Out of my Comfort Zone? Mexico City to Acapulco Coach Trip with Estrella de Oro.
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- Опубликовано: 2 авг 2024
- What did I expect? Well, not half of what I actually got!!
Yes this coach trip really did have it all: amazing scenery, comfort, at-seat entertainment, cops in riot gear, checkpoints, soldiers with machine guns, armoured cars!! All-in-all, it was a most memorable experience, dropping down from Mexico City on route 95D heading through the mountains of the Sierra Madre del Sur before, finally, reaching Acapulco and its world famous beachfront.
And what did you think of the coach? Have you ever been on a coach journey in Mexico or something similar? I'd be really interested to hear about your experiences and, either way, I'd love to get your thoughts on how this standard of travel compares to what we get in other parts of the world like Europe and the US.
As always guys, I really appreciate you clicking on this content. If you like it, a thumbs-up, sub or even a super thanks would be much appreciated. And until the next time, cheers for now!
Mark
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📖Chapters
00:00 - Introduction
01:59 - Boarding the Coach
03:53 - Leaving CDMX
05:27 - About Estrella de Oro
06:33 - Seat Review
08:58 - Into Guerrero
12:12 - Toilet Review
16:28 - Arriving In Acapulco
19:20 - Summary
Picture Credits:
Route Map: OpenStreetMap (route added)
www.openstreetmap.org/
All bus and coach images: Estrella de Oro (no changes made)
www.estrelladeoro.com.mx/nues...
I always wondered what this trip would look like by car. Thanks for the video.
Greetings
Im from Scotland but I now live in Cuernavaca (on your route) having got myself a Mexican wife the first time I lived here. This time round Ive been back in Mexico for four years. While I do most of my travelling by car these days I can answer most of your questions about bus travel as my wife and I when we were dating literally travelled the length and breadth of Mexico from Chiapas to Chihuahua. First, why the armed police etc? - They are a pretty normal sight for people living here I tend to pass them on the roads 2-3 times a week. Its common for cars to get stopped at Casetas (tolls) and ID checked, primary as Guerrero is in the middle of the whole Narco territorial dispute and so they take security on the route seriously. This said in day time (actually personally in night too) I have never had a problem in a combined six years living in Mexico, including in Acapulco. Buses in Mexico have been excellent for a very long time and on long distance journies like CDMX to Chihuahua (which is around 20 hours) you get near flat recline. Why the armrest moves is because the wide setting is for more personal space if you are sitting next to a stranger but can be turned to give more if you are a couple. Male/Female toilets is to protect women and the screen behind the driver and closed door used to be to create a quieter and darker cabin for relaxation but now its a protection system in case anyone tried to rob the bus. Acapulco is rough around the edge as most Mexican towns are but it has it nice areas (also as all mexican towns do). Dont underestimate the bus services! They are frequent, stop on request where you ask them too, are very affordable and go into places (the minimuses that is) that a typical UK bus couldnt! That route is nice, we are in the mountains on the outskirts of Cuernavaca and we get awesome sun rises and sunsets. Hope you enjoy the rest of your time in Mexico and get a chance to explore. Coaches here definitely beat the ones in the UK in my opinion. And theres no tacos at rest stops back home either! Feliz Viaje
Hi Graeme, I love doing RUclips when I get comments like this - a truly fascinating and invaluable insight from yourself so many thanks for taking the time to share your experience and knowledge. My first time in Mexico so apologies if I got anything wrong or mis-pronounced stuff! That journey to Chihuahua sounds pretty good. I was impressed with the coach and the Diamanté ones look even nicer - so much room!
I’ve done a couple of other videos so far on my Mexico travel and, generally speaking, I found the presence of so many police, soldiers, security forces quite reassuring though yes I did wonder what it must have been like in earlier times! Talking about male/female toilets I noticed on the CDMX metro that females, children get their own space on the platforms and so their own separate carriages - a brilliant initiative which must improve safety no end.
With Acapulco, am I right in thinking those pick-up trucks with the covered backs - are they ‘buses’ so to speak or something completely different?
I’m back from Mexico now, this was done in May but I made some fantastic memories. Absolutely loved it and the tacos!! All the best, Mark 😊👍
@@LetsMakeaTrip Yeah so basically the larger Microbuses and called Peseros, they are frequent and pick/up set down anywhere you ask them too. Many drivers will decorate them where they are driver owned and play music especially in the mornings. Then you have the minibuses which are the same idea as the Microbuses but go to quiter residencial areas or specific routes. The pick up trucks are not common as public transport but I used to see it previously in Acapulco as a kind of beachfront taxi/unofficial pick up in places where microbuses dont go. In my neighbourhood workers regularly hop a pick up from the residential complexes to the local town to connect with their local service. You are unlucky if you wait more than about 2-3 minutes for one. The Metro women and children car is a very good idea as there were issues previously and it generally stops it now.
