Mexico City Travel Forum

Our family of 5 will have an 8 hour stopover in Mexico city. Is it worth leaving the airport? Are there tours or something that we could do.

Thanks

It deppends, from what time is your stop over? and what day? What airline is your conection? Next January 15 will open the new terminal 2 of the airport, so i guess everything is going to be a little confuse at the begining... there are some restaurants at the airport. Unfortunately there aren't tours from the airport. The airport is in the middle of the city so there are a lot of ways to move, but depends about the time because the rush hours could be stressful specially with the traffic. Downtown is 30 minutes away from airport by subway,you have to make some transfers. but there are a lot of good rstaurants near zocalo. El Cardenal is one of my favorites. if you have time enoughg you can take the city tour by touribus the open red bus that takes you to the highlights of the big city. one of the stops is at zocalo,next to the cathedral. there are some lockers at the airport so you can leave some carry-on luggage there. and enjoy the stress of mexico city! Have a very good time here!

A $13 taxi ride or $.20 subway ride can get you to the Zocalo with some stunning cathedrals and the amazing Templo Mayor archeological site and museum. There also usually some colorful street culture on the square. You should be able to squeeze a couple hours into your day to see the center (the safest part, as in security everywhere) of the largest ciity in the world. Mexico City gets a bad rap because of the crime and smog, but it's much more than a lay-over city.

yes, 1)you could visit an Antrophological museum a zoo and Chapultepec castle
or 2)A cathedral, Franz Meyer muesum, an on site museum of ancient Aztecs take a view from Latinoamericana building
or visit 3)Frida Kahlo house, Xochimilco(mexican venetia), Raquel olmedo museum
or just 4)let the time go by and wait for another chance to visit this city again

what is it worth for you?

You could make a quick trip to the Zocalo neighborhood and have a look around, something to eat. Remember, you'll need to be back at the airport 2-hours prior to your flight's departure in order to clear security and check-in once again. Travel to/from the Zocalo area in a secure "Sitio 300" taxi will probably take 30-minutes in each direction. It also takes about 30-45 minutes to clear Immigration and, if necessary, Customs. So, to be on the "safe side" you might assume you have a little more than 4-hours to explore once you get into the Centro Historico district . . . enough time to see a few things.