Angangueo: Mexico's Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary

Magical Town with natural spectaclesPerhaps the name resonates just a little in your head. But this town is the home of one of the most fascinating and captivating migrations in the world: The Monarch Butterfly, which travels more than 4,000 km from southern Canada and settles in the sanctuaries of the Estado de México and Michoacán from November to March.

 

Its official name is Mineral de Angangueo and it was originally a mining town that maintained this activity until 1953, when an accident in the Dolores Mine led to its closure as well as many others, transforming its deposits into National Heritage.

 

In 2012, this place settled in the Sierra Madre Oriental, was named “Pueblo Mágico” (“Magical Town”), drawing attention to its peculiar geographical location of “pueblo entre montañas” (“town between mountains”), which could be the translation of the Purepecha word that gives rise to its name. Its position in the Chapel of Mercy, offers views of its fascinating adobe houses and its streets which invite you to walk slowly through its shops, monuments and its Municipal Market.

 

Art and history in one placeTo better understand the history of the town, visiting the mural by the painter Jorge Tellez should be on your to-do list. This artwork, located in a picturesque alley , side to the Temple of the Immaculate Conception, relates in six parts and two walls: the exploits, life and work of its people from its foundation to the present day.

 

To stay, Angangueo has accommodations for all budgets. If, in addition to rest, visitors are looking for a place with history, the Hotel Jardín Angangueo, shelters 250 years of antiquity and spaces dedicated to art inside such as its Central Patio, which also functions as a place for relaxing and as a gallery. Definitely the best season to visit Angangueo is from November to March, since it is at this time when you can enjoy and admire the migration phenomenon of the Monarch Butterfly.