november_moon

My husband and I are tossing around ideas for a trip next year - Costa Rica and Mexico are on our short list - probably be traveling in October or November 2017, so we have plenty of time to decide. If we go to Mexico, I'd like to go to Mexico City since neither of us has been there - maybe stay for a week, explore the city, visit museums, take a day trip to Teotihuacan, eat lots of good food, enjoy the nightlife, etc. We'd probably have about 2 weeks for the trip, so I'd like to add one or two other places.

Any recommendations for interesting and picturesque, smaller towns that are an easy bus ride from Mexico City that are worth a day or two? Maybe to to Puebla for a couple days? I'd prefer not to rent a car this trip. We are pretty laid back travelers - we like local food and drink, Meso-american ruins, museums, local art, festivals, history, architecture, music, seeing local plants and animals, hiking and biking - all sorts of stuff really. But we aren't into golf, big resorts, or that kind of thing.

I'm thinking that we could finish up with several days somewhere on the Pacific coast since neither of us has been to the Pacific side of Mexico either. Maybe to Puerto Vallarta? Zihuatanejo? It would have to be someplace with flights from Mexico City because I don't want to do a road trip or sit on a bus for ages to get there. I'm looking for a low-key place where we could walk along the beach, relax on the beach and/or by the pool, read, maybe swim in the ocean, drink beers and and eat tacos with our toes in the sand, take a boat cruise, wander around town (on foot or bikes) - check out local crafts and shops, maybe some art galleries, eat, have some beers (I think I said that already)...you get the idea.

And we speak Spanish, so language isn't an issue.

baldone

Lots of options. Couple things first. All beach areas can be reached from MEX. But you can also fly out of BJX (Leon) or QRO (Queretaro). So, if you visit a couple small towns, you wouldn't necessarily have to return to CDMX.
A popular route that fits your criteria would be Queretaro (Colonial, but not small), San Miguel De Allende, ending in Guanajuato. Fly out of BJX.
If you want to return to CDMX, in Hidalgo state the mountain towns of Mineral Del Chico, Mineral Del Monte and Huasca De Ocampo might work. Plenty of hiking in Chico national park, but no easily accessible ruins.
A third option that probably that best fits all your criteria is Puebla, Oaxaca, then fly from Oaxaca to Huatulco. Huatulco has some 9 bays, some good for snorkeling, some busy, some almost deserted. Oaxaca and Puebla's food is the best in the country. Ruins of Mila and Monte Alban easily accessible as is Cholula. By 2017 the teacher strikes should hopefully be settled.

baldone

And a fourth option would be Morelia/Patzcuaro/Uruapan. See my post in the 'traveling with a baby in Mexico' thread. From either Uruapan or Morelia you can get a bus to Zihua, some 4 hours. Uruapan is worth a visit for the reasons I posted earlier, but not as nice of place to base yourself. Parhikuni is the bus line.
If this will be your first trip to Mexico, you'll find the buses quite luxurious. I also find the food and culture in Mexico far superior to that of Costa Rica.

november_moon

Thanks for the ideas baldone. That gives me a lot to go on. I find Mexico infinitely interesting, and of course, plenty of good food. I've been to Veracruz several times for work (going again next month), Tecate and surrounding area a few times, and once we did a 2 week road trip around the Yucatan Peninsula after spending several days in Merida. So this trip would be to see another part of the country that we haven't been to yet.

I've been to CR once before, but my husband hasn't - for CR, we are most interested in the national parks and the flora and fauna to be seen there.

suze

hola mi amiga, If you do decide to fly to Puerto Vallarta, let me know. It's where I go 1-2x/year. Have been to PV at least 25+ times, i lost count -lol- and hope to eventually retire or live there part-time.

Nothing wrong with any of the excellent, and possibly more "cultural" suggestions above.

But if you want to find some R&R, kick back, laid back, enjoy great weather, friendly local people, excellent restaurant scene, some arts, entertainment, galleries, walking, tours, shopping, a vibrant and exciting city... Puerto Vallarta has a warm welcome waiting for you.

suze

Here are three condos I have stayed at recently:

http://puerto-vallarta-rentals.com/vistadelsol715/

http://www.vallarta-getaways.com/ren...-condominiums/

http://serentavallarta.com/selva-romantica/

Here is my favorite go-to budget hotel:

http://hotelposadaderoger.com/

november_moon

Thanks suze - your trips to PV had piqued my interest in the area.

suze

I (am happy to say) know it well. If you decide to include Vallarta in your trip, just let me know what you are looking for and I can save you time so you don't have to reinvent the wheel.

