Pre-Conference Tour
September 28 - October 5, 2025
This Tour is now sold out, but you can request to be added to a waiting list by writing to conference2025@internationaloaksociety.org. Waitlist requests will be added in the order they are received and you will be notified in case more spaces become available.
Description
Join us for a 7-day road trip sampling some of Mexico’s outstanding oak diversity. We will begin with a welcome reception in Morelia, Michoacán, the evening of Sunday, September 28. The reception will be held at the Auditorium of the Centro Cultural Clavijero, from 6 to 8 p.m. We will spend the night at Hotel Misión Catedral.
The next day we will see the newly described scrub oak, Quercus purhepecha, and later several other species near Morelia, where we expect to find Q. resinosa, Q. calophylla, Q. sideroxyla, Q. castanea, Q. obtusata, Q. laurina, Q. crassifolia. We will return to Hotel Misión Catedral in Morelia for the night.
Tuesday we will drive to Santa Rosa de Lima in Guanajuato and spend the day exploring the oak diversity hotspot to be found there. We will also learn about traditional charcoal ovens and the sustainable management of the oak woodland for charcoal production. Species to be seen (excluding those seen already) will likely include Q. jonesii, Q. eduardi, Q. rugosa, Q. potosina, and Q. magnoliifolia. We’ll spend the night in Guanajuato.
On Wednesday, October 1, we travel to Puebla, where we will lunch at the Puebla University Botanic Garden and spend the afternoon exploring the garden, whose oak collection includes some 80 species. We stay in Puebla that night.
Thursday will find us bound for Zacapoaxtla in the north of the State of Puebla, where we should encounter more species not seen yet on the Tour, typical of the cloud forests of the region (Q. affinis, Q. crassifolia, Q. repanda, Q. hirtifolia, Q. delgadoana, Q. meavei), and have the opportunity to visit oak conservation projects. We will then drive to our hotel in Xalapa.
The following day, at the Santuario del Bosque de Niebla we expect to add some more species to our Tour checklist: Q. germana, Q. lancifolia, Q. paxtalensis, Q. pinnativenulosa, Q. xalapensis. In the afternoon we will explore the Trail of Hotel Finca La Niebla, before returning to our Hotel in Xalapa.
We will spend Saturday, October 4, near Huatusco, at Vivero Las Cañadas, where we will see the renowned Q. insignis (with the world’s largest acorns) as well as other previously encountered species. Our hotel for the evening will be in Orizaba.
Our final day will be dedicated to travelling to the Conference venue in Oaxaca, arriving well in time to prepare for the Welcome Reception.
The map below shows the approximate itinerary of the Pre-Conference Tour:
Fee
$1,100 (single occupancy)
$850 (double occupancy)
Fee includes lodging for seven nights, breakfast, and lunch for seven days and transportation via rental vehicle. Please note that dinners are not included in the fee.
The number of participants is limited to 40. Itinerary subject to change.
This Tour is sponsored in part by Bartlett Tree Experts
Quercus meavei
Quercus crassifolia
Quercus repanda
Images: Béatrice Chassé
