Bus Travel Chihuahua to Mexico City

Chihuahua, Mexico Bus

We reached Chihuahua at 7 PM.

      I left the Chihuahuenses to switch to an Omnibus. Chihuahueses does not put paper in the lavatories; Omnibus does. This is no big deal but it demonstrates that Chihuahuesesa has a low regard for the passengers that I find annoying. I had never ridden on Omnibus and wanted to check them out.

Copper Canyon train stop at Divisadero.  Train passenger get 15 minutes to
look out at the junction of three canyons  

Copper Canyon Trips

From Chihuahua you can get a bus to Copper Canyon for 240 pesos to the village of Creel in the high mountains at the edge of the Copper Canyon. The train is not the only option for a Copper Canyon visit.

see Copper Canyon options Copper Canyon Trips.  The Cuauhtemoc Bus makes 5 trips daily.

I left Chihuahua on an Omnibus at 8:00 PM after a burger dinner and settled in for the 12 hour trip to Zacatecas. (635 pesos)

I slept most of the night and arrived in Zacatecas at 9:00 AM, 8:00 Tucson time. I then booked a 10:45 Futura Bus for Mexico City Terminal Norte for 430 pesos.

Futura Buses are the best of the three: Futura, Chihuhuenses and Omnibus. They are each a good and convenient ride. Chihuahuenses does not provide paper in the lavatory (hardly a First Class attribute) and their bus was an older model frayed at the edges. Omnibus was running an older bus also but they did provide paper, took careful head counts, and had a well maintained lavatory.

The Futura bus did have paper in the lavatory and was the newest bus of the three.

Primera plus, a division of Flecha Amarilla, runs on the coastal route from Mazatlan to Mexico Norte and they run the best buses and best service for the long haul trip through Mexico, north of Mexico City.

Primera Plus runs luxury buses from Mazatlan on the Pacific Coast

 to Mexico City through Guadalajara  

I arrived at Mexico City's Terminal Norte and 8:00 PM and booked an ADO bus for Oaxaca,  leaving at 11 PM.
I have made this run before and I wanted to arrive in Oaxaca at dawn. ADO runs excellent service south of Mexico City. See ADO

I slept most of the way and arrived at 6:00 AM refreshed.
The total cost of the trip (excluding food) was around 160 USD including the Tucson/Douglas Shuttle. ($320 USD round Trip) Round trip air at the time was around $ 550 not counting taxi to and from the airport. (about $100 USD)
BUS-$340 USD including taxi transfer      AIR-$650 USD including taxi transfer.   (575 with a shared shuttle to Tucson Center)

Bus Service Mexico: Just Show Up. (Article)
The bus companies have web sites but they have for the most part opted for style rather than substance. They are full of razzle dazzle flash but lack function. With the exception of ADO and Primera Plus, they are not fully connected by computer and can not take bookings on the web.   That is not a problem. You just show up and there are so many options, so many lines and so many buses going in all directions that you seldom wait more than an hour, usually less. (Except at Christmas and Easter)
I usually stop in one or more cities for the night on a long trip like this. see Mazatlan,   Morelia,   Guadalajara,   San Louis Potosi,   Zacatecas, Chihuahua, Casas Grande, Alta Vista/Sombrerete

Estrella Blanca (Article) is a group of bus lines that serve 27 of Mexico's states. Lines include Futura, Futura Plus, Chihuahuenses, and Elite along with many more.

Mexico City Norte Bus Station

Mexico Norte terminal is a bus hub for trips north west and east primarily 

although ADO serves southern Mexico from Norte.  Buses from Norte 

terminal also serve to  Teotihuacan Ruin and Tula

Next: Eight Months Backpack By Bus to south America/Antartica

Copper Canyon Trains Pacific Coast Station, El Fuerte, Mexico

El Fuerte, Best Station for Copper Canyon

     Mazatlan is one of those mega resorts I was avoiding but I love the town and the friendly people so I wanted to visit.  I went through town to the beach for a few hours. Time was running short for me so I headed north and out at the northerly exit and headed for Los Mochis and more specifically to El Fuerte, a town with a train station on the Copper Canyon train line.

     El Fuerte is 50 miles inland from the Pacific Coast city of Los Mochis and the start of the CHEPE train line, a rail line that runs for 400 miles from the Pacific Coast through the Copper Canyon, and into the City of Chihuahua in North Central Mexico.

     For those who want the longest possible train ride on Mexico’s last regularly scheduled passenger train, Los Mochis is the place to start. The train leaves the station at 6 am and reaches the center of the Copper Canyon area at the village of Creel at between 4:00 and 4:30 in the afternoon. Creel offers lots of lodging options and tours to the various Copper Canyon Villages and sights. (See second class train and save)

For those who just want to reach the Canyon, the station at El Fuerte offers a better option. The train is scheduled to arrive at 8:55 am at El Fuerte. Good hotels in town and a great zocalo make El Fuerte interesting. The later leaving train makes it more convenient. The first 50 miles of track from Los Mochis to El Fuerte is through flat farmland offering little to see. East of El Fuerte the train starts into the mountains and the scenery gets interesting.

I parked for the night in the “camp ground” beside the station at El Fuerte and prepared for the morning train. The family charges 100 peso per night for parking and they lock the gate after the evening train arrives from Chihuahua about 7:30-9:30.  See Copper Canyon Train Schedule

Copper Canyon Best Way

From El Fuerte,  I crossed into Sonora on Route 15 which turned inland away form the coast and eventually reached Hermosillo and then Nogales about 2200 miles from my starting place in Oaxaca.
     The Nogales crossing is a difficult one. If I make this trip again, I will take Route 2 south of Nogales and make the border crossing at Agua Prieta.  I had arranged for mail to be sent to the Nogales, AZ, USA post office so I went through Nogales.  The line was a two hour wait.

Next Tucson to Chihuahua by Bus