# Greyhound bus to Mexico?



## Orfin (Sep 26, 2016)

My first trip into Mexico was by bus back in 1998 or 1999. I saw a listing at the old grey-hound station in Tucson AZ for $27 all the way down to Ciudad Obregón. That looked like a really cheap deal to me so i loaded a small backpack with 3 days worth of clothes and took a few hundred dollars.
Obregon was way down in mexico from my perspective back then, but when the bus pulled into Obregon, I was not impressed. We had a stop in Hermosillo before Obregón. The bus station In Obregon was a shamble and my Spanish speaking was even worse. I walked around the area and saw no inspiration. The ticket to catch another bus was $10.oo or less, so i caught another bus to Los Mochis, Culiacan and then Mazatlan. Mazatlan was starting to impress me and i was beginning to enjoy the trip. So i asked if there were other beach towns to see. I ended up on a bus to Puerto Vallarta and then Manzanillo where travel Fatigue began to set in. 
I ended up spending a week taking it easy in Manzanillo area, on a beach across from Club Maeva. Sleeping in a Hamoc outside a store where i made friends with some english speaking people from Guadalajara, they were trying their luck at business on a slow paced beach and were on their way out of business when i arrived. 

The bus from Tucson was not a greyhound bus even though it was at the old grey hound station. I think it was a mexican line allowed by grey-hound to fill the mexico route demands. Obregon was the end of the line for the Tucson to Mexico route.
I ended up also bussing back and was really happy i made the trip. I still remember being called in to a $5 a night lodge room in a very simple old rustic house. They called me over when they saw me standing outside the $20 a night place looking disappointed. I paid the $5 and settled into a damp poorly ventilated room. An hour after i got in bed and turned out the light, i heard the buzzing of what sounded like huge bugs. I never imagined roaches could be that big inside a bed room. They were so huge that when they flew, the buzz was massive ,and when they landed on the walls, the smacking force of their bodies was like a hand slap on the face. Insomnia instinct took over and i figured as long as they never made it on the bed..... Then 2 landed on the bed chasing each other and that was it. I kept the lights on until i saw the huge roaches. I packed up and left, letting them keep my $5 with no explanation, and ended up paying $30 in another area. I have lived with roaches before, but i never had them that big and that active in a strange room with me before or ever since. 

So today i saw an advertisement on the forum front page here and it shows greyhound. I typed in My US location desde Mexico. Turns out $250 will get me there. My plan already is to drive down and i have already sunk $1000.oo into the old car this month just to be ready for up to a 3000mile drive one-way over the next few months
touring Mexico. 
But then the gasoline alone would be another $500 minimum and then added oil changes, mexican Insurance at $300 for 6 months, $200+ Car passage deposit as per driving tourists, and who knows what extra costs from flat tires, tolls or breakdows.

I guess right off the bus i would save over $500 each way and maybe more from not driving the car daily while settled at any location in Mexico. But i would be driving the car full of all my goodies and that stuff would make life easier and more fun such as my big music instrument and accessories. 
I know greyhound accepts cargo size loads even from non passengers, so i bet they would haul as much as i would give them as long as it fit size limits and i paid the extra baggage/cargo fees.

I can afford the driving options as i have already prepared for it, but saving some bucks is always an option i am open to.
I think i will drive this time just for the valuable experience and convenience of it and then try the bus option next time....?
I just may end up having to spend a lot more than expected taking greyhound to Mexico city and having to arrange other transport for myself and lots of cargo to a nice beach destination and just stay there the whole time to avoid the trouble of arranging a ride to haul me and my cargo to a new location.
Driving will cost more but i can get up, drive in an airconditioned car and move to a new location every month to get in easy extensive touring of Mexico. It's valuable experience to get around and stay in as many places as possible with feedom to stop anywhere to explore. A bus will just take me to its' destination and then i have to find my way to elsewhere while weighed down by cargo, in the middle of ~"i know where not"~. Plus Mexico city is on my "Do Not Go" list -because of pollution and my lungs/health. I want to be near open Ocean air/forested expanses and low activity towns for better air breathing. My lungs are very sensitive.