Mexico is loveable chaos. The people are awesome, the food is great and the biodiversity is really amazing as well. It somehow all works but you sometimes wonder how ;) Weve been here for the last couple of 7+ earthquakes, the first we were still in Mexico City and lived on top floor of a building and it spent about 2 minutes moving. 2 very long minutes! Since weve moved into our house last June we had one last year and that jolted the house - que remembering to ensure I had home insurance! Fortunately found out its included in your mortgage here - phew!
Last time I went to Acapulco with the in laws we went up the coast to Zijuatenejo, made famous by the final scenes in Shawshank Redemption (they say they will meet there and hug it out on the beach)
@@thisweekmetaverse I can tell from your writing that you love it there and I agree, a fascinating country that certainly took me a few days to acclimatise. But then I’m glad I did a few things off the normal tourist trail (like the cablebus in my other video). Just love to see and experience the local travel arrangements. Easy to miss all this if you fly everywhere and/or take organised tours. Not really my thing that. I did visit the cathedral in CDMX though and I can imagine the impact of the earthquake there from what I saw of the floor!
Tell me more please , I am looking for a good place to retire .. I am from Wales .
@@davidjohn64 Hi David. Theres lots of affordable places to retire in Mexico including Chapala, San Miguel de Allende, Oaxaca City/Puerto Escondido, Mazatlan etc. Depends if you want mountains (and a bit cooler) or beach and a bit hotter. Cuernavaca is 1.5 hours from Mexico City and in the mountains. Av temp 27c and doesnt vary very much. Direct Airport connections and good affordable housing.
Wow! to the view when you arrived in your room at the hotel. Hope you enjoyed yourself whilst there.
I certainly did Marian. The beach was beautiful 😊👍
Yes, Acapulco is actually a very high crime and dangerous city beyond the tourist areas. So you would not want to go wandering off in those neighborhoods you were showing. Lots of cartel activity and several hundred murders per year. Stay near the beach and hotels and you’ll be ok though. Still, it looks beautiful and I really enjoyed your review.
Cheers mate. Yep, I had a wander up and down the streets behind the hotels and went in a few local shops and that was about as much as I could manage. I would say the beach front is fantastic from a distance and the beach itself is superb. But dig a little deeper and I think it’s seen better days tbh. A few dodgy characters hanging around on the beach too! 😂
That's brilliant 😀😀.
Cheers Steve 😊
Superb footage 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🥂🥂🥂🥂🥂🍾🍾🍾🍾🍾🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷
Thanks for watching Derisley as per usual. Support very much appreciated 😊😊😊😊😊🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🇲🇽🇲🇽🇲🇽🇲🇽🇲🇽🇲🇽🇲🇽🇲🇽🇲🇽🇲🇽
Another brilliant video Mark. Very well presented and full of information. Thank you
Thanks Jane, glad you found it interesting 😊👍
Fantastic view from the hotel room! Looks amazing!
It was mate - about £50 for that room. The balcony actually went right round so you could see the other side of the bay but I somehow managed to forget to shoot that bit! 🙄
I’d definitely take the coach and that room was fantastic! Thank you.
Thanks Wend, yes well worth the trip, some fantastic scenery and I lucked-out with the room yes. Loved it 😊👍
Great video! Mexico looks great and that is a quality bus service minus the lack of forward view!
Yep, definitely worth a trip. Reading some of the initial comments on here, I can see why the drivers partition is in place. I don’t think I fancied being hijacked!
Buenos Dias
Great video, must admit I thought it was a brave choice but what a great coach. Beats the overnight megabus to Glasgow. Fantastic view from the balcony, shame you only had one night.
Loved the new funky graphics
Cheers Daz! Can you imagine though having a coach like this on the London - Scotland route (or any UK route really)? It would be amazing!
Brilliant loved it thanks Mark.
Cheers mate, so did I - a brilliant experience 👍
The landscape in the more rural parts of this journey look so much like Andalusia. Luckily a trip on ALSA has far fewer machine guns!
I haven’t been on Alsa, might have to give them a try 👍
Did you go Loco in Acapulco? 😀 I wish National Express has coaches as comfortable as this. I would certainly choose this over the train if they did!