Christina

Puebla isn't really small, it's a large city of over a million. Parts of it are picturesque, parts not. But it is a fairly easy bus trip from Mexico City, that's true. There is a ruin nearby you can get to by bus.

I really like Guanajuato which is much smaller and I think it is picturesque, but we have had a thread or two on that recently if you look around. It's an easy bus trip from the DF, I took a bus from it to the DF, takes about 4.5 hrs. I really enjoyed the bus ride to see some of the countryside and relax, but you may not want to do that long a ride. ETN and Primera Plus buses do that run, I think I used this one
https://www.primeraplus.com.mx/

Guanajuato has an airport it shares with Leon (BJX), but it doesn't have nonstop flights to Puerto Vallarta (whcih isn't small at all, I wouldn't call it relaxing) nor to, say, Puerto Escondido which you might consider as a possibility for what you want. But Puebla doesn't have nonstop flights to those places, either, so going there wouldn't solve that problem, you'd have to go back to Mexico City to get a nonstop flight to either place.

You might consider Taxco instead of Puebla from the DF, it is much smaller, only about 100K population. taxco is about a 3 hr bus ride from the DF. Or you could go to Cuernavaca, it is closer to Mexico City and is larger than Taxco, but nothing like Puebla. Cuernavaca does have an airport, also, but I suspect you won't get nonstop flights to Pacific from there, either, but didn't check. Cuernavaca is only 60-90 minutes by bus from the DF.

suze

If you don't want a beach, I like the Guanajuato idea. But I thought from the wording of your post you were looking for something coastal, "pacific" coastal to be exact.

PV can be plenty "relaxing" I'm not sure why Christina says that. Like anywhere, just depends what you do once you get there, where you choose to stay, etc. It's population is about a 1/4 million these days, so no it's not a one-donkey town ;-) the international airport is right within the city so that's an added benefit compared to some others where the airport is a distance outside town (Cabo for example).

baldone

Actually Interjet has a nonstop flight from BJX to PV. TAR has a nonstop from Queretaro to PV as well.

baldone

I think Cuernavaca has lost some of it's luster in recent years, in large part due to the increase in violence. I didn't find it particularly compelling at all in comparison to other easily accessible colonial cities near CDMX, especially if one is doing a circuit of cities. Taxco, I liked. But it's not appreciably different visually than say Guanajuato or San Miguel for the effort it takes to get there, if you have a limited time. And the silver is pretty much ubiquitous throughout the republica. It is a city of some 50k, not 100k, as the latter number is the population of the municipio (county) of the same name, while the city itself is like half that. I agree with Cristina in that much of Puebla's orillas are less than attractive, but that's pretty much the case throughout Mexico. Frankly, I'm embarrassed at how fugly San Miguel is coming from either Queretaro or Dolores.
I liked my time(s) in PV. I figure about 6 more destinations around the gulf side and I'll have completed the circuit, and I'll be ready to go back, and I look forward to it. November, personally Veracruz has proved to be one of my favorite places in Mexico. You're fortunate to have been able to know it well.

Stewbear

Christina
FYI Interjet has a direct flight daily Leon/Guanajuato to Puerto Vallarta (just one) for under $70 US if booked in advance.

november_moon

Thanks for the additional suggestions. Since we'll probably have 2 weeks, I was thinking of visiting 3 places - Mexico City, somewhere else reasonably nearby (small town, natural area, or another city), and a beach location to finish up.

I realize that Puebla isn't a small town - I probably didn't word my sentence well, but I was kind of tossing possibilities around for an interesting place to visit before heading to the coast. I was thinking that a smaller town or smaller city would balance out a visit to Mexico City - give us a chance to see a less urban area in central Mexico.

Leely2

Well, this is hardly novel, but I greatly enjoyed Puebla for a couple of days after five or six days in DF. We went on to Oaxaca from Puebla. But when I planned that trip the other really tempting option was heading in the other direction to Guanajuato. Next time.

AmandaHathaway

I also really liked Guanajuato. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site as it has some of the most stunning Baroque architecture in the USA. I really love such historic places! Also, the city is very picturesque because it is located in a valley surrounded by the Sierra de Guanajuato mountains. We went to Mexico in March 2016 with my friends and we added Guanajuato to our excursion. As has been already said above, Guanajuato can be reached from DF by bus which takes 4.5hrs but it’s so wonderful to travel like this and explore of the surroundings.