16 Nature Parks near Mexico City, Mexico: Map & Photos

16 parks and reserves · within 60 km

There are 16 parks and reserves within 60 km of Mexico City in a straight line, an hour or a little more by road. The closest is Bosque de Chapultepec, 7 km away; the farthest, México Chiquito, is 59 km. They are listed under the Pueblos Mágicos of Metepec, Teotihuacán, Tepotzotlán, and Villa del Carbón, which make good bases.

Parks and reserves are best on weekdays and early in the day. Bring water, and check the opening hours, since some close one day a week.

Best months, when most of these towns are dry with comfortable afternoons: Jan, Feb, Mar, Dec.

The Nature Parks 16

Bosque de Chapultepec · Nature reserve · 7 km from Mexico City · Ciudad de México
More than 800 hectares of forest in four sections: rowboats on the lakes, a free zoo, the castle hill and the city's great museums.
Bosque de San Juan de Aragón · Nature reserve · 7 km from Mexico City · Ciudad de México
A 162-hectare urban forest in northern Mexico City with a lake, a 5 km running loop and a free zoo next door; Metro Bosque de Aragón (Line B).
Cerro de la Estrella · Nature reserve · 10 km from Mexico City · Ciudad de México
Iztapalapa's hill, where the Mexica lit the New Fire every 52 years and where the Iztapalapa Passion play ends each Good Friday.
Bosque de Tlalpan · Nature reserve · 17 km from Mexico City · Ciudad de México
A 253-hectare urban park on Xitle lava: running tracks, mountain trails, a duck lake and traces of Cuicuilco. Open daily.
Parque nacional Fuentes Brotantes de Tlalpan · Nature reserve · 17 km from Mexico City · Ciudad de México
National park declared in 1936, with Ajusco springs, a lake of ducks and turtles, trails and food stalls; about 8 of its 129 hectares remain.
Los Dinamos · Nature reserve · 19 km from Mexico City · Ciudad de México
Forested canyon of the Río Magdalena, the city's last living river: waterfalls, climbing walls, trout and old Porfirian power plants.
Desierto de los Leones · Nature reserve · 23 km from Mexico City · Ciudad de México
Mexico's first national park: fir forest above the city around a 17th-century Carmelite convent with hermitages and a whispering chapel.
La Marquesa · Nature reserve · 30 km from Mexico City · Near Metepec
Pine-forest valleys on the Toluca–Mexico City highway, popular on weekends for horseback rides, trout and quesadillas.
Parque Nacional Molino de Flores · Nature reserve · 32 km from Mexico City · Near Teotihuacán
A small national park around the ruins of a colonial mill hacienda in a wooded ravine east of Texcoco.
Xochitla Parque Ecológico · Nature reserve · 32 km from Mexico City · Near Tepotzotlán
A 70-hectare ecological park on Tepotzotlán's edge with a botanical garden, bike rentals, boating and camping.
Bosque de Agua · Nature reserve · 34 km from Mexico City · Estado de México
The forest corridor between Mexico City, Toluca and Cuernavaca that feeds all three cities' aquifers; visit it at Zempoala, La Marquesa or Ajusco.
Corredor Biológico Chichinautzin · Nature reserve · 45 km from Mexico City · Morelos
Federal protected area of 37,302 ha, decreed in 1988: pine, oak and fir forest between Cuernavaca, Tepoztlán and Huitzilac, linking Zempoala and El Tepozteco.
Parque Nacional El Tepozteco · Nature reserve · 48 km from Mexico City · Morelos
About 23,000 ha of volcanic sierra between Tepoztlán and southern Mexico City: pine and oak forest, dry tropical woods and the Tepozteco pyramid.
Bosque Mirador · Nature reserve · 51 km from Mexico City · Morelos
About 22 ha of pine forest in Ahuatepec, north of Cuernavaca; a municipal protected area since 2016, next to the Chichinautzin corridor.
Parque Nacional Sacromonte · Nature reserve · 51 km from Mexico City · Estado de México
A 45-hectare sacred hill above Amecameca, a national park since 1939: the black Christ's cave shrine, a hilltop chapel and views of both volcanoes.
México Chiquito · Nature reserve · 59 km from Mexico City · Near Villa del Carbón
Red and orange eroded mounds reflected in a pond at the edge of Chapa de Mota, a landscape that looks almost Martian.