I have lived in Europe, Britain included. As a Mexican I can say that our intercity bus service is the equivalent of trains. Except for the central parts, population density is way lower here and makes passenger railways a very expensive project .
Nice report, hope you are safe and well.
Cheers Simon. I’m ok, a bit tired, but ok 😂 hope you are too mate 👍
Very impressive coaches, and very economic on the pocket to. Plus you get to see a lot of what the country is all about. Well done, I have once again enjoyed your journeying with you.
Many thanks.
David in Devils Bridge.
Hey thanks David, yes great coach this was. I flew back (see next weeks video) but tbh, I preferred the coach!
Your international bus content continues to impress! Nice work on this one.
Cheers David and thanks for your support, much appreciated 😊
Must say you certainly booked a room with a view!🙂Very enjoyable video. Reminded me of a trip I made there about 48 yrs ago. Took about 9 hrs back in the day before they built the new road. The coach was one of those locally built American style polished aluminium (?) bodied coaches with a somewhat noisy GM 2 stroke diesel engine. Basically a bit like an old Greyhound US coach.. These days coaches in Latin America tend to be very comfortable for long distance travel. I think the partitions are there to isolate drivers/crew from passengers and vice-versa. They way I look at it is why on earth don't we use them in Europe as the partitions mean the driver doesn't get disturbed by noisy chat from passengers.
Cheers Nicholas, yes it was a fine room there. My one and only coach trip south of the US (so far anyway), really enjoyed it but yes, somewhat different to what you get in Europe that’s for sure!
I've ridden plenty of Mexican long-distance buses to/from CDMX, Aguascalientes, Cancun, Cordoba, Toluca, Tampico, etc., and never had a trip that wasn't excellent in every way. The nicest was in an overnight ETN double-decker with only 25 seats: I've never been in such a comfortable coach! Even the four gigantic CDMX bus stations seem far safer and are much cleaner than anything in the US or Britain. If I were ever to return to MX I would definitely use their buses again.
Cheers, yes I really enjoyed this coach which gave me, just a tourist, a fascinating insight into some of the real Mexico. Totally agree with your comment re: the bus stations too. Felt really safe personally, lots of food/drink choice too.
Great video ! May I ask does the coach do stop off for passengers to get off around the towns ? Or does it take you directly to your destinations without any stops ?
I reckon a £20ish fare represents excellent value for money, the coach looked lovely and wow what an adventure!
Oh definitely an adventure Tim - unforgettable. That’s travel though isn’t it and I must admit Acapulco beach is nice but I still prefer some of the beaches the UK has to offer😂
I've been waiting for this one, and you didn't disappoint! I've never been to Mexico but have elsewhere in Latin America, and this journey seems very much like the ones I have done in Brazil, Chile, Argentina. All had the second door separating the passengers from the driver, and all very comfortable seats with plenty of room. Where will your next exotic bus ride be - India? Africa? ;)
What about Wrexham! 🤣
I'm off to Mexico in a couple of weeks - thanks for doing this upload :) PS do I detect a fellow Midlander from the accent ?
Hi Richard,hope you have as good a time as I did, wherever in the country you’re off to! I’m Shrewsbury born and bred so yep, you weren’t far off with the accent 😊
Great 👍
Thanks Thomas 👍
Great trip report
Cheers mate 😊👍
I think the regular armed guards is due to the 2011 San Fernando incident, which was basically the hijacking of several different Mexican buses
Really? I didn’t know about this, I’ll search it out. Cheers mate 😊👍
Thanks
Appears to be much better than your megabus trip eh! A lot of the times in Japan, there's a curtain at the front which inhibits views of the front...much like door. Nice scenery throughout. Beach looked great too.
I would love to go to Japan and try out some of there buses. Seen some great videos on RUclips - especially the ‘sleeper buses’.
i love acapulco! my dad has a house in las brisas but i would never dare to travel in mexico by car or bus always on a plane my friend!!!!
I had a bit of a walk up and down the road outside the hotel. That about as far as I went!
I mean, it's indeed an experience to do such a coach trip. It also has the feel of adventure on it. Once I'd suggest you travel on a coach between Northern Italy and Sicily. That is an experience indeed
Oh it was definitely an adventure! I may try a few more coaches - it’s not my area of expertise tbh. I’ll see how this does and yep, maybe look at a few. I’ve got a couple more booked in the UK atm…
@@LetsMakeaTrip I have three coach trips booked in the UK for this coming September: London-Leeds (National Express), Manchester-Leeds (Megabus), and Leeds-Luton (National Express), plus a return trip from Darwen to Hertfordshire for an event with a transport preservation group
I've been on that bus.There's a couple of companies and they use different bus stations in Acapulco but I believe the same one in Mexico City.They say Acapulco is dangerous but nothing happened to us there and we walked all over the place but beware of man hole covers being missing.You should try another Central American one the Estrella de Ore from Guatamala City to San Elena were you get a bus to Belize City.
