Mexico Travel Forum

I posted previously, and I'm starting to narrow down a destination for a few days during Christmas.

We'd like to fly in to Mexico City, but then bus to a nearby town for about four nights of drinking, relaxing, eating, and exploring. We're low-key service industry types who just want to spend the holiday amongst friends in a new place with culture and soul. We're drinkers, but we're not loud rowdy kids. And we'd like to avoid those.

I've heard good things about Taxco, and it seems convenient to travel to from Mexico City. Does anyone have an opinion about this town? Any good bars, restaurants, places to sit outside and watch local traffic or music?

Do you have any other suggestions on towns/cities outside of Mexico City that might suit us?

Thanks again!

taxco is a very nice town and well worth a visit.
it's very pretty and a relaxed place with cafes and bars, but not loud nightclubs.

Taxco is rather small with limited things to see for 4 days and nights of exploring, although it is beautiful and worth a day/night visit.

I think you have the right idea about getting out of Mexico City. Many Mexicans do the same thing. My first choice and the choice of many Mexicans for Christmas is Oaxaca but it may be a bit far for you (5+ hours by bus). (The TAPO bus station is only about 5 minutes by taxi from the airport and has frequent buses. You could even take a late night bus and arrive early in the morning.) My extended family spent two Christmases there. I do not see how any city could beat Oaxaca for a Mexican Christmas experience. (Check my VT page.)

I have not spent Christmas in any town nearer to Mexico City, so I can only guess at how they might feel during the holidays. Guanajuato is a little harder to get to than Taxco but it is larger and still has a very small town feel. For ease of visit you might consider one of two of the cities that can be reached by bus directly from the airport -- Puebla or Queretaro. This would almost be like arriving by plane directly because of the frequency of departures of the approximately two hour bus rides. In both cases you would want to stay in the old center of cities.

Good luck.

I generally agree with Melosh's advice.

Taxco is a pretty little town, easily reached from Mexico City, but overwhelmed by a same-day tourist crowd and full of shops and tourist establishments suit to cater to this kind of crowd better than to travelers staying few days. Not a bad place if this is your choice but not my favourite.

No place in my view beats Oaxaca for a dive into Mexican culture and soul. Unfortunately Oaxaca is a little harder to reach. Puebla, on the way at 1 hour from Mexico City, is a worthwhile stop to spend a day and break the 5 hour trip. The combination Puebla-Oaxaca would be my choice.

Anyway, wherever you go I am sure you'll have great time.

Enjoy!
Giuseppe

I agree with Melosh but I will add 2 more places: Cuernavaca (this is only about 1 hour away from Mex City and it has a decent nightlife but it's not a sprin-breaker-style kind of place) and Valle de Bravo, some 2+ hours away from DF. I'm sure there must be buses departing directly from the airport to Cuernavaca (if not, there are tons departing from the south bus station, reachable by metro); as for Valle de Bravo, you'd need to go to the other side of town to the OBSERVATORIO (west) bus station to take a bus to this destination (you can get there by metro too). These both are favorite weekend destinations for Mex City dwellers so the nightlife and atmosphere are similar to DF but in a much smaller scale.... so they are nice places to relax and walk and see some museums (Cuernavaca) or do some outdoor and water sports (Valle de Bravo), perhaps after 4 days you'll be bored but you can always come back to DF. Hope you have a great time.