# Toluca dilemma



## Chao (Aug 21, 2014)

We're flying from Fort Lauderdale to Toluca (TLC) on Spirit Airlines. Spirit is the only airline that flies from Fort Lauderdale to Mexico. Our final destination is Guadalajara. I can't find any airlines that have direct non-stop flights from TLC to GDL. 

Is the best option to take an hour-long taxi ride from TLC to MEX, then a flight to GDL?

Anyone with experience clearing customs and immigration at the Toluca airport? Lengthy or short?


----------



## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

Chao said:


> We're flying from Fort Lauderdale to Toluca (TLC) on Spirit Airlines. Spirit is the only airline that flies from Fort Lauderdale to Mexico. Our final destination is Guadalajara. I can't find any airlines that have direct non-stop flights from TLC to GDL.
> 
> Is the best option to take an hour-long taxi ride from TLC to MEX, then a flight to GDL?
> 
> Anyone with experience clearing customs and immigration at the Toluca airport? Lengthy or short?


I would take a bus from Toluca to Gdl. It is probably a 6 hour bus ride, but by the time you take a taxi for an hour, wait for a flight for an hour or more, fly for an hour or so, then wait for luggage and another taxi into town, you are spending almost as much and maybe more time. Instead of all that hassle you could be sitting on one luxury bus that takes you to a bus station that is much closer to the center of Guadalajara than the airport. The Mexican first-class intercity buses are really very comfortable.

You would have to get to the bus station in Toluca which adds a little bit of time and hassle, but less than going to Mexico City.


----------



## Chao (Aug 21, 2014)

Our ultimate destination is Chapala. We would have to then find transportation from the GDL bus stop to Chapala, adding more time.

It sounds like it's better for us to taxi from TLC to MEX, fly to GDL, then ground transportation to Chapala.


----------



## Longford (May 25, 2012)

You chose the most expensive/inconvenient option to get to your destsination, unfortunately. Toluca is a major bus transportation hub for the region and I think your best option now is to take one of those buses instead of going to Mexico City to fly to GDL, etc. What a mess. Best of luck.


----------



## Jreboll (Nov 23, 2013)

Could you go Houston-Guadalajara


----------



## Chao (Aug 21, 2014)

Houston to Guadalajara is not an option.

Where does the bus arrive in Guadalajara?


----------



## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

Chao said:


> Houston to Guadalajara is not an option.
> 
> Where does the bus arrive in Guadalajara?


The bus to Gdl arrives at Central Nueva on east side of the city. Since your actual destination is Chapala, it is not so convenient. The Gdl airport is halfway between Chapala and Gdl, so perhaps flying is the best route.


----------



## Chao (Aug 21, 2014)

Is it reasonable to assume that it will take two hours to pick up baggage and clear customs in TLC, and one hour (give or take) transportation by taxi to MEX?


----------



## Longford (May 25, 2012)

Chao said:


> Is it reasonable to assume that it will take two hours to pick up baggage and clear customs in TLC, and one hour (give or take) transportation by taxi to MEX?


If it takes you more than 45-minutes to clear Immigration, pick up your luggage and then clear Customs ... I'll be surprised. Travel time to Benito Juarez International Airport in Mexico City varies by day of week, time of day, other unpredictable factors, etc., and can range from 1.5 hours to 3 hours (an example, in extreme situations). 

Bus company _Caminante_ seems to offer several travel options, connecting the two airports: shuttle bus, shuttle van and taxi/sedan service. The shuttle busses and vans may make a couple of stops along the way before reaching Benito Juarez International Airport. Taxi service will be non-stop. Here's link to the company's website where you can learn more, including scheduling information:

Caminante - Transportation between Toluca and Mexico City airports


----------



## Chao (Aug 21, 2014)

That is a lot of useful information. Thank you.


----------



## Hound Dog (Jan 18, 2009)

Well, Chao; I see you live in Medillin, Colombia - a place we strongly considered as a restirement destination back in 2000 when we were searching Latin American Highlands for a place to place to live. Things were a bit, shall we say, unsettled there back then so we chose the Mexican Highlands at Lake Chapala at 5,000 feet and the Chiapas Highlands at 7,000 feet instead. How have you enjoyed Medillin as a place to live full time?

You have really chosen a burdensome method of getting to Guadalajara and then on to Chapala. You say that Toluca is the only destination with flights from Fort Lauderdale but you do not indicate that the flights between those two cities are non-stop or involve one or more stops. It seems to me that, if the option is still open to you, perhaps a change of planes in another U.S city with non-stop flights to Mexico City or Guadalajara is a much better option. 