I’d love to go back there but yep, somewhere in South America. Not in my plans yet but I’ve got some interesting trips for 2023 in the planning stage 👍
We did have Citylink Gold which ran from Glasgow/Edinburgh to and from Aberdeen/Inverness which had very comfortable coaches and free onboard snacks, but when Covid came along it disappeared and hadn’t reappeared
Has it gone for good?
In the late 70th I was in Mexico City, from there a flight down to Acapuclco, 30 minutes flight. 1 week on each places. At that time it was much calmer... Do they still have trolleybuses in Mexico City, when I was there it was old used US buses and still PCC trolleys.
Yes I came back from Acapulco that way (on Volaris). The coach was a much better experience imo.
They turn 90 for ease of access to seating folding arm rests are prone to snapping and vandalism through over extension.
Cheers Naill. Never seen this before so it was interesting to find out. Thanks 😊👍
That coach trip beats a long haul down the m5 / m6 etc lol
Agree - no traffic snarl-ups either 😂
I think the 90degrees divider. Is to create a barrier between the seats that your neighbour can’t rest their arm on…. Just a guess…. Wildest ride I had was a shirut ( minibus crossed with a taxi), from dahab in the Sinai to Cairo…. :-)
Yes it’s definitely something to do with space when both seats are occupied. I’ve never been to Egypt but yep, I would imagine the ‘bus’ transport is quite an experience!
@@LetsMakeaTrip the buses are ok from what I’ve heard. But a minibus at 2am on invisible steep drops through the precipitous sinai, 😝
@@briocheoleary5043 hmm, might give that one a miss!
@@LetsMakeaTrip Well whever you go. I look forward to the next video.. 🙂
These shared taxis are all over the whole Middle East (incl. Israel), Africa and former Soviet Union. BTW: sherut is Hebrew name. Fun fact - in Israel lots of sherut drivers are Arabs or from Eastern Europe/Russia. Why - they don't care about not working on Shabbat.
Great to see you using public travel in Mexico as most Gringos would never take it even though it looks very good and much better than Greyhound. Hope you had time to go Loco down in Acapulco. 😂 My only experience of Mexico was a night out in Ciudad Juarez across the border from El Paso in 2006. About 6 months later when the Mexican Government started the drug gang wars it became the murder capital of the world for a few months.
Yep, I found public transport pretty decent overall and certainly never felt unsafe. Only went out in the day though and made sure I was back in the hotel early evening. Overall, loved Mexico and the people. Fantastic experience.
Heey!unreal ~ =))
We are seeing the likes of Noel Phillips and Jeb Brooks now doing coach trips having followed you into rail and even ferry trips. Makes you wonder who is following who, no?
Haha, I don’t think they bother watching tiny little channels like mine unfortunately 🤣
@@LetsMakeaTrip Maybe they run to the front of the crowd and yell “follow me” We now though
Is the armrest articulated to accommodate those with very slender arms 🤔
Someone did say on here Adam why it was like that. I can’t remember exactly now but to do with seat width I think.
The arm rest twist to be folded up and out of the way.
Cheers SS and thanks for watching the video 😊👍
Would like some of these between Glasgow to London compared to Megabus
Oh tell me about it! I totally agree! Just think most people in this country just want it as cheap as possible and that’s all that matters 🤷♂️ but I think for more money (but still less than the train) someone could do a lot better than the rubbish Megabus are currently serving up atm.
Megabus used to have a sleeper service
@@s125ish sure did was on it a few times but no comfort as you were crammed in.
Bit like Birmingham to London, then?
Better views John 😂
The size of the seats. The Mexicans are small. Don't be surprised what you see on the motorways.
Very comfy these seats were. Having not been to Mexico before, yep, it was a bit of an eye-opener. Glad I did it though, nice to get away from the usual tourist haunts.
Latinos often joke about Peruvians being quite short which is actually true as the high altitude has a detrimental effect on one's height.
Never to the Americas if I do I'll be going to Philadelphia
I’ve never been to Philadelphia- maybe one day 👍
Poverty and personal safety are the main things in Mexico. Plenty of the former and very little of the latter.
Oh yes, coming into Acapulco especially was a real eye-opener! Fascinating to experience this trip though - I really enjoyed it and it was definitely worth it imo.