Three weeks into a month in Mexico City and I did the Puebla and Cholula day on Friday, so here is the honest door to door version for anyone weighing it up. Pickup at seven from Roma Norte. Felt cruel, was correct. It is about 130 km and you want to be through the pass before the traffic thickens. We were in Cholula by half nine. Cholula first, then Puebla, and I would keep that order. The pyramid at Cholula is mostly under the hill, so what you climb is the church sitting on top of it. Fifteen minutes up at a slow pace. In July the cloud sits low and I saw nothing of Popocatépetl at all, which is the trade you make for the green season. My driver said May is the month for that view and even then only early. Puebla from about eleven. The centre is walkable in a way the capital is not. The Capilla del Rosario is ten minutes from the main square and the talavera and sweet shops run along Calle 6 Oriente, one street over from where we parked. Lunch was mole poblano at a place off the zocalo that the driver chose, 220 pesos with a drink. What people underestimate is the way home. Rain in July here arrives between four and six almost every day and it comes down hard for an hour. We left Puebla at five and drove through all of it. Thirteen hours door to door. If you have an eight o'clock flight the next morning, think about that. Private against the coach. I paid for private because I wanted to stop when I felt like stopping, and because my Spanish is good enough to talk to a driver for two hours, which was half the value of the day for me. If you would rather sleep on the way out, the coach does the same two towns for a lot less.