If you are stuck going through Toluca, perhaps there is a shuttle between the Toluca airport and the Mexico City airport. These two airports don´t look too far apart on a map but this is quite a journey by shuttle or taxi no doubt with taxifares being at at premium prices. The DF metro área is also noted for occasionally horrendous traffic tie-ups so if you choose Toluca with an overland journey to the DF airport whether through the heart of the city or on the perifericos, give yourself lots of time for that DF-Guadalajara flight of which there are many every day.

You can taxi from the Guadalajara Centro de Autobuses to anywhere in Chapala for about $600 Pesos and that beats getting from the Centro de Autobuses which is actually in outlying Tlaquepaque, to the downtown bus terminal where you can catch a bus to Chapala and that downtown station is quite a ways away requiring another taxi or inconvenient, lengthy bus ride with your baggage.

Sincé the Guadalajara airport is located between the city and Chapala and is quite close to Chapala over a good expressway, flying into GDL or via Mexico City is you best alternative even if you have to change planes in, say, Houston or some such place. 

If you are stuck with Toluca, so be it but if you can get out of Toluca, I ould do so if I were you. We used to drive from Toluca to Puebla right by the DF airport and it is quite a lengthy journey with unpredicatble timing. My wife tells me that Longford has posted ways to get between the Toluca and DF airports and he is speaking from experience so I´ll bow to his comment but I´ll leave my comment in just in case you still have the option of avoiding Toluca.

By the way, while you may be getting an airfare deal to Toluca, taxis between Toluca and DF airports and Guadalajara´s Centro de Autobuses and either the downtown bus terminal to Chapala or diectly to Chapals whold eat up those projected savings very quickly.
Good luck.


----------



## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

From what I see you arrive around 1.30 pm in Toluca so you are better off going to the Mexico city airport and flying out. The airport inGuadalajara is 30 mn from Chapala around 400 peso maybe a little more, I forget but you buy a ticket at the airport so the price is what it is.
This way you arrive at a reasonnable time.

The other way you have a 6 hour ride then you arrive in Tonala and you have a 600 peso ride or one hour to chapala where you will arrive late.


I would fly although it is more expensive.


----------



## Chao (Aug 21, 2014)

Hound Dog,

We like Medellin, but we're not 100% sure that Medellin is the right place for us. You can't beat the weather here. Almost perfect, but we haven't gone thru the rainy season yet (October thru March). The cost of living is generally the same as Guadalajara per Numbeo, though there are differences when specific costs are compared. 

The situation in Colombia is better than it was in 2000, but risk remains. Since I've been here, I have never felt unsafe. That may be due to my wife and I taking a lot of precautions before we do anything. My wife is Colombian; she knows where to go, what to do, what not to do, and what to avoid. 

Through local media and forums like this, I've found out that criminal activity here in the form of extortion, armed robbery, theft, etc. is very much a reality. Recently, the FARC burned a bus in a small town not far from Medellin, maybe 50-60 km away. Now, the Colombian government is in peace talks with the FARC in Cuba. 

The projection is that both sides will eventually make peace, and the FARC will go non-violent. However, that does not do anything about criminal activity.

Citlali:

Thank you for the useful info.


----------



## ojosazules11 (Nov 3, 2013)

I've used both the taxi service and shuttle service from the Toluca airport to DF. Both were quite fine and efficient time wise. If you go to the website of the Toluca airport you will find links to the different options.

Fly Toluca --- Aeropuerto Internacional en la ciudad de Toluca

As a family of four the taxi ended up being about as cost effective as the shuttle. For couples the shuttle is likely more economical. It's been a while since I've flown into Toluca, so I don't remember prices and if I did they'd be out of date.


----------



## Hound Dog (Jan 18, 2009)

Thanks for the brief overview of Medillin, Chao. Very interesting and confirming our belief that the city has a fine, moderate high altitude climate with much sunshine at least out of the rainy season. It´s way too late some 13 years later for us to move from Mexico, which we dearly love, to South America so the point is moot except to confirm that we may have been on to something when considering Medillin at the turn of the century. I must say that in many places in Mexico, we suffer from certain criminal activities as well such as kidnappings, extortion, home invasions, strong armed street muggings , gangland violence, extreme cartel violence (although they generally only slaughter each other or innocents who inadvertently get in the way of their bullets or interfere with commerce going down), drunken knife fights at fiesta venues from time-to-time, assaults on isolated roads in some regions, massive crime from robbery up to and including murders committed by criminals and corrupt officials alike against illegal Central American refugees seeking asylum or work in Mexico or in the far-off United States and so forth and so on but otherwise no problems here as long as (as in the case of your Colombian spouse) you realize you are mainly on your own and responsible for your own ass and those of your loved ones. On the whole, the Lake Chapala área and Chiapas are pretty safe if you avoid certain isolated áreas around the lake or on into parts of Michoacan State or, in Chiapas, the Lacandon Forest along the border with Guatemala. We have lived here for a long time with only minor problems regarding criminal activiies and, even then, with no materially significant losses or physical damages as of yet. We hope to extend that record.

