch butterflies carry the visiting souls of the dead, while others consider them messengers from the afterlife.

Still, if you’re visiting in the Mexico butterfly season from November to March, you’ll see a lot of butterflies.

During this time, you can visit many of the country’s mountainous monarch reserves.

In the spring, the monarchs leave Mexico and begin their migration north.

If you live along the monarch butterfly fly to Mexico routes, this could be a great time to see them.

If you live in the United States, you’ll see the most monarchs during the summer.

They love the sunny weather that enables them to travel all the way up into Arctic Canada.

They usually arrive in the country in November, and depart at the end of March each year to return to Canada.

If you are visiting Central Mexico between November and March, it’s a great idea to take advantage of the many monarch butterfly migration Mexico tours available. 

Head to El Rosario or Sierra Chincua, hike through the forests, and observe these incredible insects coating the trees. It’s an experience not to miss!

In the spring, butterflies begin their migration north to Canada, leaving Mexico behind for about 6-7 months.

That next November, they’ll return to the Oyamel fir tree forests in Mexico.

El Rosario Butterfly Sanctuary often has the best viewing areas, nicest trails, and overall highest population of monarchs in Mexico.

For the best experience, try to visit a few different reserves during your trips to see monarch butterflies in Mexico.

Besides El Rosario, Sierra Chincua, Cerro Pelón and Piedra Herrada Sanctuary are worth visiting as well.

🦋 Mexico Butterflies Travel Tips: In order to avoid crowds, go on a weekday if you can.

Several of these areas have been made into butterfly sanctuaries, reserves, and biospheres.

These are the best places to see the monarch butterfly migration Michoacán Mexico.

Still wondering, Where is the monarch butterfly sanctuary in Mexico?

While there are several, the largest and most well-known is called El Rosario Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary, located in Michoacan, Mexico.

El Rosario is the best monarch butterfly biosphere reserve Mexico has to offer.

El Rosario, and all the smaller areas and reserves, are located within the Mexico Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Located in rugged mountains 62 miles (100 km) northwest of Mexico City, the entire reserve covers about 140,000 acres (56,250 hectares).

As it’s quite rural, you’ll want to book monarch butterfly biosphere reserve tours.

El Rosario, Sierra Chincua, and Cerro Pelón are located in the state of Michoacan, one of the main monarch butterfly overwintering sites in Mexico.

Piedra Herrada and La Mesa are located in Estado de Mexico (State of Mexico).

🐴 Please Note: Since the monarchs congregate in the mountains, some may need to hike or ride a horse to the butterfly viewing areas.

In order to view monarchs, you will need to travel to a monarch butterfly Mexico reserve.

These beautiful insects fly to the rugged mountains in the center of the country.

There are five major Monarch sanctuaries in Mexico. Two are in Estado de Mexico (Mexico State), and three in the state of Michoacan.

Butterfly reserves are located near the following communities: Valle de Bravo, Tlalpujahua, Mineral de Angangueo, San José del Rincón, Zitácuaro, and Ocampo.

Since some of the reserves are difficult to get to, one of the easiest ways to visit is to book one of the many available Mexico tours monarch butterfly sanctuary.

Booking a hotel online in some of the small communities near Mexico’s butterfly sanctuaries can be a challenge.

That’s why you’d want to go on a day tour from a major city — though this makes for a very long day.

For a more leisurely experience, opt for booking a multi-day tour.

Most multi-day monarch butterfly sanctuary Mexico tours include accommodation, which removes the hassle finding lodging yourself.

However, if you’d like to arrange your own transportation and accommodation, you can look for hotels in the communities closest to the reserve you want to visit.

• For visiting El Rosario or Sierra Chincua, consider staying in Angangueo. These are the two top monarch butterfly reserves Michoacán Mexico has.
• If you are visiting Cerro Pelón, the Cerro Pelon Butterfly B&B in Mancheros is a good option.
• Staying in the resort town of Valle de Bravo is a perfect choice for anyone wanting to visit the Piedra Herrada Butterfly Reserve.

This is the “Valle de Bravo Butterfly Sanctuary,” located near Valle de Bravo pueblo magico.

Piedra Herrada is about 70 miles from Mexico City (113 km), and takes about 2.5 hours to drive there by rental car.

The Cerro Pelón Butterfly Biosphere is about 100 miles (160 kilometers) from Mexico City. The trip takes about three hours in normal traffic.

El Rosario Butterfly Sanctuary, located in Michoacan state, is about 116 miles (188 kilometers) from Mexico City.

The drive there takes 3.5 to 4 hours, and is not recommended to do at night.

These reserves are major tourist destinations, but they are also massive, so it’s easy to get lost.

Going on a Mexico monarch butterfly tour is best with someone who knows the terrain and the area.

Travelers on Trip Advisor share that they felt completely safe visiting Mexico’s monarch butterfly sanctuaries and urged others to go.

“My advice to people is always to GO, enjoy and be amazed at the beauty of life in the great country of Mexico,” says one traveler.

Just as in the US or other countries, be aware of your surroundings.

Consider booking one of the highly-rated tours listed above to ensure you get the most secure transportation and lodging.

Rest assured that if you want to see the butterflies migrating to Mexico, this is ethical animal tourism.

No matter your choice, seeing the monarch migration in Mexico is guaranteed to be a highlight of your adventures in Mexico. There’s simply no other experience like it.

🦋 Mexico monarch butterfly tours pro tips: Before booking, read the frequently asked questions sections for the tour(s) you’re considering to ensure you pick the best one for your needs and interests.

Some of the featured tours include multiple destinations, hotel pickup and drop-off, great lodging, and visits to waterfalls, colonial towns, and local restaurants — and of course, monarchs.

You can add extra interest to your Monarch butterfly migration trip by choosing a tour with additional stops at some of the best places to visit in Mexico.

This means you can visit the Mexico pueblos mágicos (magic towns), explore old convents, like Valle de Bravo, eat local cuisine, and make pre-Hispanic dishes in a gastronomic workshop.