Nevado de Toluca National Park

The Nevado de Toluca National Park is a flora and fauna protection area in the State of Mexico covering more than 50,000 hectares of mountain terrain. The park includes conifer forests, volcanic slopes, and two small lakes within a crater sitting above 4,000 meters elevation.

The area received national park status in 1936 under President Lázaro Cárdenas. In September 2013 it was then converted into a flora and fauna protection area, which changed its management rules.

The twin crater lakes bear the names El Sol and La Luna, echoing pre-Hispanic rituals performed here. Today hikers visit these spots and sometimes see remnants of ceramic vessels that have rested there for centuries.

Visitors reach the park via the Toluca-Sultepec road and then follow an approximately 18-kilometer unpaved track from the village of Raíces. The altitude requires acclimatization and weather can shift quickly, so bring warm clothing.

The lakes within the crater hold temperatures near freezing throughout the year, even though they sit just a few hundred meters apart. The larger lake, El Sol, measures around 400 meters in length.