Puebla Travel Notes

We recently had a lot of fun Puebla on a 2023 visit and took some good notes, so we are publishing them here.

We spent 4 nights and hit two Pueblo Magicos, and we found there were a lot of city events that you can discover just by strolling around. The architecture is similar to the old historic center of Mexico City, and we liked how it was not crowded or very touristy. This town is the famous site of the Cinco de Mayo battle and features some interesting history. We saw a free Christmas concert and some free wrestling by luchadors on the street.

Centro

• See the giant church. Wow.

• Walk down Avenida 5 de Mayo going to every church

  • Capilla de Rosario - very fancy church of the virgen de los remedios. Covered with dog images outside and inside.

• Visit the Barrio de artistas.

  • Many nice paintings and some crafts, including telavara crafts.
  • There is a bar called La Pasita where you can try a shot of “pasita” (raisin liqueur) for $40MXN.

• Catch the $100MXN “city bus” (tour bus) and go to the fuertes (forts) for a city view. The museum has interesting info about the war against the French.

• Librería Palafoxiana (oldest public library in north america) on 2nd floor (offering a senior discount) with a free museum down the hall.

• Senor de las Maravillas church. We are not sure what the significance of this is, but it had a small queue to get in, so we had to go.

• Drive to the forts (or take the on/off bus) and walk around a museum to learn about Cinco de Mayo.

• Walk through the tunnels (underground acuaduct)

Eat

• Mural Poblanos - this fancy restaurant felt like a special experience. They're open late. Get the pumpkin soup. Mole tasting was very good too. Stuffed chipotles were sweet and delicious.
• Taqueria Oriental - get tacos árabe con queso or the cemita.
• Calle de Dulces - street of sweets. Get a pack of Camotes de Santa Clara. It’s a candy that resembles sweet potato. Also they have those nice cookies. Many stores sell them.
• Find a fancy coffee shop and get an Americano. They are insanely good everywhere. Don't add any milk or sugar.
• Mayordomo Chocolate Oaxaqueño - It's David's favorite brand of Mexican hot chocolate, ubiquitous in Oaxaca, and he gets the semi-amargo (semi-bitter) and brings it home. They even have a Mayordomo restaurant you could try to eat at.

Cholula (Pueblo mágico nearby)

• Zona Arqueológico (pyramids) cheap with senior discount.
• Nice centro. Market was okay for quesadillas.
• Tough climb up to the church. There is a ramp, and also stairs. You will not want to take the stairs.

Atlixco (Pueblo mágico nearby)

• Beautiful viewpoint you can see. We Ubered directly there from Puebla centro.
• Cecina (pork dish) that you should try at the market in Atlixco. They will hand you a small sample. Try before you buy!
• Ordering the cecina seemed to be a teamwork operation
  • Tortilla person
  • Guarnición person
  • Cecina person (gave us samples)
• Catch a bus back for cheap.

Probably don’t need to tip. Each person charges you individually.

Other places to visit to the north

We didnt get to go to these, but if we could go back, here's what we would add:

• Chautla hacienda - mansion with lake
• Val’quirico - Italian town (the residents speak Italian)
• Artesanías Montesinos - matamoros - factory for miniatures

Get out

There are buses every 45 mins or an hour to get to the CDMX Airport.

If you are going to Morelia, note that although most buses are well marked, the ETN ones are not. To get to Morelia, the bus gate was number 95. No signs for ETN or Turistar but you can look for Futura and that gets you close. Best to just ask someone.