Getting Around Mexico

Mexico is easier to move around than most new arrivals expect, and the reason is the bus network — a dense, comfortable, genuinely good intercity system that carries the traffic passenger rail does in Europe. Rail is coming back, slowly and expensively. Flying is cheap until you discover what a suitcase costs. And driving is entirely practical provided you understand three things: your insurance, your import permit, and why residents do not drive at night.

Buses, which are better than you think

If you arrive from a country where the bus is what you take when you cannot afford anything else, recalibrate. Mexican first-class coaches have reclining seats, air conditioning, screens, USB power and lavatories, and the premium classes are closer to business-class air travel than to a Greyhound.

ADO and its sub-brands own the south and south-east — Veracruz, Oaxaca, Chiapas, Tabasco and the whole Yucatán Peninsula. ETN and Primera Plus dominate the Bajío and the west toward Guadalajara, León and Morelia. Ómnibus de México covers the center-north.

Class	What you get
Primera clase	Reclining seats, air conditioning, screens, USB, lavatory. The workhorse.
GL / Ejecutivo	Wider seats, deeper recline, complimentary drinks, WiFi, separate lavatories.
Platino / Turistar Lujo	Lounge seats in rows of 1 and 2, near-flat recline, personal entertainment, travel kit, private waiting lounges. Roughly double primera clase.

Indicative first-class fares:

Route	Time	Fare
Mexico City – Puebla	2 h	~$220
Mexico City – Querétaro	2.5 h	~$350
Cancún – Mérida	4 h	~$500
Mexico City – Oaxaca	6.5 h	~$700
Mexico City – Guadalajara	7 h	~$800

Book through the operators’ own sites or apps, or pay cash at the terminal or at an OXXO. INAPAM cardholders over 60 get up to 50% off on ADO, ETN and Primera Plus, which is one of the more valuable perks of the card. On overnight routes beyond about eight hours, a Platino ticket often beats a flight plus a hotel night.

One honest caveat. In February 2026, after violence and highway blockades in the west, several operators suspended services to Jalisco, Zacatecas, Sinaloa, Colima, Michoacán and Nayarit, confirming departures only minutes ahead. Service resumed within days, but it is a reminder to check before traveling in affected regions rather than assuming the timetable holds.

Flying, and the baggage trap

Four airlines matter. Viva Aerobus and Volaris are ultra-low-cost and between them carried more than 51 million passengers in 2025. Aeroméxico is the full-service carrier. Mexicana was relaunched in 2023 as a state-owned airline based at Felipe Ángeles airport north of Mexico City; it now serves 19 domestic destinations but carried under 400,000 passengers in 2025, so frequencies are thin.

Watch this space: Volaris and Viva announced a merger in December 2025 that would combine roughly 69% of domestic passengers under one holding company. Shareholders approved it in March 2026 and it remains under antitrust review. If cleared, expect less competitive pressure on fares.

Now the part that catches everyone. On both low-cost carriers, the cheapest fare does not include a wheeled carry-on. Volaris’s Zero fare allows a personal item only. Its Básica fare adds a 15 kg checked bag but still no carry-on. Only the Plus fare includes both. Viva’s published fees run from around 400 pesos for a 10 kg carry-on to 900 for a 32 kg checked bag, and bags bought at the gate cost substantially more than bags bought at booking. A 599-peso fare with two bags added at the airport stops being cheap.

Airport use fees are built into the ticket and vary by airport: about 697 pesos at Monterrey, 655 at Guadalajara, 542 at Mexico City and 351 at Cancún.

The Tren Maya, and the rest of the railway

Much of what is published about the Tren Maya is out of date, so plainly: the full 1,554 km circuit is operating. Service began in December 2023 and the last two sections opened in December 2024, completing the loop through Chiapas, Tabasco, Campeche, Yucatán and Quintana Roo across 34 stations.

Useful journey times: Mérida to Cancún about 3 to 3.5 hours; Campeche to Cancún about 6; Palenque to Cancún about 11. And since 15 August 2026 the Cancún–Playa del Carmen service is running again, four times daily, in 46 to 52 minutes — which is genuinely competitive with the highway. A shuttle network called Tren Maya Conecta links stations to Cancún airport, Plaza Las Américas, the hotel zones and Playa del Carmen for 55 pesos.

Fares run on four tiers, and the gap is significant: for a short segment in tourist class, a local resident pays 65 pesos, a Mexican national 97, and a foreign visitor 130. Palenque to Cancún in premier class is 2,004 pesos for a Mexican and 2,672 for a foreigner. Residency documentation is worth carrying.

