Expert: Julia C Taylor - 5/28/2009

Question
QUESTION: Subject     Bus travel Mexico City to Morelia
Question     From the Mexico City airport what is the best bus route and bus company to take to get to Morelia?  We will clear customs by 12:30 pm at the airport...allowing an hour and a half to do that. The plan now is to take an airport bus about 12: 30 or 1 pm into the city's main bus terminal and then take a bus from there. Any further ideas?
________________________________________
Answer     I am sorry as this is outside of my expertise.  I would suggest that you contact one of the other experts for Mexico and see if they can help you.  My expertise lies mainly with the tourist areas of Mexico, such as Puerto Vallarta and Cancun.


ANSWER: Laurie,

There are four main bus terminals in Mexico City. To get to Morelia, you need to depart from the northern bus station, called the Central Camionera del Norte. Their web site is: http://www.centraldelnorte.com/ From the home page click on the logos of the individual bus lines to see which ones go to Morelia. Start with Primera Plus, ETN, and Omnibus de Mexico. The logos don't look like buttons. These three logos are at the bottom right of the page. I can't recommend a bus company. We just take whichever one is leaving the soonest for our destination -- but I do recommend that you travel first class. You don't need to buy your tickets in advance, just get to the bus station when you get there, then buy your tickets. I'm sure you won't have to wait very long -- and it beats missing the bus.

To get to the bus station you can take the metro or an authorized taxi. To learn more about that you can see the Mexico City airport web site: http://www.aicm.com.mx/home_en.php

Enjoy your trip. My husband and I were just talking about how good the food is in Michoacan. Enjoy the delicious freshly made bread while you are there.

Regards,
Julia Taylor
Author of Mexico: The Trick is Living Here and creator of www.home-sweet-mexico.com

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: This is very helpful.
A big question is ...can one take an airport bus to the Northern bus terminal to avoid a taxi? If not, which is safest and less confusing...the taxi, or the metro. We are terrified of any kind of taxi and feel apprehensive about navigating the metro.

Answer
Laurie,

I'm glad you found my answer helpful.  There is no bus from the airport to the Northern bus terminal (I checked yesterday). I think a taxi is a safer idea since you are sure to be transporting bags. I didn't have any problems the handful of times that I rode the metro, but why temp fate? Just let a taxi driver take you from terminal to terminal.

Buy your taxi ticket from an authorized taxi service (inside the airport terminal--before you go out the doors).  These taxis are safe and they give standard rates to each destination.  You can find out from your airline to which terminal of the airport you will arrive (terminal one or two) then you can use the link I gave you to read about "taxis autorizados" in that terminal.  

Kind Regards,
Julia Taylor
Author of Mexico: The Trick is Living Here and creator of www.home-sweet-mexico.com