Forests: Desierto de los Leones and La Marquesa

Mexico City sits in a bowl, and the western rim of that bowl is the Sierra de las Cruces, a ridge of fir forest that climbs to over 3,500 meters. Two national parks up there are close enough for a day trip. The Desierto de los Leones has an old Carmelite monastery in the trees and is still technically inside the city. La Marquesa, just over the state line on the Toluca highway, is a string of grassy valleys full of horses, quads and trout grills, and is where half of Mexico City goes on Sunday.

Both are a good antidote to the city. Both are cold. Bring a jacket even when it’s warm in Roma.

Desierto de los Leones

The name is misleading. There’s no desert and there are no lions. The Carmelites called their remote retreats “deserts”, meaning places of solitude, and the León family once managed the land (Chilango). It is a forest of oyamel fir, pine and oak between about 2,600 and 3,700 meters (Wikipedia), and in 1917 President Carranza made it Mexico’s first national park.

The ex-convent

Carretera México-Toluca s/n, La Venta, Cuajimalpa · Tue–Sun 10 AM – 5 PM · 20 pesos (~1 USD) · visitor page

The first stone was laid in January 1606 and the monastery was close to finished by 1611, built for Discalced Carmelite friars who wanted to be left alone to pray. The original building deteriorated and was torn down in the 18th century, and the one you see now was rebuilt just south of it (Wikipedia). After the friars left it was a barracks in the War of Independence and then sat empty for a long time.

Things to look for in the convent.

• The basement. Four dark vaulted passages run under the cloister. They were built to store water for the church and the hermitages, but everyone calls them the “punishment tunnels” or the catacombs (El Universal). It’s pitch black in places. A phone flashlight helps
• The Capilla de los Secretos, a small chapel shaped so that a whisper into the wall carries to the other side
• The church, a Latin cross with four side chapels, and the cloisters with their monks’ cells
• The gardens behind the walls, with old fountains and a lot of moss
• Two small museums inside, the Museo Bicentenario and a room on Emiliano Zapata, whose troops camped in these hills during the Revolution

Allow an hour for the building and its gardens. A restaurant inside the convent serves Mexican breakfasts and lunches.

The hermitages and trails

The friars built ten hermitages (ermitas) scattered through the forest, each dedicated to a saint, where a monk could withdraw completely. Most still stand. The first one is a few minutes’ walk from the convent, back toward the main entrance (Chilango). There are no proper trail maps, but the paths near the convent are clear (CDMX Secreta).

The serious hike goes from the convent up to the Ermita de San Miguel near the top of Cerro San Miguel, next to a fire lookout tower. Part of it follows a stone wall the monks built around their land. It’s about 15 kilometers there and back with 800 meters of climbing (Hiking Project), and at this altitude that’s a full day. Not something to do alone.

Biking

The park has marked mountain bike routes, and on weekend mornings the road up from La Venta is full of cyclists in matching kits. North of the convent, in the Valle de las Monjas area of San Mateo Tlaltenango, cyclists gather at Óvelpaa, a coffee place in the woods (Food & Pleasure).

Eating at the Desierto

Food: the wooden fondas by the convent entrance, for blue corn quesadillas with wild mushrooms (hongos), sopa de médula, menudo and tortilla soup (Food & Pleasure) · the restaurant inside the convent

Coffee: café de olla at the same fondas, with cinnamon and piloncillo, which is what you want at 3,000 meters · Óvelpaa (coffee, craft beer, breakfast; Valle de las Monjas 608)

There are also grills and picnic tables if you bring your own food. Bring cash.

La Marquesa

Officially it’s the Parque Nacional Insurgente Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, decreed in September 1936 (Diario Oficial summary, PDF) by Lázaro Cárdenas, but nobody calls it that. It’s a chain of high meadows and fir slopes along the México–Toluca highway, around kilometer 30 to 40, mostly in the municipality of Ocoyoacac, State of Mexico.

The battle and the monument

On 30 October 1810, a few weeks into the War of Independence, Miguel Hidalgo and Ignacio Allende’s insurgent army beat the royalist troops of Torcuato Trujillo here, at the Battle of Monte de las Cruces. The road to Mexico City was open. Hidalgo got as far as Cuajimalpa, then turned around and never attacked the capital, and historians still argue about why (Wikipedia).

Near the village of La Marquesa, three bronze horsemen, Hidalgo, Allende and Mariano Jiménez, look east toward the city they didn’t take (Wikipedia). There’s also an obelisk on the battlefield and a small museum of the battle (Food & Pleasure).

