Puebla (1.5 million habs) is about 140 km South East from Mexico City (or Mexico D.F., 18 million habs). Cholula (100,000 habs) is 12 kms West of Puebla and Tonantzintla (1000 habs) is 4 kms South of Cholula. All cities and towns are comunicated by motorways or good roads. Driving time from Mexico City to Tonantzintla is around 2 hours.
First fly to Mexico City (that should be easy) and from there the bus
to Puebla. Once you landed in Mexico City airport you need "two
more steps":
Through Mexico City:
There is a comfortable bus service by "Estrella
Roja" which runs from Mexico City airport to the city of Puebla every
30 minutes. These leave from the airport zone D, next to International
Arrivals (zone E). The fare is $100.00 Pesos ($180.00 Pesos if you buy
the return ticket) and can be paid on the bus. The ride takes about two
hours. Those wanting to see the landscape (better seen in the morning hours
and once outside Mexico City!) should sit on the right hand side of the
bus. Buses departing at the hour (13:00, 14:00, 15:00, etc...) arrive to
Puebla bus station (known locally as CAPU) while those departing at the
half-hour (13:30, 14:30, 15:30, etc...) arrive to station of "4 Poniente"
located nearer to Puebla's downtown.
- If your bus arrives to CAPU (Central de Autobuses de PUebla; main bus station in Puebla), we recommend you to get a regulated taxi ticket (at one of the kiosks with a TAXIS sign on it) to either Cholula or Tonantzintla, depending your destination. The fare is aprox $70 Pesos; add 4 Pesos if you arrive after 10:00 PM, the ride takes some 20 minutes. Make sure you take a yellow and white taxi. If coming to Tonantzintla tell the taxi driver to drop you at "El Observatorio" in Tonantzintla. If you are hosted in a hotel, just tell the taxi driver the hotel's name.
- From the "4 Poniente" Estrella Roja station there are only standard (black and yellow) taxis. It is recommended to fix the prize in advance (it should be about $80 Pesos to Tonantzintla, $70 to Cholula, $40 pesos to Puebla).
- We recommend NOT to take taxis from Mexico City airport to Puebla as the fare will be astronomical (above 600 pesos).
-
If you are highly adventurous and want to drive to Cholula or Tonantzintla,
the basic instruction is to take the motorway to the Puebla (East), exit
to the right some 15-20 kms after the second toll (the Texmelucán
toll) where it says "La Vista" and some 100 meters later "Cholula". This
is the Puebla ring road ("Periférico"). After some 12 kms you exit
at "Cholula recta" and after 2kms you enter Cholula by the East side, very
close in fact to the Posada Señorial. From here we recommend a Cholula
map.
To get to Tonantzintla go to San Pedro Cholula down town and from the central square (Zócalo) head South. Simple, isn't it?To make life easier, exiting the airport you have to take "boulevard aeropuerto" to the south, after some 3 to 5 kms take "Calzada Ignacio Zaragoza", a wide kind of freeway road, towards the East. After some 15 kms it leads to the beginning of the motorway. Mind: take "Puebla cuota" and NOT "Puebla libre" (a rather dangerous road).
There are two tolls of 45 pesos each. You do need Mexican pesos for the drive!
Directly to Puebla
Puebla has its own international airport, although of low traffic, which in fact makes the journey more relaxing than going through Mexico City.
Continental airlines has
a direct daily flight between Houston and Puebla:
Houston - Puebla (IAH-PBC), CO 3925, departs 8:25pm, arrives 10:45pm
Puebla - Houston (PBC-IAH), CO 3920, departs 7:15am, arrives 9:25am
NEWS! NEW DAILY FLIGHT TO PUEBLA BY DELTA AIRLINES, starting September 1st:
Dallas - Puebla, DL 5187, departs 1:15pm, arrives 4:00pm
Puebla - Dallas, DL 5188, departs 5:15pm, arrives 7:50pm
Puebla airport is located next to the town of Huejotzingo (see the map), some 20 mins drive to Cholula and 30 mins to Puebla. Taxis have something close to a monopoly and charge rather expensively (from 100 pesos). There is a shuttle service to Puebla (not to Cholula), not much cheaper.
If we know your schedule we might be able to pick you up. Just email us in advance!
gamma00@inaoep.mx, 28 july 2000.