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Written by Jocelyn on 28 Jun 2022
Desierto de los Leones is a national park with an area of around 1,900 hectares, located around 30km away from CDMX. Although its name translates to Desert of the Lions, it is not a desert, nor are there any lions. It was in fact, a very lush forest, and named after the original landlord’s surname (Leones). The park’s altitude is between 2,600 to 3,700m above sea level, higher than CDMX’s of 2,240m, so be aware of that when planning to hike here. This is a guide on how to spend a day in Desierto de los Leones.
Getting there and back
We called an Uber from CDMX which costs around 200 pesos. We read about several other methods such as driving or taking several public buses but Uber was the most straightforward for us. You should key in the destination as “Ex Convento Desierto de los Leones” as there is another “Desierto de Los Leones” in Santa Rosa. We also took an Uber back to CDMX (also around 200 pesos), we didn’t have any trouble finding an Uber although this could be due to it being a weekend and being more crowded. There is generally no cell service in the area, but you can go to the food court mentioned below which has wifi to call the Uber.
Food
You definitely will not starve here, there were many street stalls along the road and a food court (Antojitos “Lina”) containing several stalls serving up Mexican food. These were all open when we arrived at around 8am so you can be assured of a hearty meal before (or after) your activities.
Ex-convent of Desierto de los Leones
The convent was a former monastery built in the 17th century and you can explore the halls, gardens and patios. There are also some tours available if you’d like, and even a night tour for the brave. Note that the opening hours are 10am-5pm (closed on Mondays).
Hiking
We went on a weekend, and the park was bustling with people doing all sorts of activities- mountain biking, trail running, hiking, walking their dogs, visiting the convent, or just simply having some family time at the food court or the bbq pits.
We used the Alltrails app to select the trail we wanted to do. Alltrails provides information on the trail including the distance, elevation gain, map and reviews. Since there is no reception in the park, we mapped the trail onto an offline map using Caltopo and maps.me app. Click here for a step-by-step guide on how to do this. I highly recommend this as the trails are unmarked and occasionally splits, so it is easy to get lost.
We completed the trail “Desierto Leones a Manantiales Rincon San Miguel” which was indicated as a 8.2km hike on Alltrails, though my Fitbit recorded around 15km so do take the information with a pinch of salt. The hike up had views of the mountain San Miguel, but the way down was less scenic and we had to go through bushy areas with very narrow trails. Although the park was crowded, the trail was not. We passed a few hikers and mountain bikers, but it was still a peaceful hike. We also passed by a few ruins which made the hike more interesting.
There was not much information online so I hope this guide was useful for you. Desierto de los Leones is certainly worth a visit and a good respite from the hustle and bustle of CDMX (and also to burn off those taco calories!).
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