Concerning Ojo´s comment about crossing the megalópolis from Toluca Airport to Benito Juarez Airport and the rationality of undertaking this journey betweeen flights whether by shuttlebus or taxi, keep in mind that Ojo lives in Tepotzlan, Morelos which is quite close to Toluca and reachable, if I am not mistaken, by accessing Autopista 95 to the Greater Cuernavaca área only skirting the western part of Mexico City without the need to cross the center of what is probably the largest conglomeration of human beings in all the Americas - all of whom who drive, think they are privileged characters who own the roads and drive accordingly deciding on the moment if that red traffic light they are facing means (1) stop, (2) slow down and go like hell or(3) speed up and race through the intersection. 

Nobody said Toluca was impractical for all destinations - simply Metro Guadalajaro including exurban Lake Clapala. If one´s destiantion is near Toluca or there are connecting flights at Toluca Airport, tan that is a fine interim destination.

Have fun.


----------



## conorkilleen (Apr 28, 2010)

Miami to GDL?


----------



## Chao (Aug 21, 2014)

conorkilleen said:


> Miami to GDL?


Too late - we already booked Fort Lauderdale. We booked Spirit Airlines from Medellin to Fort Lauderdale, then to Toluca because of the low fares. If we flew to Miami, it would be on higher cost airlines.

When I researched the Toluca airport, Wikipedia said there were flights from TLC to Guadalajara. When I researched the flights, there was one airline (can't remember which), that has two flights from TLC to GDL. One flight goes thru Cabo, the other Cancun. Don't want to do that.


----------



## ojosazules11 (Nov 3, 2013)

Interjet has a promo this weekend for many flights, including Mexico DF to Guadalajara, book by Sunday for travel through Oct 31. (No conflict of interest here - I'm just on their email list for special offers.)


----------



## Chao (Aug 21, 2014)

Thanks for the tip, we booked Interjet.


----------



## JGuadarrama (Apr 13, 2014)

I have flown into Toluca everytime I have flown to Mexico and I fly out of there too since that's where my husband is from. Honestly I like it, although it is an international airport it is small and easy to get around. Everytime I have cleared baggage and customs in max 30 minutes. My things were searched evertime. The last time I flew into there I rented a car and that took longer than baggage and customs. I have also flown Interjet also in July. It is now my favorite airline.. Good luck!


----------



## maesonna (Jun 10, 2008)

For purposes of comparison, Primera Plus has a bus from Toluca to Guadalajara at 2:55 pm, arriving Guadalajara at 11:20 pm. The next bus doesn’t leave Toluca until 7:00 pm, and arrives at 1:30 am. In both cases, the cost is 585 pesos. Neither is an express bus, but the later one takes 2 hours less than the afternoon bus.

Edited to add: There are a few other buses Toluca>Guadalajara throughout the day, but these are the ones relevant to a 1:30 pm arrival.


----------



## miaux (Jul 16, 2014)

have you checked TAR (transportes aereos regionales) airlines? its a new airline, and the only ones that fly from Toluca to GDL... check tarmexico.com


----------



## Chao (Aug 21, 2014)

miaux said:


> have you checked TAR (transportes aereos regionales) airlines? its a new airline, and the only ones that fly from Toluca to GDL... check tarmexico.com


Thanks for the tip.


----------



## Chao (Aug 21, 2014)

Took a taxi from Toluca to Benito Juarez Airport. The trip took 93 minutes and cost 840 pesos.

Would I do this again? No.


----------



## Longford (May 25, 2012)

Chao said:


> Took a taxi from Toluca to Benito Juarez Airport. The trip took 93 minutes and cost 840 pesos.
> 
> Would I do this again? No.


Thank you for the courtesy of returning to let us know the choice you made, and the result. :wave:


----------



## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

What would you do? Take a bus or not fly into Toluca?


----------



## Meritorious-MasoMenos (Apr 17, 2014)

Longford said:


> Thank you for the courtesy of returning to let us know the choice you made, and the result. :wave:


Seconding. Thanks.


----------

