Monarch butterflies migrate to specific overwintering spots in Mexico and along the California coast, depending on which North American population they belong to.

Quick Scoop: Where do monarch butterflies migrate to?

1. The main destinations

  • Eastern monarchs (those east of the Rocky Mountains) fly thousands of miles to overwinter in the high-elevation oyamel fir forests of central Mexico, especially within the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve in the states of MichoacĂĄn and MĂŠxico.
  • Western monarchs (west of the Rockies) migrate to coastal California, spending winter in groves of trees along the central and southern California coast and into northern Baja California, Mexico.

2. How the journey works

  • Every fall, monarchs from southern Canada and the northern and central United States head south in September–October toward these overwintering sites, often traveling up to about 2,000–3,000 miles.
  • In spring, they leave Mexico or coastal California and move north in stages, with multiple generations completing the return to their breeding grounds in the United States and Canada.

3. Simple mental picture

Imagine two big “highways” in the sky:

  • One highway runs from Canada and the central/eastern U.S. down to the mountain forests of central Mexico.
  • The other runs from the western U.S. to cool, tree-filled groves along the California coast and into northern Baja.

TL;DR:
Most monarch butterflies in North America migrate to mountain forests in central Mexico (eastern population) or to coastal California and northern Baja California (western population) to spend the winter.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.