Today we drove from Matehuala to Puebla. About 440 miles. Total travel time was about 8.5 hours, including a few stops for gas.
Driving today was a bit stressful. A lot of the highways were shit-tastic. Crazy bumpy, lots of potholes. Plus, we were up and down through the mountains. Very pretty, but not easy driving. Definitely pushed the Jeep today, but she did great.
Driving through Querétaro was a pain in the ass. Lots of traffic.
Then, when we made it to Puebla, we missed the turnoff to exit into Puebla Centro, and took the toll road that basically bypasses the downtown central area. When we finally were able to exit and backtrack, exited, we had to navigate through downtown Puebla at 5:00 PM rush hour traffic. The buses and traffic was crazy! I thought we were going to get crushed between multiple buses. But, we took it slow and easy, and made our way to the hotel. Thank god for Waze!
InterContinental Presidente Puebla Hotel
Tonight we’re staying at the InterContinental Presidente Hotel in Puebla. It’s a beautiful hotel. It’s right off the highway (as long as you don’t miss the turn off to Puebla Centro!). I wish we had more than one night to enjoy this hotel, and to explore Puebla.
I think they were caught off guard when I pulled up with the Jeep and the trailer. The valet didn’t look happy. But, there’s a large parking area in front of the hotel, inside their gates, so they had me park it there, which worked out perfect.
When the bellman rolled up to the trailer with his luggage cart, I opened the trailer, and said – Todo ello! (all of it!), He looked at me with crazy eyes, and then fell back into his fancy hotel persona, and said, “Of course!”. Just kidding – just two small suitcases and two backpacks. Easy peasy. The relief on his face was obvious.
They do accept dogs, albeit with a $100 US cleaning fee. They have a few rooms on the first floor that are pet-friendly. Double-beds, not kings. But, they do have a door that leads to an outside walled-in courtyard area, which is super convenient. There are 4 rooms that share this courtyard. And, directly opposite the main room door in the central area with the outdoor pool, and that has a big grass area as well.
Hotel room with courtyard access
Immediately after we checked in, the hotel staff brought us dog beds, food and water bowls, dog food, and even bottled water for the dogs. Awesome!
Dogs are allowed everywhere except the restaurants. So tonight we took the dogs to the Lobby Bar, where there are a bunch of comfortable couches, and we had some wine, and then dinner.
Bessie enjoying the hotel dog bed
Tomorrow we head out to Villahermosa.
omg we will be doing this except from Ontario Canada. We are bringing our dog Koady with us so I will be following you mostly because of our dog not enough about traveling with dogs so thank you thankyou safe travels.
Hi Steffany!
I’m trying to make note of any dog-specific things I can think of during our journey. If you have any specific questions, just let me know!
Hi Gary, great post! Can I ask where you stayed the night before, in Matehuala…
Thanks!
We are taking our two small dogs on our journey as well, so knowing the pet friendly stops is key!
Good luck tomorrow, Im sure you know about the fog in the AM, yes?
We stayed at Las Palmas Midway Inn.
Details here: https://texmexexpats.com/laredo-to-matehuala-day-2-of-our-road-trip/
thank you following for the hotel & motels but have a concern about available dog food there but for that you can let us know when settled. We don’t want a smelly dog on our long trip LOL, would like to switch him before we leave. He is on Orjen now. Thank you for taking the time to answer, totally following love it have fun and be safe can’t wait for next update.
Steffany – not sure yet about dog food. We brought a bunch of their existing food, probably about 50 pounds. With all of the other changes we were subjecting them to, we didn’t want to change their food at the same time.
Soon we’ll be shopping for new dog food here in Mexico. I’ll do another post when we cross that bridge.
Fantastic. Especially loving the dog friendly post. Was the pet fee a deposit or the cost for their stay?
It was a non-refundable fee. It was a bit pricey, but it was a super nice hotel, and all of us (including the dogs) felt pampered!
Hi Gary, ugh–someone told me the only mountains were leaving Puebla coming out of the mountains headed for Villahermosa! I don’t do well with mountain driving (I’m afraid of heights). So when you say it is bad, do you mean a lot of up and down hills or are there narrow roads and steep drop-offs? Thanks! Loving your travel logs as we will be making this trip beginning June 9! Thanks!
There are some areas with lots of up and down hills, and steep drop-offs. But when I’m referring to bad roads, it was more the actual road surfaces – really rough, lots of potholes, etc.
Gary,
I found the Day 3 post! Please disregard my comment on the Day 4 post.
Regards,
Troy
Were you guys driving on the cuotas or free roads? It sounds like you guys were hitting lots of rough spots, but the info I’ve read on recent facebook posts about people taking the same route make it sound like smooth sailing and well maintained cuotas.
FYI, were planning on driving my 2001 TJ 4.0 down in June, really good info you’ve posted here.
Hi Ted – we stayed on the cuotas as much as we could. But there were a few of them that were crappy. It’s possible they’ve done some improvements over the past 3 years.