Rancho Cumbre Monarca

Large hacienda style hotel. Each room as a fireplace, and you can pay for a bundle of wood (one bundle should last for two nights if it's just for an hour or so). They get some tour groups, so it's not a locals experience: I think the staff are employees, not owners. But they were very helpful with the firewood. The windows open onto a lawn and across that, a few trees. There are chickens pecking around, and a statue of the Buddha.

The food was average, and the presence of a lot of other tourists had you feel a little like a sheep, so it wasn't a place we wanted to hang out for fun. Except the fireplace...which oddly wasn't near the beds, but rather near the eating alcove. More true colonial layout, I guess. Note the entrance is hard to see: just a closed gate. Use your Google map and pay attention: we had to ask someone.

Beautiful property within nature and well taken care of.

Beautiful property, clean rooms and nice facilities. There is a restaurant space where the Internet works, they will build you a nice cozy fire before you go to sleep.

Internet is spotty and only works in the rifugio.

Excellent food at the restaurant and clean, well-decorated room with cozy blankets for the colder atmosphere. Combi passing in the morning was very convenient for getting to the El Rosario preserve, just fifteen minutes away. As reviews mentioned rooms were quite cold in the mountains but the fireplace with wood brought by the hotel ($180 MXN) kept the room cozy.

We were the only guests at the facility and overnight it appeared that staff left as well - we were unable to get in touch with any attendants for help including to get more wood for the room's fireplace, leaving us quite cold. We felt isolated and unsure what we would do in an emergency given that the rooms did not have any cellular service, WiFi did not reach the rooms, and the common area where the WiFi was strongest was locked overnight. We were told by the evening staff that the outdoor area would be lit up at night and in the morning we would be able to pay for breakfast by card, but both ended up not being true - it was quite dark, and bring enough cash to pay for the breakfast, wood, and dinner should you eat at the hotel. Reviews also noted that the staff would be able to help call taxis should we need but they were not able to help us with that. We ended up catching combis to the preserve and from the hotel back to Ocampo, but they passed infrequently so this location might be best for groups that are driving to the area and comfortable with a more remote stay.