Mexico City from Texas
 

We are planning to visit our daughter and family in Texas in March, and are considering taking a 3-4 day trip to Mexico City while there. It would seem as if fares would be better than from our east coast location. I just checked Aeromexico and fares from Houston were much higher than I expected. Any suggestions? We will be visiting in San Antonio so could leave from there, Austin, or Houston. Would appreciate any help regarding where in the city to stay as well.

Have you ever been to Mexico City? I would not recommend driving in the city, the traffic is horrible, air quality is so bad you cannot see the ground if you are flying in........not really a recommend destination. IMHO

http://www.solutionsabroad.com/a_security-driving.asp

This is an excellent website about driving in Mexico City. Please read it.

To those that do not read the article, read this

If you are a new arrival, learn all-you-need to know on the issue of Driving in Mexico, by visiting Solutions Abroad's Getting Started Section, and open the Cars page (also remember if you are bringing your car to Mexico from another country you are required by law to have Mexican auto insurance - Click Here to get an instant quote and buy online). Here, in the Security Corner we will try to provide you with tips and recommendations on how to drive with an enhanced sense of self-protection around the innumerable streets of D.F.

I just did a very quick search for your time period- it showed $261.00 roundtrip from Houston. I would continue to monitor Aeromexico's fares, see what Mexicana has to offer out of San Antonio, and consider departing from Dallas and you may be able to get down to the $199.00 range if you keep your eyes open. In regards to manycruiser's Mexico City air comments, if you are not already familiar with Mexico City the air quality can be horrendus or reasonably good- it just depends, although it is better in the summer than when you will be going.

While I wouldn't want to live there, I enjoyed my first visit to Mexico City earlier this year. I got a great rate on an excellent hotel in the Polanco area and used this as a base camp for exploring the region....

REMEMBER........if you do decide to drive your own car.......which I would not recomment......your insurance is not valid, and you have to purchase Mexican insurance.

I would consider visiting Mexico City again, but I would never think about driving there. Never!

Fares to Mexico from DFW are among the most expensive 'cuz of the protection AA has at DFW - remember the Wright Amendment and Sen Kay B. Hutchison's husband's bond deals?
As an example, last week AA had a special : Los Cabos - $199.RT from ORD and $399. from DFW.
M

Lo siento, but why would you go to La Ciudad (Mexico City)if you didn't have to do same for personal or business reasons?
Please consider the Colonial Cities if you want to avoid the beach "crowds": Guanajuato, Morelia, Puebla, Queretaro, and especially San Miguel de Allende (I live there a few months a year). Guadelajara, San Luis Potosi,and Zacatecas are the others.
Oaxaca has received great feedback as well - it's on my list of places to visit.
M

We do not plan to drive there, only thought airfare would be reasonable compared to going there from home. We are interested in the colonial cities as well but not really the beach resorts. Thanks for suggestions.

How do you go to Teotehuacan from Mexico City if you don't drive? Taxi? Tourbus? My ten year old son wants to visit before a McDonald's opens next to that Wal-Mart. I have changed planes once in Mexico City. El Popo volcano was fuming over this largest of cities I have ever witnessed. It looked like a giant circuit board from the air--despite reputation for crime, I was interested in seeing more than I did.

Hi!

I agree with Dude, keep on checking airfares.

Driving is hard but not undoable.

Air quality is bad, but NY, San Antonio and every mayor US city has air quality issues too.

You can take a Teotihuacan tour; go to Coyoacan and visit Frida Kahlo?s museum, go to Xochimilco and visit Dolores Olmedo?s Museum. Stay in Polanco area and visit the Antropology Museum as well as Mexico?s Modern art museum. just ask your Hotel's front desk.

and as Mikemo suggests, there are beautiful Colonial cities, you?ll have a great time!.

The way I would go to Teotihucan is to take the metro to Indios Verdes. Walk up the stairs and take a bus to Teotihuacan. Make sure to take a direct bus. Or go to the Tapo bus station and take a bus all the way.

Been to Mexico City a lot over the past 2+ years and always love visiting, there's so much to see and do in the city itself and then outside as suggested - also check out Cuernavaca as an option, nice climate and nice colonial city...
I have also driven around Mexico City a fair bit in my friend's car without any problems, other than being parked on the ring road on a Friday night in rush hour!!!!
In all my visits I have actually never had a day where the air was so bad - some days you could see right across the city (just lucky I guess)...
There's some good hotels in the Reforma area - stayed at the Westin once but most of the time stay with a friend so can't help much there...

Airfares to Mexico fluctuate during the differetn seasons. Just make sure you are not going during Spring Break during March and you should get a good fare. I would not worry on buying the ticket so far in advance. Aeromexico and Mexicana usually have good promotional airfares on their website. Mexico City is a fabulous place to visit. There is so much history that it is impossible to see in just 4 days, but defintely worth it.

Airfares are usually cheaper to Mexico City via Houston than from Dallas.

Keep checking, and be sure to call Aviacsa and see what they can do. They almost always have the lowest fares out there from Houston to either Monterrey or Mexico City.

Currently, Travelocity's flexible search tool shows me round-trip fares (IAH-MEX) of $173 for Aviacsa and $183 for Continental.

When comparing airfares into Mexico though, always check as to whether or not the quoted price includes taxes because this tends to add around $70-80 to the price of a ticket (youch!)

Buen viaje!
Mark
www.tiogringo.com

Thanks again!