Travel from Mexico City Airport to Toluca Airport

December 20, 2007 2:44 AM

How long will it take to get from Mexico City Airport to Toluca Airport on the weekend of the 5th of January?

A friend of mine is trying to get from Cancun to Houston (and ultimately to London) on the 5th of January. He has flights booked from Toluca to Houston and from Houston to London. He can find a flight from Cancun to Mexico City Airport, but not to Toluca.

How long would he need to get from Mexico City Airport to Toluca Airport?

Bonus question: is there another option for getting either directly from Cancun to Toluca or from Cancun to Houston?

posted by sueinnyc to travel & transportation (4 comments total)

The time of day really matters here. In the middle of the night or very early AM, that's a 45 minute drive. In the afternoon or early evening, it's closer to three hours. It's also sort of a taxi gamble, as that airport is among the world's loveliest in terms of its counterfeit taxi slash mugging industry.

Less stressfully, there are many flights from Cancun to Houston, some of them direct. About $400. The Mexican airlines (AeroMexico, Mexicana, etc) will usually be cheapest.
posted by rokusan at 4:50 AM on December 20, 2007

I used to live in Mexico city and had a girlfriend whose family was from Toluca. So I can tell you I think it would have taken me at least 3 hours to pull this off, moving fast. Your friend, probably not a spanish speaker and unfamiliar with Mex. city, is going to have a tough time doing it in less than 5 hours I bet. The one good thing is that the fifth is a saturday, when traffic is a little less insane than usual. Nonetheless, you'll want to cross the city by metro and take a bus instead of trying to cab it to toluca.

The airport's on the East side of Mexico city, while Toluca is up on the plateau to the West outside the valley. So you cross the whole city east to west, then to get to Toluca, you'll go to the Terminal Poniente bus station, which is on the Metro Stop called Observatorio, then take a bus up the side of the valley and over to Toluca, then from the Toluca central de autobuses, a bus or taxi to toluca airport.

Here are some detailed Metro directions for the first part:

At the Mex City airport you go out onto the sidewalk, turn left and walk down a little past the terminals, ignoring the taxi drivers who tell you there is no Metro at the airport.

Go down to the metro station, you are on the line called
(Line 5 Yellow Politecnico-Pantitlan) Take Direction: Pantitlan

Get off at Pantitlan which is a huge station, and find

(Line 1 Pink Pantitlan-Observatorio) Take Direction: Observatorio

Take that line all the way to the end, across the city. Now you get out of the metro and find a bus to Toluca...

I think the metro ride alone will take an hour. another hour to Toluca since the saturday traffic will be light, half an hour to the toluca airport, and another half hour of interchanges at various points. that's why I'm guessing at least three hours.

...
Wow I really miss Mexico City. Best place I ever lived.
posted by jackbrown at 5:03 AM on December 20, 2007

Yes, it will depend on the time of the day. It would take about 2.5 hours in taxi in normal traffic.

Tip: to avoid taxi muggings, he should only take official airport taxis. You must pay for them in a stand inside the airport, they give you a ticket which you give to the taxi driver. The stand says "Taxi Seguro" and it's bright yellow. Don't take any taxis outside the airport.

Interjet and Volaris (two low cost airlines) offer bus shuttles from Santa Fe, in Mexico City to Toluca's airport. Interjet also has shuttles from Polanco and WTC, which are a bit closer to Mexico city's airport (about 40 min. from the airport). You can't take the shuttle if you are not flying with them.

Also, both Interjet and Volaris have flights from Cancun to Toluca. They are cheaper than the other Mexican airlines and there are flights available for January 5th. I recommend he takes one of these flights instead, it will be much easier and cheaper. He should buy them as soon as possible.
posted by clearlydemon at 8:07 AM on December 20, 2007

I just checked. There are 7 flights on Interjet.com.mx going from Cancun to Toluca on Jan 5. Only ONE still has available seats and it leaves Cancun at 00.25hrs, getting to Toluca at 02.45hrs. I'm not sure if that would mean a LOT of time doing nothing at the Toluca Airport, but it'd save the money of taking a taxi from Mexico City to Toluca.

Volaris.com.mx does show more flights available, but mostly in the afternoon.
posted by CrazyLemonade at 5:55 PM on December 20, 2007