progol

My husband and I (reasonably healthy seniors) are planning a 2+ week trip to Mexico either the end of February/beginning of March or latter half of March, early April 2023. I've been reading all the trip reports and planning threads and am still unclear over an itinerary. We are looking to stay in 2 or 3 places during this time. We plan on a week in CDMX and I'm looking to stay 14-16 nights in total.

We are interested in culture/history/museums/ruins/food and relaxing into the ambience of a place. We love wandering streets, appreciating the colonial-style architecture and experiencing local flavor. I like a place that has charm and character.

My initial plan was CDMX and Puebla. Puebla gets a lot of good reviews and people speak highly of their experiences there, but it also looks like a very big city. Just so you know -- we ARE city people (we live in NYC) but I was honestly surprised when I saw how large the city is. There are a lot of modern high-rise hotels that somehow turned me off. I'm open to understanding why this is an unfair impression and why people like Puebla so much.

I then began looking more at Oaxaca, which seems to have more of a low-keyed flavor and also is rich with historic/cultural ambience. It's just a little bit more of a hassle to get there, but it's doable.

Very tentatively looking into doing something like this:

Oaxaca - 5
Puebla -4
CDMX- 7

I'm also curious about Guanajuato/Patzcuaro/Morelia.

If we were to do only one city with CDMX, would you recommend Oaxaca or Puebla or in combination with Guanajuato/Patzcuaro/Morelia. My mother wants me to go to Taxco for silver, though that looks too out of the way, and she recommends San Miguel, though my impressions from reading is that SMA has become too much of an ex-pat community (though it is a pretty city).

We haven't gotten our flights yet, but hope to do that this week.

chrisdaniel0933

Here is something to consider when you select your travel dates. This year Easter will be April 9th. The week previous week and perhaps also several days after Easter will be a very busy period for bus travel as people move around the country to re-unite with families or go to beaches or other tourist locales. Given a choice, I would prefer traveling on some other dates.

chrisdaniel0933

Confession--I like spending time in Mexican small towns. I find Mexico City to be in a class of its own, with its enormous size and frenzied activity. For me both Puebla and Oaxaca are equally better in that respect. Although Oaxaca has considerably less population than Puebla, to me the historic centers of those two cities seem equally busy.

One difference between the two cities, besides their locations, is Puebla's greater affluence. Tourists don't see it, but there extensive industry in Puebla, including automotive assembly plants. And, the extensive plains surrounding the City of Puebla have rich volcanic soil that is agriculturally very productive. Oaxaca, in contrast, occupies a confining valley and serves as the capital of one of Mexico's poorest, most politically contentious, and most mountainous states. Some visitors are drawn to Oaxaca seeking to encounter Native-American culture there. To accomplish that its better to spend some time (ideally several days) out of the city in a small town (Which Oaxaca is not!), in other words to visit a place where many people continue speaking indigenous languages and where everyday dress sometimes remains traditional. Such communities can be accessed by bus from Oaxaca City (the Mancomunados), or in a different mountain range accessed from the City of Puebla (Cuetzalan).

chrisdaniel0933

Here are two quite different alternatives worth considering.

#1 CD Mex + Puebla + a two or three day detour to a small town in Puebla's Sierra Norte region. Cuetzalan (4 hrs from Puebla, very indigenous) is such a town, as are Chignahuapan (2 1/2 hr. from Puebla), and Zacatlan (1/2 hr. bus ride past Chignahuapan). The video clip below has English subtitles accessible via its "settings".


#2 Divide your time between Guanajuato and CD Mex. Enter Mexico by flying into Guanajuato International Airport and depart the country from Mexico City's airport. Take a comfortable (perhaps luxury class) bus ride of five hours to make the transition to Mexico City. Lively, youthful Guanajuato is one of my favorite places in Mexico.

mlgb

The historic center of Puebla is colonial in character with unique architecture. I also enjoyed wandering around less-touristy parts east of the center and looking at the multicolored churches. Overall I found the center of Oaxaca to have a greater preponderance of Anglo Gringos. Both have excursions nearby. I did enjoy a trip up to the Sierra Norte de Oaxaca with a stop at the Restaurante Colibrí. Monte Alban was okay, but very crowded, and pales in comparison to the Mayan ruins in the Yucatan.

Puebla is a lot easier to reach by bus. But you can continue one way from Puebla to Oaxaca and then fly back from Oaxaca to CDMX. Be sure to allow extra travel days before an international flight as you never know about strikes around Oaxaca in particular.