The valleys

The park is a set of valleys, each with its own cluster of stalls, horse rentals and parking: Valle del Silencio, Valle de las Monjas (not the one near the Desierto, same name), Valle de la Amistad, Valle del Conejo and the Salazar area with its small lake (CDMX Secreta). Despite the name, the Valle del Silencio is not silent on a Sunday.

This is what people come for.

• Horses. Rentals line the road, about 220 pesos (~12 USD) an hour, with or without a guide
• Quads (cuatrimotos) and go-karts, on dirt circuits. Loud
• Trout. Several farms let you catch your own and have it cooked on the spot (México Desconocido). Hard to fail at
• Rowing boats on the little lakes, and paintball (gotcha) fields
• Hiking up the surrounding peaks, Cerro Las Palmas, Tepalcates and Tláloc, on foot or by bike (Food & Pleasure). The trails start at the back of the valleys, past the last stall

Weekend versus weekday

On a Sunday La Marquesa is a fairground. The highway backs up, every stall has a grill going, families spread out on blankets, quads roar past the horses. It’s fun in its way and very Mexican. On a weekday the same valleys are nearly empty, half the stalls are shut, and you can hear the wind in the firs. Pick according to taste. For hiking, weekdays. For eating and people watching, Sunday.

Eating at La Marquesa

Food: the stalls along the highway and in each valley, for quesadillas, cecina, mixiote, barbacoa, rabbit, chorizo verde from Toluca and trout · La Escondida (km 38.5, a proper restaurant in the woods; trout, lechón, cabrito, cecina)

Coffee: café de olla at any stall. Nobody comes here for espresso

Other forests

• Los Dinamos, in Magdalena Contreras, south of the Desierto. A forested canyon along the Magdalena river, the last living river in the city, named for the old textile mills’ power plants (“dinamos”). About 26 kilometers of trails, waterfalls, rock climbing, and quesadilla stands at the second and fourth Dinamo. Free entry; weekends are crowded (Chilango)
• Cumbres del Ajusco, in the far south, with the highest point in Mexico City, the Pico del Águila at about 3,930 meters (SummitPost). Real mountain hiking. Go with a group or a guide

Getting there

By Uber

The easy way. The Desierto convent is about 21 kilometers from the center, roughly 45 minutes without traffic (Escapadah), via Santa Fe and La Venta. La Marquesa is about 35 kilometers out on the Toluca highway, 40 minutes to an hour from Roma or Polanco, and a ride costs in the range of 18–22 USD (~350–400 pesos). Leaving Sunday afternoon, double the time.

Ubers will take you up. Getting one back is the problem. There is little or no phone signal at the Desierto convent (CDMX Secreta), and drivers aren’t keen on coming out to the valleys of La Marquesa for a pickup. Either agree with your driver to wait or come back at a fixed time (pay in cash, settle the price first), or book the return in advance in the app before you lose signal. Hiring a driver for the day makes the combined day below much easier.

By train

The new El Insurgente train (see Far West) has been running the whole way from Observatorio to Toluca since February 2026. It goes through a tunnel near La Marquesa but has no station there. The nearest station is Lerma, four stops and about 40 minutes from Observatorio, 70 pesos (~3.70 USD) with the transit card or a QR ticket. From Lerma it’s 10 to 15 minutes by taxi, app ride or a bus marked “Ocoyoacac” or “La Marquesa” back up the hill (Food & Pleasure). Trains run from 5 AM (Sat 6, Sun 7); since August 2026 the last train leaves at 10:30 PM because of track maintenance.

The train doesn’t help much for the Desierto. Santa Fe station is the closest, and from there it’s still a taxi ride up through La Venta.

By bus

• La Marquesa: buses to Toluca (Flecha Roja and others) leave all day from the Terminal Poniente at Metro Observatorio and will drop you at La Marquesa on the highway (Rome2Rio). For the way back, flag one down on the eastbound side
• Desierto de los Leones: Metro Line 7 to Barranca del Muerto, then a bus toward Santa Rosa Xochiac, then a short taxi to the entrance; or a bus from Tacubaya or Auditorio to Cuajimalpa and a taxi from there. An hour to an hour and a half (Escapadah). Doable, but it eats the morning

