About Chipinque - Monterrey Mexico

Entrance to Chipinque Park

Chipinque is a natural park on the northern face of the Sierra Madre mountain range overlooking San Pedro and Monterrey. It's about a 15 minute drive from downtown Monterrey. A 2-lane, winding road takes you up the side of the mountain and provides the visitor with some nice views of the city. During the summertime, when the heat in Monterrey itself can be quite strong, the Chipinque area can be a refreshing change in temperature: Due to its location in a forested mountainside thousands of feet above the city, and with the sun sometimes on the other side of the Sierra Madre range such that the park is in the shade, the temperature at this park can be significantly lower than in the city itself.

The visitor to Chipinque can choose to drive up to the top of the road (about 5 miles to the "top", or "maseta") or can park at the bottom and hike up the mountain on paths that are essentially long sequences of stairs. This is a popular place for people who like to exercise: Some walk up the road itself while others take the stairs which is physically more demanding.

Those are pretty much the main attractions of the park... it's a 5 mile winding road up the side of the mountain through a forested area with some nice scenic overlooks of the city. And, in the summer, the temperature is a little more enjoyable.

Gripe mode on...

While this may be on many "must see" lists, I have to take exception. Unless you absolutely positively want to see Monterrey from a few thousand feet up and seen from the south, the view from the Obispado is probably just as effective, much closer to the city, and you get to see the city in all directions. It's also free.

Why do I say this? I have been entirely turned off by Chipinque. A number of years ago Chipinque was a very popular place that many of Monterrey's citizens could visit with their families--20 pesos got you access to the park and you could drive all the way to the top. When I went back to take the pictures for this web page in March 2005, I found that the price had jumped to 70 pesos if you want to drive to the top. For 30 pesos you could park your car inside the park and walk up--though it's unclear to me why you'd want to pay 30 pesos to park inside the park when you can park for free just 200 feet outside the park. They also charge the same 30 pesos for bicyclists and 20 pesos for pedestrians. A year-long pass to the park costs 3,300 pesos (US$300)! Who do they think they are, Disneyland? A national park in the U.S. costs US$10 or $20 for a week and a year-long pass to all national parks in the U.S. costs, what, $65? Put in that perspective, $7 for access to a 5 mile strip of highway just seems annoyingly high--especially for the typical Mexican.

Plaque listing corporate "sponsors"

So when I went to take these pictures I almost just turned around in disgust... but I went ahead and paid 30 pesos and then drove probably half way up the mountain to take the pictures. I didn't see anyone who was checking how much I had paid so it's unclear to me if the 70-peso price is enforced or not. But what I did notice is that the park is significantly less crowded than it was a few years ago. It's obvious that the higher price has driven many people away. Some people may see that as a benefit, but I see it as a shame--it appears that a favorite passtime of common Monterrey citizens has been priced out of range for many of them.

What's even more frustrating is that if you visit the cabin right inside the park, there is a plaque (to right) that lists the names of all the companies that supposedly sponsor the park: Vitro, Cemex, Femsa, Pulsar, and Grupo IMSA. These are huge companies in Monterrey and, in my opinion, the whole point of them sponsoring the park is so they can get some "free" publicity and make the park available to visitors at a very accessible price. Yet it seems to me that the price of visiting Chipinque has increased almost 300% since these companies started sponsoring the park.

I don't know if these companies turned the park into a profit center or if the park organizers just got greedy, but I see absolutely no excuse for them to have raised the price from 20 pesos to 70 pesos, especially when they have corporate sponsors. This is a slap in the face to the citizens of Monterrey and I would encourage visitors to Monterrey to not visit the park for this reason. It is my hope that a prolonged decrease in visitor traffic to the park will cause the owners of the park to reevaluate their prices and once again make the park accessible to the common people of Monterrey.

Here are a few pictures from Chipinque... Again, I would have shot more pictures from other locations in the park but I was unwilling to support their new price structure on principle.

Cabin at park entrance
Winding road up side of mountain
View of Monterrey from Chipinque