Lago Montebello, Southern Mexico, Mexico

5JerryLobo 5:00 PM Nov 11, 2019

Everything you need to know!
This natural park is huge it is an entire day activity. By 5:30pm it begins to darken so go early. You will need to drive to every lake as they are not within walking distance. However it is worth it! I recommend you go on your own and not a tour bus so you can take time to see and appreciate every wonder. The drive to the park is long however the road is safe. On your way to the Park you will get a lot of con-artist posing as guides DO NOT get anyone people will offer you their kids for 100 pesos, don't do it. Wait until you pay the park fee and enter. Go to the first lake "Laguna de Aguatinta" there is a small parking area with a kiosk, there you will find Oscar. Oscar is a local guide that lives in a town surrounded by a virgin forest. He grew up there and is a certified guide he has received training. He is also extremely humble and very knowledgeable. He does not charge you anything and will stay with you the entire day if necessary, you only pay him what you want, like a donation. Make sure you have space in your vehicle for him as he will be guiding you in the drive to every lake. He will also take you to eat the authentic food that the locals make in that area, delicious! We were so happy to have found him amongst many guides. I will add a photo of him. If you want to reserve him in advance he was nice enough to give me his number I can connect you with him. He only speaks Spanish. He can also take you on a boat canoe, horseback riding, also to the Guatemala border and can help you reserve a cabin if you wish to stay in Montebello, which I recommend. Please feel free to ask me any questions.

4petitpuce 5:00 PM May 6, 2016

little adventure to Lagunas de Montebello
We took a bus from Chiapas to Comitan then a collectivo (local shared van) ourself to Lago de Montebello. It was quite an adventure because it's not indicated where to take this collectivo from Comitan, we asked around and finally found it. We stayed at Tzicao Ecovillage, they are very friendly and they even upgraded our chalet in front of the lake FOC the next day. We took a day trip with a driver guide who came to us when we arrived in the Ecovillage. We shared the tour together with a group of Mexican students, don't hesitate to negotiate (6 people in total, we paid 120pesos per person for the day trip). The lakes are not that spectacular as we imagined as we read a lot of good reviews about it, maybe because of the weather, it was overcast that day. We did canoeing, once again we need to negotiate to get a good price (300 pesos per boat for 2 people during 2 hours; they asked for 400 pesos per boat for half an hour at the beginning). During the day trip we also went to Guatemala border, it's fun to cross the border without passport or visa. We spent 2 nights there, it was quite relaxing beside the lake. Actually we took breakfast and dinner at our driver guide's house (they offer home cook meal as well), we think this is a very good experience to see how they cook with woodfire and make the tortilla. Overall experience is nice, we enjoyed taking the collectivo from Comitan with locals without any tourists. This gives us opportunity to experience the local life. We recommend Lago de Montebello if you have time and like nature. Day trip from Chiapas involve too much driving, we suggest to stay 1 night minimum.