Hacienda Cantalagua, Contepec, Michoacan (00 52 447 478 5353; www.haciendacantalagua ). Drive directly to the sites or travel by bus to Angungueo and complete the journey by hiring a camioneta (truck) for up to 12 people. For information about the butterflies and the local communities, visit www.michoacanmonarchs .STAYING THEREVilla Montana, Morelia (00 52 443 314 0179; www.villamontana .mx) Doubles start at US$212 (£118), room only. Connecting flights to Morelia take 45 minutes with Mexicana (020-8492 0000; www.mexicana ), leaving six times a day, with returns starting at around £100. Alternatively, buses leave Mexico City hourly and take around four hours, from 195 Pesos (£10) each way.BUTTERFLY VISITING Between November and March, Sierra Chincua and San Rosario, both in eastern Michoacan near Angangueo, are the only two "Santuario Mariposa Monarca" open to the public. Flights are also available on a variety of US airlines via the United States, as well as European carriers such as Iberia and Air France/KLM via their hub cities.
It becomes clear that the most fancy of human fanfares may never be able to compete with nature, but they can at least give it a good shot.TRAVELLER'S GUIDEGETTING THERE Danielle Demetriou travelled to Mexico City with British Airways (0870 850 9850; www.ba ), which flies from Heathrow four times a week. It is one of the social highlights of daily life in Morelia.After a suspenseful delay (or perhaps just normal life in this part of Mexico), a grand overture of classical music fills the night sky before dramatic lighting slowly inches its way up the majestic edifice, culminating in a noisy firework display.As I survey the pomp and ceremony around me, I recall the butterfly show. Every week at 8pm, the grandiose cathedral, the heart and soul of the city, becomes even more magnetic as its lights are turned on.The event attracts hordes of over-excited children clutching balloons and dribbling ice-cream alongside their well-dressed and chattering parents. Perched on the hilltops overlooking Morelia, almost every room provides postcard-perfect vistas of the city.Hours later, we sit on the rooftop terrace of a bar in town sipping fine tequila as we await Morelia's Saturday night highlight.
There is a sensation of being in Europe as opposed to Mexico - aside from the tell-tale grid-mapped streets. Caf?of students sipping coffee fill the colonnades lining the streets of the historic centre, which is home to the grand cathedral, and a Unesco World Heritage Site.We head towards Villa Montana, a beautiful antique-filled hotel that sprawls over plant- and sculpture-covered terraced gardens. Small but perfectly formed and charmingly preserved, it is filled with low-rise colonial buildings, baroque fa?es and pink-hued walls. One of the first cities of Neuva Espa?Morelia is the prototype of the colonial dream town. Before the sun broke over the jagged horizon, we were riding horses across the expansive flatlands of the estate, as Juan, a dark-haired, moustachioed stable-master filled the chill morning air with his mournful, melodic songs about the difficult nature of women.Post-butterflies, we later drive, exhausted, dusty but elated to Morelia, the state capital of Michoacan, 315km west of Mexico City.