Our (second) visit to Puebla in 2019 was spent partly doing some of the same things we had done before and partly doing some new things as well.
As before, we took the Estrella Roja bus from the Mexico City (MEX) airport to Puebla, but this time from Terminal 2. The ticket counter in T2 is much easier to find than in T1 as you walk right by it as you exit the baggage claim area. This is a premium bus service (a higher grade than First Class) and an easy 2-hour ride.
As we approached the city we noticed bike paths including bike/pedestrian only bridges leading to the city center from well outside the city. Likewise we noticed the dedicated city bus lanes within the city.
We arrived in Puebla early afternoon to find heavy traffic, probably partially due to road construction but also to a bustling healthy local economy. Overall I would have to say we were quite impressed with the emphasis on promoting alternative and public transportation that we saw in Puebla.
We were also just blown away by the new Estrella Roja bus terminal in downtown Puebla. It was bright, open and shiny new with high, high ceilings and was more similar to a modern airport terminal than any bus station we had ever seen.
Upon arrival there we approached the taxi desk to book our ride to Hotel Boutique Casa Reyna and were directed to sit in an area with comfortable chairs. In a few minutes a neatly dressed driver approached and addressed us by name before helping with getting the luggage to a sparkling clean car.
After about 20 minutes we started to notice some familiar sights and realized we were approaching Hotel Boutique Casa Reyna and upon check-in we were quite happy to find we had been upgraded to a master suite. Sweet!
On our first day in the city we took a walking tour of the historic central city. On day two we made a quick walk through of the El Parián crafts market and a bit longer visit to the weekend flea market and on rainy day three we relaxed at the hotel and spent some time returning to some of the interesting sights from our city walk that were close by the hotel.
And during the entire visit to Puebla, we managed to spend time enjoying some fine examples of the local cuisine that Puebla is so famous for.
On our prior trip to Puebla in 2018, when it was time to leave the city we retraced our steps and took the Estrella Roja bus back to the Mexico City (MEX) airport for departure. But at the end of this trip we made the decision to take the roughly 5-hour ride via ADO gl first class bus to Oaxaca. Our bus departed from Central de Autobuses Puebla (Terminal CAPU), a different much older station than where we arrived by Estrella Roja from MEX.
Heavy traffic kept us in the city for close to an hour but eventually we started seeing open countryside, rode into and out of remote villages and through valleys between climbs to the top of Sierra Madre de Oaxaca mountain range. Reaching vistas at over 11,000 feet we were treated by remarkable views and some curvy narrow mountain roads.