An amazing site to learn to fly
Valle de Bravo is a world-famous place for paragliding and hang-gliding. Even though the place is known as Valle de Bravo, real flying is at the takeoff El Penon in the Temascaltepec area.
It is IMPORTANT to know the local rules of the Clubs and both takeoffs.
There is a launch site in Valle de Bravo called La Torre (the tower) and it is used just for local tandem operation.
The main site is El Penon, where all the courses and competitions are organized.
How to get to Valle de Bravo?
Get your flight directly to Mexico City (MEX) or Toluca (TLC). Try to get your flight planned to land during the day. If you need to stay a night in Mexico City don´t stay close to the bus station! It will be cheap, but too dangerous at night for a foreigner so staying close to the airport should be a little bit expensive, but much safer.
Bus is the cheapest ride to Valle de Bravo. The bus station name is "Observatorio" (Observatory). Take UBER to Observatorio from airport $300 Mexican pesos (around 15 euro) to catch the next bus going to Valle for $300 Mexican pesos. Taking the subway from the Airport is not recommended.
Once at the Observatorio bus station you will find only one bus line you can use for the Valle trip, it's called the Zinacatepec / Excelencia. You will find daily departures from 5:00 AM up to 5:00 PM, one every hour for Valle de Bravo. (For example, 5:15, 6:15, 7:15 and so on)
Be sure to buy and to ride the "Libramiento" bus route to Valle de Bravo (por la autopista / highway).
So, the "Libramiento" bus departing from Observatorio is a non-stop ride, cheap enough, safe, you can make it on time and you might be on Valle early enough for your first flight there before calling it a day, just spend those $300 Pesos on the airport cab to the Observatorio bus station, be safe, be comfortable, be wise...!
In Valle de Bravo you can use TAXI. There is price for standard route MX$25 and private ride. Ask before!
Paragliding sites around Valle de Bravo
Valle de Bravo has two very different paragliding flying sites; “La Torre” (The Tower), this is one is above town (30 minutes ride up). This is a ridge soaring area and then a flight over the town with a great view. During the weekend the site is too crowded with tandems so it is not recommended to go.
Launch site is small and windy so good kiting skills are required.
Beware the lake landing zone is small!
El Peñón, Temascaltepec
The main paragliding, hangliding, free flying site is the world famous “El Peñón” (The Big Rock). El Peñón is a competition level place and great for some good XC and about 14 km straight line from Valle. Cross country flight from El Peñón to Valle is a local tradition and even though is only 14 km; it is not so easy to make it. Valle de Bravo has its own tricks and getting there first time without help, first kilometers of XC will be hard to make. We recommend our XC courses to learn the tricks of Valle de Bravo.
Fly El Peñón early in the morning when the day just starts to turn on or late at the afternoon, at least a couple of times until you get familiarized with the place. First thermals go out at 9:30 and moderate ones are already at 11:00.
Avoid launching between 12:00 and 15:00 PM on sunny days of the high season. It gets very windy!
The area close to Crazy Thermal can be really strong and turbulent so if you are a beginner, take our classes or fly really high. Valle de Bravo has famous convergence and the winds tend to have different directions depending where and how high you fly.
The piano landing zone of the Peñón is quite big and it´s over a plateau called "Africa" because of its shape. If you don´t like rough conditions try to land there before the noon or you will find thermal and wind boosting you up again for hours making your landing quite hard and scary.
Blue days during the winter time are very common in Valle de Bravo so try to learn to read the ground for thermal triggers as much as possible.
Taking our thermaling course in Valle de Bravo will teach you how to thermal excellent and our XC course in Valle de Bravo will boost tour kilometers instantly!
Central Mexico where the Valle de Bravo is situated has basically two weather seasons. Dry season (winter time, high pressure) and rainy season when the tropical convergence comes more north so we have a LOW-pressure system all the time. When it comes and when it go depends a lot on El Nino and La Nina's effects. Normally the years with less rain have more windy winters and vice versa.
Valle de Bravo is known for being not only a good place to fly but also for its consistency of many good and reliable flyable days. The best flying season for paragliding in Valle de Bravo starts on January and it goes until May when the rainy season starts. Rainy days are also flyable for a few hours, just don´t expect the best XC conditions. Rain season ends in September and from then to December days are usually very mellow and nice to fly perfect conditions for students, beginners or just relax flying.
Basically, we have 300 flyable days during the year and from December to April. Almost every day is flyable.
October is humid with low cloud base.
November is mild and still humid but the cloud base is getting higher.
December is mild but good for beginners of XC. Afternoon flights are also possible.
January gets good. High cloud base. No rain. Afternoon flights are possible.
February is stronger with moderate winds. Afternoon flights are possible.
March is windy and strong. Afternoon flights are possible.
April the winds are weaker but the thermals are stronger. Afternoon flights are possible.
May has less wind, more strong with a chance of overdevelopment.
June – October is with afternoon thunderstorms and the rain can sometimes last the whole day. Normally we fly in the morning from 9:00 – 14:00.
There is no like Valle de Bravo weather. Incredible 360 flyable days per year! IT IS JUST CRAZY GOOD!
We never cancel courses due to bad weather. There is NO bad weather in Valle de Bravo. When you book your course you can bet you will finish your training as scheduled. It really sucks when you travel to learn, and spend money, and then the weather messes it up.
In the dry season, November to May, we fly from early morning till the evening, and in the rainy season May to October, we fly from early morning till early afternoon.
The daily temperature throughout the year is 20-33 C. Winter nights can be cold.
