# Drive to the Border



## Joycee (Jul 22, 2009)

Hola
My husband is determined to drive from Puebla to Laredo in one day. We would be driving next month so there are lots of hours of sunshine and we would be leaving Puebla at 4:00 a.m. How doable is that? Has anyone done it? About two and a half years ago we made the drive in about 16 hours and we had to cross in Colombia in the dark. However that was in winter we left Puebla about 5:00 a.m. and it was before they put in the Arco. I am concerned about reaching Nueva Laredo before it gets too dark. He thinks I am being paranoid. Any Thoughts?


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## conorkilleen (Apr 28, 2010)

Joycee said:


> Hola
> My husband is determined to drive from Puebla to Laredo in one day. We would be driving next month so there are lots of hours of sunshine and we would be leaving Puebla at 4:00 a.m. How doable is that? Has anyone done it? About two and a half years ago we made the drive in about 16 hours and we had to cross in Colombia in the dark. However that was in winter we left Puebla about 5:00 a.m. and it was before they put in the Arco. I am concerned about reaching Nueva Laredo before it gets too dark. He thinks I am being paranoid. Any Thoughts?


That does not give you any time for being stuck in traffic or other things. I think its possible its just a matter of how comfortable you are driving in Mexico in the dark and what route you are taking. I would do a 2 day trip to be safe, but thats me. Or Fly.


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## Joycee (Jul 22, 2009)

Thank you for your response. Flying is not an option as we intend to nationalize our Durango. Hopefully upon our return to Puebla we will never have to make that drive again.


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## conorkilleen (Apr 28, 2010)

any reason why you want to make the drive in one day? Seems like a risk for such a small gain.


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## Guest (Apr 14, 2011)

Joycee said:


> Hola
> My husband is determined to drive from Puebla to Laredo in one day. We would be driving next month so there are lots of hours of sunshine and we would be leaving Puebla at 4:00 a.m. How doable is that? Has anyone done it? About two and a half years ago we made the drive in about 16 hours and we had to cross in Colombia in the dark. However that was in winter we left Puebla about 5:00 a.m. and it was before they put in the Arco. I am concerned about reaching Nueva Laredo before it gets too dark. He thinks I am being paranoid. Any Thoughts?



If it were me, I would leave Puebla at about 9 am and drive as far as Queretaro, spend the night there, and then leave Queretaro the next morning at about 6 am. Hit San Luis Potosi by 8:30, Monterrey by about 2:30 or 3 pm, and the border a couple of hours later during daylight hours. But, that's just me, avoiding any rush hour traffic in MX City and Monterrey.


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## Rodrigo84 (Mar 5, 2008)

My cousin could get to San Antonio from Mexico City in well under 12 hours, sometimes faster.


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## conklinwh (Dec 19, 2009)

I think Mexico City to San Antonio in less than 12 hours isn't driving but rather a low flying aircraft.
My guess is that Puebla to Laredo is 13-14hrs with minimum stops.
It's certainly doable but a long day. If you try & get behind there is a hotel at the rest area just before you leave the Monterrey to Laredo cuota. We have friends that frequently stay there.


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## ReefHound (Aug 9, 2010)

That is El Rancho located at a large tourist stop at about km 100, just before the toll booths. There is a Pemex for gas, food marts, fast food chains like Subway, and other stuff all within a big complex so you can park by your room and just walk around for snacks or dinner. Here's a google street view.


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## circle110 (Jul 20, 2009)

We just drove San Antonio to Mexico City a couple of weeks ago. We actually left from Boerne, TX, which is a good 30 minutes north of downtown SA and arrived at the farthest possible southwest corner of Mexico City so our trip was a little longer than a trip from downtown SA to the centro of el DF. It took us 16 hours and I was driving at about 120-125 kph on average. We did use the Colombia crossing, so that adds a little driving time but there was zero wait to cross. 

I agree that <12 hours is a low flying aircraft time. You would need to average close to 150 kph to make that happen. Some do drive at that speed but I choose not to push it that hard.


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## ReefHound (Aug 9, 2010)

Even 120kph is pushing it pretty well considering the highest limits on the cuotas are 110kph and most of Mx57 is around 80kph with lots of slower zones.