Safety, altitude and weather

• Don’t hike the remote trails alone, especially on weekdays when there’s nobody around. In 2023 police arrested a man who had been robbing joggers and cyclists in the wooded parts of the Desierto (N+), and in 2025 a self-described “forest ranger” with no badge was charging hikers 20 pesos each to keep walking (La Razón). The park itself has no entrance fee. Stay on the main paths near the convent and the valleys, go in a group for anything longer, and leave the good camera at home if you’re going deep
• Altitude. The convent is at about 3,000 meters, La Marquesa about the same, and the peaks well above. That’s 700 meters or more above Roma. Walk slowly uphill, drink water, and go easy on the beer
• Weather. In the rainy season, roughly June to October, expect a downpour most afternoons, so go early. From December to February there’s frost at night, the high parts of Cuajimalpa drop to around zero (N+), and after a cold front the Desierto and the Ajusco sometimes get a dusting of snow (Récord)
• What to wear. Layers, a real jacket, closed shoes with some grip (the paths are muddy in the rainy season), a rain jacket from June on, and sunscreen, because the sun at 3,000 meters burns even when the air is cold
• Cash. The fondas, horse rentals and parking are cash only

A day in both forests

Weekday if you can. Hire a driver for the day, or at least agree on a return time.

1. 8:30 AM Leave Roma or Polanco by car, via Santa Fe and La Venta
2. 9:30 AM At the Desierto. Walk to the first hermitages while it’s quiet and cold
3. 10 AM The convent opens. The basement, the whispering chapel, the gardens
4. 11:30 AM Quesadillas with hongos and café de olla at the fondas by the entrance
5. 12:30 PM Drive down to the Toluca highway and west to La Marquesa, about half an hour
6. 1:15 PM The horsemen monument, then an hour’s ride on horseback through the Valle del Silencio or Valle del Conejo
7. 3 PM Late lunch, trout from the farm, at a valley stall or La Escondida. This is the normal Mexican lunch hour anyway
8. 4:30 PM Head back before the cold and the traffic. If you came without a car, take a taxi down to Lerma and the train to Observatorio

At a glance

Open questions

• Convent entry fee. The federal culture listing gives 20 pesos and Tue–Sun 10 AM – 5 PM; a 2025 article gives 19 pesos and a 2021 one 14 pesos. No official 2026 price found. Check at the door
• Park hours (Desierto). Sources disagree: daily 6 AM – 5 PM (Escapadah, 2025) versus 8 AM – 5 PM (CDMX Secreta, 2021). I wrote “daytime only”
• Parking at the Desierto. 20 pesos per car in 2021; not confirmed since
• Trout at the Desierto fondas. The sources only confirm quesadillas with hongos, soups and café de olla there. Trout is confirmed for La Marquesa. Left out of the Desierto line
• Cruz Blanca trail. Cerro Cruz Blanca (about 3,160 m) is listed among the park’s hills, but I found no reliable trail description from the convent. I used the Ermita de San Miguel hike instead
• How many hermitages survive. The city tourism site says eight of the original ten; I wrote “most”
• Zip lines at La Marquesa. None of the sources I found mention them, so they’re not in the text. Probably exist at some private valley parks; confirm before adding
• Prices at La Marquesa. Only the horse price (about 220 pesos an hour, 2023) is sourced. Quad, go-kart and trout prices were from a 2015 article and are left out
• Entry or parking fees at the La Marquesa valleys. Not verified; some valleys may charge for parking
• Uber cost to the Desierto. Not verified. The La Marquesa range comes from Rome2Rio (18–22 USD) and should be checked in the app
• Restaurant inside the convent. Confirmed by El Universal (undated) and a 2013 Time Out review (Wed–Sun 10 AM – 5 PM); current name and hours not confirmed
• Desierto Norte. A well-reviewed burger and natural wine place in the forest near the Desierto (Thu–Sun, 2020 review). Not mentioned in 2025–2026 sources, so left out; check if it still exists
• Óvelpaa hours. Address and Instagram from a November 2025 article; hours not published
• Horsemen monument location. Wikipedia places it near the village of La Marquesa; I couldn’t pin exact coordinates, so it’s not in the places file
• La Marquesa hours. No single opening time; the only posted hours found were 10 AM – 6 PM for a go-kart track (2015). “Many stalls only open on weekends” is general knowledge, not sourced
• Bus fares to La Marquesa and to Santa Rosa Xochiac not verified for 2026
• Fire or closure status. No 2026 fire closures found for either park, but forest fires are a risk in the dry season (roughly February to May). Worth checking the news before going in spring