Freight is not yet running commercially — the first twelve locomotives arrived in July 2026 and are hauling construction material, with commercial service targeted for 2027.

Elsewhere on the network: the Tren Interoceánico across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec carries passengers on three lines, including a Coatzacoalcos–Palenque service that connects to the Tren Maya, at 350 to 680 pesos depending on line and class, all departing at 07:00 with limited frequencies. The México–Toluca line, “El Insurgente”, was completed in February 2026 — 57.7 km and seven stations for 90 to 100 pesos end to end, connecting to Metro Line 1 at Observatorio.

Beyond those and the Suburbano commuter line north of Mexico City, Mexico has no general intercity passenger rail. The historic network was dismantled in the 1990s and the tourist trains — Chepe Express through Copper Canyon, the Tequila Express — are excursions, not transport.

Driving

Your foreign license is valid throughout Mexico as long as it is current and matches your passport. An International Driving Permit is not required, though it helps if your license has no photo or uses a non-Latin script — and it is never valid on its own.

Once resident, you apply for a Mexican license at your state’s mobility ministry with your passport, residency card, CURP and proof of address. Every state examined requires a written theory exam, and some add practical and medical tests.

State	Cost	Validity	Exams
Mexico City	$1,142 new, $1,500 permanent	3 years or permanent	Theory
State of Mexico	$777–$1,848	1–4 years, your choice	Theory
Jalisco	$600–$913	—	Theory and practical
Nuevo León	$938 for 3 years, $1,408 for 5	3 or 5 years	Theory, medical and practical

Bringing your own car

A foreign-plated vehicle needs a Temporary Import Permit from Banjercito, obtainable at the border, at Mexican consulates in the US, or online in advance. It runs 180 days for visitors, or for the duration of your status if you are a temporary resident, and requires a refundable deposit scaled to the vehicle’s age.

Overstay it and the deposit is forfeited in full and the vehicle becomes liable to confiscation and a fine. Always cancel the permit at the border when you leave for good, and keep the receipt — people who simply drive out without canceling discover the problem years later.

No permit is needed in the zona libre: the whole Baja California peninsula if you stay on it, the border strip roughly 20 to 26 km inland, and Sonora under its own simplified scheme. But note carefully — US and Canadian car insurance is not valid anywhere in Mexico, including the free zone. You must buy a Mexican policy.

Insurance, tolls and the night rule

Third-party liability cover is mandatory on every federal highway under the federal roads act, with minimums of 50,000 pesos for property damage and 100,000 for injury or death. Nineteen states additionally require it on their own roads. Fines run from around 1,200 pesos in Jalisco to over 12,000 in Veracruz.

On the road itself you choose between cuota toll motorways and libre free roads. Toll roads are faster, better maintained, patrolled, and include basic accident cover; free roads are slower, pass through every town and carry more trucks. Tolls are not trivial — Mexico City to Querétaro is 226 pesos, Cuernavaca to Acapulco 670, so Mexico City to Acapulco costs about 826 pesos each way.

Which brings us to the rule every resident follows. Do not drive between cities after dark. The US State Department prohibits its own employees from doing so and advises all travelers to use toll roads and avoid driving alone or at night. The reasons are mundane as well as serious: unlit roads, unfenced livestock, unmarked topes, and slower response if anything goes wrong. Drive cuota, drive in daylight, refuel before dusk.

Cities, taxis and apps

The Mexico City Metro costs 5 pesos a journey with unlimited transfers inside the paid area — among the cheapest urban transit anywhere — paid with the Movilidad Integrada card, which also works on the Metrobús, Trolebús, Cablebús and light rail. The real cost to the city is around 13 pesos a trip; the rest is subsidy.

Uber, DiDi, InDrive and Cabify operate in most cities of any size, and around town they generally work well. Airports are the problem. As of March 2026, ride-hailing pickups were blocked at Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey airports, with federal enforcement backing taxi concession-holders — Mexico was the only 2026 World Cup host country restricting apps at its airports. In Quintana Roo, Uber has been legal statewide since 2019 and permitted at Cancún airport since 2024, but sustained pressure from taxi unions means drivers often decline airport and hotel-zone trips; a pre-booked private shuttle remains the reliable option. Oaxaca has no Uber or DiDi at all, using a state-run app called Taxsi instead.

The practical habit: use apps in town, and arrange airport transfers in advance rather than assuming you can summon one on arrival.