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## pappabee (Jun 22, 2010)

Does anyone know the legal problems a ****** can face if caught speeding in Mexico. 

From what I heard the Mexican jails would make the Inquisition thing again about human rights. (roughly quoted from the Guadalajara Reporter).


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## circle110 (Jul 20, 2009)

ReefHound said:


> Even 120kph is pushing it pretty well considering the highest limits on the cuotas are 110kph and most of Mx57 is around 80kph with lots of slower zones.


Agreed. I'm just saying that's all I'm willing to push it. There are many places on 57 where I slow down because of the 80 kph limit in the state of SLP (which is a pretty ridiculous limit seeing how it's 4 lane divided highway through mostly open desert lands) but in some of those wide open areas I do ignore that limit a _wee _bit. 

If it took us 16 hours at that velocity, then under 12 hours seems either a little unrealistic or you'd need to be REALLY pushing it.... much more than I'm willing.

We did the trip in 2 segments - SA to Matehuala (9 hours) and Matehuala to DF (7 hours). The OP may want to consider Matehuala or San Luis Potosí as potential stopovers. Queretaro seems too close to Puebla (the first day would be only 3-4 hours and the second day would be over 12 hours) and El Rancho isn't that far from their eventual destination of Laredo.


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## tcreek (Sep 13, 2010)

Going through Mexico City is what is going to eat your time up the most. Last time I was driving around there (2002), there was no highway running through the city to get to the other side. During that time it took me 16 hours to drive to Matamoros from DF taking the autopista toll highways. Every time I have driven on them, I have ignored the speed limit and the police do not even look twice.

However things have been chaning and things I have never seen in the past 10 years are taking place more common. 

For example, in the past, I have never seen anyone pulled over on the cuotas by the police. Now I see it just as common as you would in the US. However they are not looking for speeders. It is the Federal Police making randoms stops just to see if you could be a person of interest they are looking for, or to get a response from a "guilty" person who could be doing wrong. Thus these stops, inlcuding the more military check points, are increasing your travel time by quite a bit. 

No way you are going to make it to the border from sun up to sun down. You may get close to making it during the Summer Soltice on June 21. Starting the the equator and going north, the amount of dayligh on the day increases for this day. Northern Mexico may see 13-14 hours of daylight.


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## Joycee (Jul 22, 2009)

tcreek
Thanks for your input but since 2002 the have opened the Arco. It bypasses Mexico City altogether between Puebla and Queretaro. No more worry about Mexico City traffic.


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## conklinwh (Dec 19, 2009)

I expect that it took you minimum of 2.5hrs to get to the border. Since you probably couldn't make use of the norte and also probably had significant traffic, expect similar time Puebla to the border so 13-14hrs seems reasonable without issues.


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## Joycee (Jul 22, 2009)

Thanks Conklnwh and Reef Hound for the suggestion to stop at El Rancho if we are running late.


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## conklinwh (Dec 19, 2009)

With multiple people responding, answers sometimes out of sequence. 
My response was based on the 16 hours north of San Antonio to southern DF. 2.5 hours to the border would be net of 13.5 hours. Expect if you really left Pueblo by 4AM that you would be at Laredo crossing by 6PM without unforeseen issues or delays and reasonably minimum length stops, probably 3-4. However it doesn't get very visible here till at least 6:30AM so that would mean driving most if not all of the norte in the dark which certainly wouldn't be my choice, As earlier poster stated, there is at most 14 hours of visibility for a 13-14 hr trip. Under no circumstance would I drive around Laredo in the dark or even twilight so I think 4AM is probably about right to leave to have a chance but a very long day and not too optimum.


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## ReefHound (Aug 9, 2010)

Now something very important that I learned from experience about driving in Mexico... your plan has to be fluid. You cannot calculate to the hour some long journey, that you'll be here at 11am and then here at 3pm and then there at 7pm, adding up kilometers and dividing by some speed. Traffic, accidents, construction, checkpoints, and other stuff can mean delays. It usually averages out and it's good to have a plan but just factor in a little margin and have a backup plan.


