Arrivals
A Mexico City layover is worth leaving the airport for from about 7 hours, if your passport lets you into Mexico.
Mexico City International Airport (MEX), also called Benito Juárez or AICM, sits on the eastern side of the city, with the old centre to the west. It has two terminals, 1 and 2, and the Metrobús leaves from both. It is not AIFA, Felipe Ángeles International (NLU), a separate airport north of the city: check the airport code on both your tickets, because these plans work only from MEX.
- Tickets. On one ticket, your bags may go through to your next flight, but you still pass immigration: there’s no transit area. Ask your airline when you check in whether they’re checked through. On separate tickets you collect them, clear customs and check in again later.
- Bags. Both terminals have left luggage on the ground floor, open 24 hours, with no published prices. Leave big cases there: the Metrobús has room for luggage, but a walk through the old centre is no place for one.
- Money. The Metrobús takes no cash at all: tap a contactless bank card or your phone, or buy its card at the stop. Carry some pesos too: Chapultepec Castle takes nothing else.
- Phone. Wi-Fi is free in both terminals. An eSIM set up before you fly keeps maps and ride-hailing apps working in town.
Luggage and phone data: getting into the city.
eSIM
Data before you land
The terminals' Wi-Fi is free but stays at the airport. A Mexico eSIM set up before you fly keeps maps and ride-hailing apps working from the moment you're through immigration.
Get an eSIM from Airalo (opens in a new tab)Get a Saily eSIM (opens in a new tab)
Border
Every connecting passenger passes Mexican immigration, and most Western passports need no visa.
Not needed when you stay at the airport.
- No visa needed. US, Canadian, British, Irish, EU and Schengen, Australian, New Zealand and Japanese passports, among others. There’s no form to fill in before you fly: the officer records your entry, and you can download the digital form afterwards.
- Visa needed. Other passports, India’s among them, need a Mexican visa, even just to change planes: Mexico has no transit visa. You don’t need one if you hold a valid visa for the US, Canada, the UK, Japan or the Schengen area, or residence in one of them. The airline checks this before you board.
- Staying at the airport. There’s no transit area to wait in, so a passenger who can’t enter Mexico can’t connect here. You pass immigration on every international connection.
- Time. Mexico publishes no queue times, so allow about 1 hour 15 minutes from landing to the Metrobús, with your bags and customs. A slow queue costs you time in town, not your flight: the time you must head back stays the same.
Who needs which visa: visa and transit rules.
Into Mexico City
The Metrobús is the way in: about 45 minutes from either terminal to Bellas Artes, at the edge of the old centre, for MXN 30.
Not needed when you stay at the airport.
| Ride | Into town | Fare |
|---|---|---|
| Metrobús airport route, the best for most | About 45 minutes to Bellas Artes (our estimate) | MXN 30, card or phone only |
| Authorised taxi | About 45 minutes to the Zócalo (our estimate), up to an hour or more at rush hour | Fixed by zone, paid at the booth |
| Metro Line 5, the cheapest | About 65 minutes to the Zócalo (our estimate), with two changes | MXN 5 |
After customs, follow the Metrobús signs: the stops are at gates 7 and 8 in Terminal 1 and gates 3 and 4 in Terminal 2. Take the airport route towards the centre and get off at Bellas Artes. The first buses leave the airport at 4:41am on weekdays, 4:47am on Saturdays and 5am on Sundays; be back at Bellas Artes for a bus by 11:21pm, or 11:14pm on Saturdays.
Every way in, compared: getting into the city.
What to do
Bellas Artes puts you at the head of Calle Madero, a pedestrian street that runs about 1.2 km to the Zócalo, with the Cathedral and the Templo Mayor at its far end.
Not needed when you stay at the airport.
The fastest plan for a short layover
- Clear immigration and customs, and follow the Metrobús signs to the airport route.
- Ride to Bellas Artes, about 45 minutes.
- Walk past the Palacio de Bellas Artes, then along Calle Madero to the Zócalo and the Metropolitan Cathedral, about 15 minutes on foot.
- Walk back to Bellas Artes and leave 2 hours 45 minutes before your flight.
