Planning a Trip

Getting There & Departing

By Plane -- Puebla has an international airport, but most air travelers still fly into Mexico City because it has more flights. From the Mexico City airport you can take an express bus directly to Puebla. Look for area E-2 and find the upstairs concourse that spans the passenger pickup area. You'll find ticket counters at the end of the concourse. Buses for Puebla leave every half-hour and cost $17 (£8.50). They will arrive at either the main bus station (CAPU) or the small downtown bus station. Continental ExpressJet (tel. 800/231-0856 in the U.S., or 01-800/900-5000 in Mexico; www.continental.com) has a direct flight connecting Puebla and Houston.

By Car -- There are two roads to Puebla from the capital: Highway 150, an old, winding two-lane road where traffic is often slow; and Highway 150D, a four-lane modern toll road that's much faster. From Veracruz, take Highway 150D west. From Xalapa, take Highway 140 west to the intersection with 150D. Tolls from Mexico City run $14 (£7); from Veracruz, $30 (£15).

By Bus -- The ride from Veracruz to Puebla takes 3 1/2 hours and costs around $22 (£11). From Mexico City, it takes 2 hours and costs $12 (£6). Several bus lines have regular departures from Mexico City's TAPO bus station, as frequently as every 15 minutes. You can also catch a bus to Puebla directly from the Mexico City airport.

You'll probably arrive at a large bus station, known by its acronym, CAPU. To get to downtown Puebla, look for one of several booths marked TAXI AUTORIZADO. Many buses to and from the Mexico City airport use the small downtown Estrella Roja station at 4 Poniente 2110.

Visitor Information

The State Tourism Office (tel. 222/246-2044) is at Calle 5 Oriente 3, across the street from the south side of the cathedral. The office is open Monday through Saturday from 8am to 8pm, Sunday from 9am to 2pm. The city's tourism office is under the archway that runs along Palafox y Mendoza in front of the zócalo (Portal Hidalgo 14; tel. 222/404-5047). It's open Monday to Friday 9am to 8pm, with shorter hours on the weekends.

City Layout

Puebla's streets are laid out on a Cartesian quadrant, the two main avenues serve as x- and y-axes. Instead of positive and negative numbers, you have even and odd. Streets north of the horizontal axis (Reforma/Palafox y Mendoza) are numbered 2, 4, 6, and so on. Streets to the south are 3, 5, 7, and so on. The north-south axis (5 de Mayo/16 de Septiembre) does the same thing. East of it are even-numbered streets, and west are odd-numbered. Street names also include a direction -- norte, sur, oriente, poniente (north, south, east, west). So if someone tells you that a church is on Calle 7 Oriente, then you know what part of town it's in: "Oriente" tells you that it's the eastern portion of an east-west street, and the odd number indicates that it's south of Palafox y Mendoza.

Don't count on taxi drivers to know where certain restaurants, hotels, or attractions are located; keep addresses handy.