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## conklinwh (Dec 19, 2009)

You are absolutely right. Even though we have driven dozens of times and basically +/- 30 minutes, you need to have a backup plan. That why I suggested El Rancho hotel on the Monterrey-Laredo quota. If I got to that logical final stop point at or close to 6PM, I would stop.


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## mexliving (Mar 30, 2009)

... [Comment deleted by TundraGreen] ... leaving at 4am and trying to race across mexican highways is simply stupid. people dont wake up in the morning and say "i think i will get into an accident today" a lot of people have fallen asleep around hermosillo coming from the usa .... they did not plan to fall asleep...... there is no reason to be driving at night in mexico or to try to do a 16 hour drive.................. its just not safe.


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## bigfootbill (Feb 2, 2011)

U must be NUTS or a Narco
B


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## conklinwh (Dec 19, 2009)

I do remember when I used to plan 13-14 hour trips so I wouldn't call someone nuts but no longer and certainly not to the border. If I were driving Puebla to the border, I would probably stay in San Luis Potosi as there are a number of reasonable hotels not too far north of the bypass and on the highway. If I did this, I would double back to the bypass rather than continue north as there is often a speed trap near where you get off toward the airport and they are pretty aggressive about the size of the mordita. We also like to fill-up and have breakfast at the stop just past the toll booth. In addition to being able to leave Puebla at a sane time, the other advantage to this is that you can easily get to San Antonio and things a lot better there than Laredo.


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## bigfootbill (Feb 2, 2011)

Must have been in the old days
Safe travels
B


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## pappabee (Jun 22, 2010)

I did the trip from Saltillo to Chapala in 9 hours and it almost killed me. I guess cross country trips are for the young.


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## circle110 (Jul 20, 2009)

My previous post was commenting on Rodrigo84's statement that his cousin could make SA to DF in under 12 hours, not so much the OP situation of Puebla to Laredo. Yes, it is 3 hours from the border to Boerne, TX

That said, I agree with conklinwh's suggestion. 
Personally, I might opt for Matehuala over SLP as a stopover location simply because you would go farther the first day and therefore get to the border earlier the second day. However, either Mat. or SLP works well. It is about 8 hours (maybe a bit more) from Puebla to Matehuala and 5 more on to the border the next day. If you leave Puebla at 8:00 am you arrive at 4-5:00. The next day you'd get to the border mid-day or a little after.
In either case, I'd split it up into 2 days.

I also agree that, with the years, it gets tougher to do those 14 hour driving days. They didn't use to wipe me out so bad. I just had to do back to back 12 and 14 hour drives and it was HARD!


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## conklinwh (Dec 19, 2009)

Since the generic subject is drive to the border, I have an ancillary question. We are going to leave early May for a friends and family loop of the US. My preferred route is San Luis Potosi, Ciudad Victoria, Valle Hermoso to the Los Indios crossing. This is fastest to the border, 8 hours or less with the new cuota, but goes around San Fernando as well as through Valle Hermoso and both have made headlines recently. Part of me says that with all the recent focus, this might be the safest route but still thinking of 57 & 85 to Laredo even though longer, I hate the mountains between Saltillo & Monterrey and a friend just sat in traffic for almost an hour waiting on police action and shoot out.
Any thoughts on the Ciudad Victoria route given the recent problems would be appreciated.


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## La Osita (Oct 31, 2010)

When I left Tequisquipan (about 45 minutes further from Queretaro) last Tuesday at 4am, I drove 57N to Nuevo Laredo and arrived just before 1pm. I was fortunate that the roads were clear and I didn't meet any policia, accidents or military stops. In order to do that most of the trip was running 120km.


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## conklinwh (Dec 19, 2009)

You really did do well to get there in 9hrs. We are almost 1.5 hours from Tequis and we have never been able to do 7.5 hour, in fact 9+ is more normal to Nuevo Laredo. I'd still like to do via Ciudad Victoria as easier driving but you make the cuotas very tempting. Thanks


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## mexliving (Mar 30, 2009)

the holidays are going on in mexico with lots of travelers on the highways... i still think its not safe to be trying to do a "rally mexico" .......... i would not want my father,uncle,etc to be doing this racing across mexico


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