I would gladly spend a week in Puebla but probably not go back to Oaxaca.

crellston

We visited all of the places you mention in our first visit some 4 years ago and would happily revisit all of them. I covered some of them in some detail in our blog @ https://accidentalnomads.com/category/mexico/ . IMHO CDMX is a must after that , I struggle to choose between the others as all are very different. We loved Oaxaca as a city as it seemed very user friendly and has the added attraction of some interesting side trips which are easily accessible. I think that perhaps has the edge over Puebla.

Morelia was also amazing but possibly due in no small part to the fact that we visited in the run up to xmas when the place was great fun (really wish we had stayed there instead of moving on to Guadalajara. Patzcuaro is of course close by and is most definitely worth combining with Morelia for more of a small town feel.

I suggest you use the search box to seek out the excellent trip report by Tdiddy

progol

Many, many thanks everyone! It’s still a bit of a tossup as I keep wanting to go everywhere while still trying to not so too much. I was visiting a friend who has also spent time in Mexico and recommends Oaxaca. I’m now leaning toward Oaxaca and CDMX as our 2 locations, with day trips, of course, from each. I can see we will have to plan our return trip!

But it’s all so tempting! Guanajuato is on my radar, too (an old friend has retired there) and I love the suggestion of a stay in a small town. I will need to look more into the options, but right now, Oaxaca seems to be in the lead!

chris, I’m carefully trying to avoid the time around Easter so am hoping to go at the end of February into March or, if that doesn’t work out, the last 2 weeks of March. I guess that’s cutting it close to the spring break.

progol

So we’re booked! We fly to Oaxaca the last week of February and I have a reservation for 6 nights at a b&b (so much is booked already! ). I plan to stay in Mexico City for the last 7 nights. That leaves 6 nights. Hotel still to be determined, but Stanza seems to be a good backup.

We could
1) extend both stays (but I think a 3rd place is good)
2) bus to Puebla and stay there or nearby, though my husband is not keen on a long bus ride
3) fly to Merida and get the flavor of the Yucatán (but not the resorts!) . I lean toward this - it’s actually the easiest to coordinate flights
4) fly back to Mexico City and find other towns to stay, though I’m not sure where

I was looking at the option to go to Guanajuato, Morelia and Patzcuaro, but there doesn’t seem to be any nonstop flights to the closest airport, and we don’t want to be doing a extensive driving, so these towns don’t seem as good an option.,

So those are my thoughts - suggestions are welcome!

crellston

We stayed at the Stanza on our first visit to CDMX. Great location loads of restaurants close by and well placed to get around from there. Not the most inspiring place to stay but perfectly comfortable - I would use it again. On our second stay we were at the NH hotel near the Zocalo . Theoretically a more central location but we didn't like the area as much.

We had similar amounts of time in both places to you and felt it was about right.

As far as a third option is concerned, I don't think you can go wrong with Puebla though I probably wouldn't want as long there as the other two places. We stayed at a great boutique type hotel there, Meson Sacristia de la Compania. Jam packed with antiques it was like stepping back in time a couple of centuries.

That said, if you can find a reasonable way of getting to Guanjuato/Morelia/Patzcuarao I would seriously consider it. We were there for around three months and decided to use the bus system to get around and it really did work well . A five hour bus journey sounds like a lot but when you factor in transit and waiting times at airports, it actually worked out very similar time wise, to flying in many cases. Guanjuato remains one of the most joyful fun places, I have ever visited.

baldone

We were recently in Oaxaca, (about a month ago) and I'm probably as big of a Oaxaca-phile as anyone here. And we've been on the road and couldn't post this until now; hope it doesn't affect your plans. Currently, Oaxaca's landfill is closed which affects garbage collection. This was a pic from the center of the Zócalo, and there were even bigger piles scattered around the city. They usually seemed to get collected after 4-5 days. Our friends there tell many people try to recycle what they can and take whats left to the campo and burn what they can. Where they pile it in the Zócalo is hidden mostly by vendor's stalls which occupy about half of the Zócalo. To me, the vendors were more disappointing than the garbage and they have ruined (imo) what arguably was once the most beautiful Zócalo in Mexico. That said, even if we'd known about the garbage "crisis" we still would have gone as we've come to expect the unexpected in Oaxaca. The trash wasn't nearly as bad as the during the 2001 teacher's strike. And since we've been there a dozen times or more, we primarily went to visit friends we've known for many years. The state orchestra still played on Sunday afternoon, so that was nice. The pedestrian andadores were clean as was the area around Santo Domingo. Anyway, fyi, just so you're not taken by surprise.

progol

crellston and baldone, thanks so much for the comments and suggestions.

crellston, I’d love to include the Guanajuato/Patzcuaro/Morelia stop, but I don’t see a way of working it in without it being a long ordeal. If I can, I will. And I’m reassured to know that the Stanza was a decent, if unexciting place to stay. It may be where we go as it’s reasonably priced and well-located. Not every place has to be boutique!

crellston, thanks for the heads up! I’ll go knowing what to expect - and I really am now looking forward to Oaxaca.