Once i get extensive touring experience, i can do the bus in the future when i have a clearer picture of destinations i would not mind going.


----------



## perropedorro (Mar 19, 2016)

Loved your story and it reminded me of many bus trips I've taken throughout Mexico, and I'm sure our paths have crossed. When's the last time you took a bus there? Greyhound is a disgrace, as one might expect of a monopoly, and Mexican bus service puts it to shame. Better, newer, cleaner buses, lots of competition, especially on the Guadalajara-Border route you mentioned, along with several new bus terminals built in the last 15 years of so. The one in Culiacán is amazing. Sure, you can take a plane from TJ or Juárez to the interior and it'll probably cost even less than bus fare, but for some of us the journey is the destination. Driving, I still do, but it's hard to justify the expense unless you've got a big load of belongings or at least a passenger or two, but some put a premium on the freedom. As far as beach towns on the Pacific coast, I'm ready to go back to mine after having escaped the sauna it becomes in late Summer. The best weather on the Mexican Pacific coast is just ahead, starting in November. ¡Buen viaje!


----------



## Orfin (Sep 26, 2016)

perropedorro said:


> Loved your story and it reminded me of many bus trips I've taken throughout Mexico, and I'm sure our paths have crossed. When's the last time you took a bus there? Greyhound is a disgrace, as one might expect of a monopoly, and Mexican bus service puts it to shame. Better, newer, cleaner buses, lots of competition, especially on the Guadalajara-Border route you mentioned, along with several new bus terminals built in the last 15 years of so. The one in Culiacán is amazing. Sure, you can take a plane from TJ or Juárez to the interior and it'll probably cost even less than bus fare, but for some of us the journey is the destination. Driving, I still do, but it's hard to justify the expense unless you've got a big load of belongings or at least a passenger or two, but some put a premium on the freedom. As far as beach towns on the Pacific coast, I'm ready to go back to mine after having escaped the sauna it becomes in late Summer. The best weather on the Mexican Pacific coast is just ahead, starting in November. ¡Buen viaje!


 Wow, thanks for the Weather info. I wasn't sure if it would be sweltering in the Winter. I know when going far enough south, from my experience staying in Central America, the hottest months down there are actually January-February when the North hemisphere is at the coldest. 
I plan on going as far south as Oaxca and possibly as far as Yucatan-Belize border area. So that had me wondering if those areas get as hot as Nicaragaua gets in the peak winter months. I think the Tropic of Cancer latitude line is where the edge of the crossover is for the making of overly hot winter months. Maybe mexico enjoys some of the cold ocean current effects that make south american coasts always cooler than their equator proximity would imply. 
Peru coasts were very cool even at the hottest time of year. Usually just over 70f degrees and a short peak at just over 80f degrees. The rest of the time is between 55 and 68 f-degrees. The northern most coastal parts of Peru closer to Ecuador and the equator, they get to just over 90f degrees

I agree with you about the better buses avalable in Mexico. In central America, i rode Ticabus from Panama city- Panama, through Costarica and into Nicaragua and back. The bus compared to Greyhound in every way and thats impressive being central America's premium option. Then in Peru i rode the Buses and they have quite a few premium bus lines that use the double decker buses with first class seating and sleepers that are similar to Airline first class fittings minus the premuim food service and steep price. I paid around $130 in 2014 for a 20 hour trip on a sleeper bus and the seats rivaled anything i have seen on trains and definitely put greyhound to shame. 
Same In Thailand which is a very cheap country but has superior premium bus liners.

A lot is said about all these cheaper countries having the worst buses and that is true with all the chicken buses or old beaters that ply routes belching black smoke and sounding out hell fury, all for a very cheap price. But the truth is that also they have premium bus services that rival Greyhound and do it cheaper than greyhound.
US airlines are gettng so cheap that its hard for greyhound to compete except when it comes to extra bagagge, then the bus is a good deal. I have an item that would not be allowed in any category of airline luggage at any price, its too big and heavy to accept unless as freight cargo which is just too expensive. By air, I would pay way more than the cost of my airfare, paid as extra baggae and airfreight charges. 

