Another reason to why I stayed at the Mexico city airport hotel is because the airport has convenient connection to downtown.
Mexico city public bus 4 links the airport terminals to the historic district. The list off stops are available online so it is easy to plan in advance. Each ride costs 30 mexican peso from the airport to downtown and vice versa. The ticket must be paid by the bus card, which can be purchased from a ticket machine near the airport bus stop. Prior to boarding, I had done my homework and remembered the steps to purchase the card. Otherwise, the machine isn't exactly tourist friendly, in my opinion. The journey takes ~45 minutes with the return journey being faster. Other than an airport link, it is also heavily used by the locals nearer to downtown. So the bus will be packed along the way.
To many tourists from Asia, Mexico city is not a heavily promoted tourist destination, unlike U.S., Canada and big european cities. And the perception from the media is not tourist friendly either. Granted, in a big city, there will always be dangerous spots. Fortunately, for the days I was there, Mexico city appeared vibrant and safe as it could be.
Thanks to the airport bus line 4, I avoided taking a cab in case of being overcharged or scammed for being an obvious tourist. I was probably one of the rare Asian tourists in Mexico city at that time.
Fortunately, I was able to transfer from the airport bus to the hop-off-hop-on bus stop a short walk away. On the first day at Mexico city, the guide thankfully allowed me on the bus even though I didn't hail it at an official stop. Subsequently, I was able to get around with the city tour map.
Mexico city is a big city. The sightseeing bus has 3 routes, each taking more than 2 hours to do a loop. Also, the operation hours of the bus is short, and it gets dark early in december. So I was only able to do the city loop. The ride and the scenery was so interesting that I took the same ride again on the second day. Haha ! I did a full loop without getting down the bus. Zocalo, one of the terminus of the sightseeing bus, the main tourist attraction in Mexico city, is certainly worth visiting. Anyway, when the sky started to get dark, I alighted from the sightseeing bus at the same stop that I boarded and transferred to bus 4 to the airport.
Some interesting sights:
An interesting observation. Mexicans queued up at the bus stops while waiting for the bus. There would be a single queue. When the bus comes, those getting on will leave the queue orderly while those waiting a different bus will let the others pass. Talk about being gracious.
We in Singapore could use this as an example. We only queued in bus interchange and terminals but not at bus stops.
Asian countries certainly need to promote Mexico city more as a tourist friendly destination since it is near the U.S. and doesn't cost too much more to visit compared to other Latin American countries such as Chile. Much as I enjoyed being in Mexico city, I would not return any time soon as I would like to visit other countries.
Mexico city public bus 4 links the airport terminals to the historic district. The list off stops are available online so it is easy to plan in advance. Each ride costs 30 mexican peso from the airport to downtown and vice versa. The ticket must be paid by the bus card, which can be purchased from a ticket machine near the airport bus stop. Prior to boarding, I had done my homework and remembered the steps to purchase the card. Otherwise, the machine isn't exactly tourist friendly, in my opinion. The journey takes ~45 minutes with the return journey being faster. Other than an airport link, it is also heavily used by the locals nearer to downtown. So the bus will be packed along the way.
To many tourists from Asia, Mexico city is not a heavily promoted tourist destination, unlike U.S., Canada and big european cities. And the perception from the media is not tourist friendly either. Granted, in a big city, there will always be dangerous spots. Fortunately, for the days I was there, Mexico city appeared vibrant and safe as it could be.
Thanks to the airport bus line 4, I avoided taking a cab in case of being overcharged or scammed for being an obvious tourist. I was probably one of the rare Asian tourists in Mexico city at that time.
Fortunately, I was able to transfer from the airport bus to the hop-off-hop-on bus stop a short walk away. On the first day at Mexico city, the guide thankfully allowed me on the bus even though I didn't hail it at an official stop. Subsequently, I was able to get around with the city tour map.
Mexico city is a big city. The sightseeing bus has 3 routes, each taking more than 2 hours to do a loop. Also, the operation hours of the bus is short, and it gets dark early in december. So I was only able to do the city loop. The ride and the scenery was so interesting that I took the same ride again on the second day. Haha ! I did a full loop without getting down the bus. Zocalo, one of the terminus of the sightseeing bus, the main tourist attraction in Mexico city, is certainly worth visiting. Anyway, when the sky started to get dark, I alighted from the sightseeing bus at the same stop that I boarded and transferred to bus 4 to the airport.
Some interesting sights:
An interesting observation. Mexicans queued up at the bus stops while waiting for the bus. There would be a single queue. When the bus comes, those getting on will leave the queue orderly while those waiting a different bus will let the others pass. Talk about being gracious.
We in Singapore could use this as an example. We only queued in bus interchange and terminals but not at bus stops.
Asian countries certainly need to promote Mexico city more as a tourist friendly destination since it is near the U.S. and doesn't cost too much more to visit compared to other Latin American countries such as Chile. Much as I enjoyed being in Mexico city, I would not return any time soon as I would like to visit other countries.