I’m leaning toward traveling to Merida for the 6 days. I’ll see how that works out. It’s turning out to be one of the easier places to get to!

progol

Decision made:
Oaxaca - 7 nights
Puebla - 4 nights
Mexico City -8 nights

I like to have a little charm and character in good locations when I stay somewhere.

Many places are full up in Oaxaca. I have a reservation at Casa Los Arquitos B&B.

Now I need to book Puebla. There seems to be enough choices (though some of the very popular places are not available). I’m looking at La Hotel Perla Boutique and Milo Collection. They both look good and reasonably priced.

CDMX - Villa Condesa

Any comments or suggestions? FYI, there were many places in Oaxaca that were recommended but we’re booked. The one I found gets good reviews in TA and booking.com.

mlgb

I stayed at Hotel Casa de la Palma in the Centro. Great location. It did have lots of character, but stairs only, and the breakfast was mediocre. The others recommended here by crellston and baldone were booked.

If La Perla is on Callejon Los Sapos, that might be the one I would chose. Do a Google Maps street walkaround to check the ambience on the second one.

crellston

For Puebla, the Meson Sacristia de la Compania that I mentioned in my previous post would be my top choice. We could only get a couple of days there and moved on to Hotel Boutique Casa de Palma, also nice but not quite in the same league.

In Oaxaca we stayed at https://www.hotelconcorazon.com/oaxaca and loved it.

Another place in CDMX that seems to come highly recommended is The Red Tree House (though it does seem hard to get a room there!)

mlgb

On crellston's advice I also stayed at Hotel con Corazon (we tend to have the same tastes). Hotel Con Corazon was okay but not a "charm and location" lodging. More like "efficient and for a good cause" with a good breakfast (but they decided what it was each day). Clean modern "Ikea" outfitting. It is west of the center, a bit noisy (thin walls, not street noise) and "stairs only". The rooms have A/C which apparently is unusual in Oaxaca, and my bathroom had an enormous shower stall! I found the staff to be exceptionally friendly, one offered to walk me to the nearby major market (Abasto) after his shift. Few gringos at Abasto. The hotel also made me an early breakfast (yogurt and fruit left in the refrigerator) for my two early days on birding tours. Lobby honor system for drinks and espresso machine coffee. So many good points.

Oaxaca does seem to be one of the harder cities to book. Maybe because of the preponderance of wealthy older gringo travelers who book up the higher end spots for longer stays? Compared to other hotels I stayed at, con Corazon wasn't a great value but that may be true of Oaxaca in general. A number of other travelers that I met in Oaxaca (staying elsewhere) weren't that happy with their lodgings.

progol

mlgb, thank you for that feedback! La Perla is and I did reserve!

crellston, thanks. Both your recommended places are fully booked during our time frame.

I think we’ll be fine wherever we are now. Thank you everyone!

progol

mlgb, thanks for the additional info about Oaxaca. The b&b I’ve booked gets decent reviews but the pickings were slim! I’m sure it’ll work out.

Thanks for the help and suggestions!

Fra_Diavolo

On our last visit to Oaxaca we stayed at the Quinta Real. It's a beautiful place converted from an old convent, located near Santo Domingo. We had a room on the interior courtyard which we chose for quiet. I highly recommend it, though it is pricey. https://www.caminoreal.com/en/quinta...E&gclsrc=aw.ds

progol

Fra_Diavolo, Quinta Real looks lovely - but waay above my budget range!

Maybe when we win the lottery….

mlgb

In the $250-400/night with taxes range one probably would find a few more available options in Oaxaca!

progol, I may have walked past your B&B on the way back from the La Cosecha organic market. I thought that area and around Jardin Conzatti looked like a good alternative to the Centro hotels. Be sure to check out the stalls at La Cosecha, especially the coffee and the ice cream vendor.