I used to live in Tucson AZ in the late 1990's and moved away around 2001. So that was when i used to go into mexico often. Usually i just did a border hop into Nogales and back every weekend for a year, but my first time was that bus trip i described. The Last time i was in Mexico, i drove my car ,back in 2001 through Nogales all the way down to Manzanillo. Stayed 2 weeks between Manzanillo and PV before driving back. My torque converter gave out 30 miles away from Tucson on the US side. I was able to drive the 30 miles slowly and park it at a transmission service place and sold it after it was fixed, so i could move out of state. 
Never went back to Tucson until winter of 2014. 
I think i will cruise the old Tucson route this winter and head to Mexico from there. Tempted to try the California crossing or Agua prieta crossing just to experience something new. But i will stick to the long Pacific coastal route after Obregon.
I hope to make it before the Christmas holiday Crowd starts piling up dowm there. 
It doesnt really get too cold in my US area until mid December anyway. 
If not for wanting to stay to make sure i Don't waste a vote for "any of the above", i would head out in November to get an early start ahead of the Christamas crowd. The first time in my life i am taking voting seriously and it is to make sure i add to the votes that vote for none of them. Maybe i can vote for the guy with the rubber boot on his head, he seems to be honest enough about the reality of it all... :noidea::noidea:


----------



## Gatos (Aug 16, 2016)

Deleted - Orfin - Good Luck.


----------



## perropedorro (Mar 19, 2016)

I've found that the Mexican coast, at least the part I know best, from Mazatlán to Playa Azul, doesn't vary greatly in temperature: it's usually in the 80's and often into the 90's during any month of the year, getting down to perhaps 60 on the coldest nights of the year. What is quite variable is the humidity, with sauna-like conditions in the Summer but far lower moisture (but never dry) in the Winter months. Of course the hurricane season presents it's own challenges, especially if you own a house. This Summer, hardly anything (yet), although we're well aware that last season had a grand October finale when record-breaking Patricia grew from a mild storm to a cat5 in only 24 hours. .:fingerscrossed:


----------



## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

I go back and forth from Guadalajara to Chiapas a lot, I have to take 2 buses to get there, one of them overnight and I do not care how premium they are it is not comfortable and do not sleep well on the bus , they are also more expensive than the Vivaaerobus and Volaris flights that are direct and take 2 hours so guess what I take...

I have not taken Greyhound for years but when I did they were not comparing to the luxury buses from Mexico even less from Peru..and their stations were not in good parts of town.


----------



## Howler (Apr 22, 2013)

citlali said:


> I have not taken Greyhound for years but when I did they were not comparing to the luxury buses from Mexico even less from Peru..and their stations were not in good parts of town.


Agreed!! One of the worst travel decisions my family made one summer was when they begged me to let them take a Greyhound back to Tulsa, OK from Matamoros. They wanted to "save me some money" and my driving back to the border to pick them up. Their account of the trip sounded like one of those bad comedy movies - they just couldn't believe that the Greyhound was not as good, as clean, etc. as ADO or some of the other luxury lines they had traveled on in Mexico.

Of course, it didn't do any good to tell them beforehand... :lalala:


----------



## LMtortugas (Aug 23, 2013)

Work requires regular travel both NOB/SOB – preference SWA – but on more than one occasion for shorter jaunts I have utilized Greyhound Express. Not as upscale & comfortable as TUFESA INTL but every ride has been cheap, prompt, good a/c – heat, decent WIFI, clean, & civil passengers. As stated above by Citlali, an airline ticket inside Mexico can be economical as well.


----------



## mattoleriver (Oct 21, 2011)

Orfin,
you might be just the person who would enjoy The Green Tortoise, yep, apparently it's still running. Looks like a latter day version of Further....shades of Merry Pranksters!
Green Tortoise Adventure Bus Travel - Mexico and Central America

matt


----------