It needs about 7 hours and gives you about 2 hours in the centre, free apart from the bus. With 8 hours, add the Templo Mayor, the excavated Aztec temple beside the Cathedral, Tuesday to Sunday from 9am to 5pm, MXN 210 for visitors from abroad.
Would you rather have a guide? GetYourGuide (opens in a new tab) and Viator (opens in a new tab) list private tours of the centre. Viator’s 3-hour downtown layover tour starts from about US$94 (seen November 2026), with the ride from the airport as an extra. Add about 2 hours 45 minutes to any tour’s length for immigration and the return.
Watch the calendar
- Mondays. The Templo Mayor, the Anthropology Museum, Chapultepec Castle and the Bellas Artes museum are all closed. The Zócalo, Calle Madero, the Torre Latinoamericana’s lookout and the streets of Roma and Condesa are open.
- Sundays. Entry to the Bellas Artes museum is free for everyone. The Templo Mayor and the Anthropology Museum are free only for Mexican citizens and residents, so visitors from abroad pay as usual. The Metrobús starts at 5am.
- Public holidays. Monday 16 November 2026, 25 December, 1 January, and Mondays 1 February and 15 March 2027: the Metrobús runs its Sunday hours, from 5am, and on the Mondays the museums are shut as usual.
- Events. The Zócalo hosts events and gatherings, which can close parts of it, and services can close parts of the Cathedral. If the square is fenced off, walk round it.
- Clocks. Mexico City doesn’t change its clocks, so your layover is as long as your tickets say.
Timed plans from 7 hours, including Chapultepec, a Monday plan, Roma and Condesa and a plan for night arrivals: itineraries.
Transit tour
Private layover tours from Mexico City
A guide shows you the old centre and brings you back in time. Add about 2 hours 45 minutes to the tour's length for immigration and the return, and check whether the ride from the airport is included.
See tours on GetYourGuide (opens in a new tab)See tours on Viator (opens in a new tab)
Head back
Be back at Mexico City airport 90 minutes before departure, with your onward boarding pass.
Not needed when you stay at the airport.
- Time. Leave Bellas Artes 2 hours 45 minutes before your flight: that covers the walk to the stop, a wait of up to 12 minutes, the ride and the walk into the terminal, and 90 minutes at the airport. With the 1 hour 15 minutes to get out, 7 hours is the shortest layover worth going out on, with about 2 hours in town; 8 hours gives about 3.
- Why 90 minutes is enough. Coming back on one ticket, you hold your boarding pass and have no bag to drop, so what’s left is security and the walk to your gate. The airport’s advice to arrive 3 hours before an international flight is for passengers checking in. If you still need to check in or drop a bag, allow longer.
- Traffic. The city’s traffic can slow the Metrobús, as it does every taxi. Our 1 hour 15 minutes back allows for a wait and some delay; on a weekday evening, leave a little earlier.
- Late at night. Be on a Metrobús back from Bellas Artes by 11:21pm, or 11:14pm on Saturdays. After that, take an authorised taxi or a ride-hailing app such as Uber or DiDi, about 45 minutes at night; don’t hail a taxi in the street.
Time in town at each layover length: how much time you’ll have.
Departures
Best for your layoverStaying at the airport instead: a lounge past security, or a hotel at Terminal 1 after immigration.
- Lounges. Terminal 1 has several pay lounges past security, most open 24 hours: The Grand Lounge Elite, with showers, costs US$47 for up to 3 hours, and Lounge 19 US$42; booking ahead adds US$5. Terminal 2 has its own lounges. Priority Pass members get into most of them.
- Hotels. The Hilton is inside Terminal 1, and the Courtyard by Marriott and the Camino Real are joined to it by bridges. All three are after immigration, which you pass anyway. The Camino Real showed rooms from US$160 a night (seen November 2026); none publishes a day rate, so ask the hotel for a daytime stay.
- Overnight. With no transit area, a night between flights means entering Mexico and paying for a room. If a delay or a missed connection leaves you stranded, ask your airline what it will cover.
Rooms, lounges and showers: at the airport.
Hotel
Hotels at Terminal 1
The Hilton is inside Terminal 1, and the Courtyard and the Camino Real are a bridge away. All three are after immigration, which every connecting passenger passes here.