I will have 8 days in Oaxaca and am looking at a several night stop in Puebla on my way back to Mexico City from where I will fly back to the US.

It looks like the bus from Oaxaca would get me into Puebla mid to late afternoon on a Sunday. I would check into a hotel and walk around to get myself oriented to the general area and then have dinner. That would give me two full days in Puebla (Monday and Tuesday). First thing Wednesday morning I would take the direct bus to the MEX airport (and hope the bus is on time so I can catch my flight).

Could Puebla keep me busy and interested for two full days? So many of the trip reports seem to focus on dining out, and frankly being by myself dining out isn't a lot of fun so I wouldn't be spending too much time on this or emphasizing this too much.

And, does it seem safe for a retired female who is on her own? (I should say that for comparison purposes I have visited Merida, San Miguel and Guanajuato. But, in those places I was with my husband.)

Thanks.

We arrive in Puebla in two weeks at the start of a month in Mexico, our second trip and our second time in Puebla. I would say that yes, there is most definitely enough to keep you busy for 2.5 days.

this will be our second visit to Puebla and my wife "insisted" we return. The first time we did pretty much what you are contemplating- bus from Oaxaca and on to MEX. I found it perfectly safe, indeed arguably one of the safer and more relaxed cities we visited.

we will be there for 5 nights and will be meeting our nieces there for a couple of days and probably plan on side trips to Cholula and Atlixco. The former is easily done by tour bus from downtown and the latter, a Pueblo Magico, by public bus (40 mins)

I found the TripAdvisor Puebla forum very useful for identifying things to do. - search for a poster named Jay Francis who was very helpful. If you want, I could try and find a link and post it here - let me know.

All the bus transfers from Oaxaca to Puebla to teh airport worked very well as they did all over Mexico .

I am happy that you liked Puebla so much that you are returning for a second visit.

Now, a completely different take on the question.

What about eliminating the entire visit to Puebla and just taking in Oaxaca? Would I be a fool to cut my trip a couple days short, thus eliminating Puebla. I'll admit that my initial primary reason for even scheduling a trip to Puebla is due to other transportation difficulties. The bus and Puebla are a way to solve that issue.

A day in cholula and Santa Maria Tonanzintla. Where do you get to walk inside a pyramid. Nice zocolo safe
Baroque museum and Ampro.
Alley of the frogs, especially on Sunday.
The zocolo, the cathedral.
The bus to the airport. Perfect, it is how we get to Mexico airpirt. We live in Oaxaca. The bus line is Estrella Roja. The have a station downtown.
also Talavera pottery. My favorite is Uriarte.
Check where the tours go.
there is a great old hotel about 2 blocks from the zocolo. I mean really old. The Colonial. Fun to stay. Eat breakfast. Not expensive.
Some great food markets.
Lots to do.

Of the two cities, I would say that there is far more to do and see in Oaxaca and the surrounding valleys. On our first trip I think we had around 10 days there and didn’t run out of things to do, see and eat, We did a couple of day trips out into the valleys and villages and could have done a lot more. The downtown area is always buzzing with something always going on around the zocalo.

Puebla seemed quiet by comparison ( and positively laid back compare with CDMX) with less to see an do. Pat of our reason for visiting this time is that it is an easy run from the airport ( 2 hours) and we wanted to leave Mexico City until the end of our trip.

let me put it this way, Oaxaca I would say is a "must see", Puebla is nice to add if you have the time.

As always with travel I have some decisions to make now regarding what to include and for how long. Even if I visit Puebla, I don't know if would do Cholula.

Is Puebla one of those cities where I could just wander and look around a lot rather than just doing the sights? And, hang out in a nice hotel?

I've contacted the Hotel Colonial but I think it's probably full.

We typically stay at the colonial as well. It's pretty popular. How did you contact them? By email? Mexican businesses, including hotels, are often notorious for not responding to emails. My recollection also was that the Colonial, while listed on sites such as booking, don't really participate. That is, you can only book directly through the hotel. We always called.

I think I will probably go Oaxaca to Puebla by bus, spend 2 nights there, then in late afternoon of the third day take a bus directly to MEX airport and an airport hotel where I will spend one night prior to flying home to the US. I remember reading about interesting scenery on one or both of these bus legs, and someone recommending which side of the bus to sit on for the best views.

Which side Oaxaca to Puebla?

Which side Puebla to MEX?

Thanks.

Oaxaca to Puebla, driver's side. Can't recall best side Puebla-mex.

bald0ne

Thanks for all of your help.

About Hotel Colonial. Booking says they have no availability, but I was suspicious that it may be the case they don't work with booking or they only release a few rooms to them. I e-mailed them 24 hours ago. Their website says they answer within 72 hours. I will give them a bit more time to reply before calling them.

You should be fine, just use common sense and don't be out late and isolated by yourself! There isn't much craziness going on in that area right now.