Bus Travel Nogales to Yucatan, Bus Through Mexico, Tufesa Bus,
Primera Plus, Chihuahuenses, Omnibus, ADO
  • seating
For a long bus trip south from the US, the left side of the bus is the best to avoid the
bright afternoon sun which will be on the right side of the bus. On the left, the sun will
be no problem and you can plan on sleeping for eight hours, which will be about 400
miles.

The bus passes through Los Mochis, the town where the Copper Canyon Train starts
its 6:00 AM run north through Tarahumara country. Another eight hours from there and
you cross the Tropic of Cancer near Mazatlan.

In Mazatlan you can change buses to the Primera Plus bus line if you want an elevated
level of service to Guadalajara and Mexico City.
Tufesa runs only as far south as Guadalajara.

Primera Plus offers a sandwich, snack and water on boarding. Their buses have two
lavatories, men’s and women’s, leg rests, and plentiful departures to Guadalajara and
Mexico City starting at 7 am.

Taxi from Tufesa Terminal to Primera plus 50 pesos. They are on the same street.

  • Tips on Purchasing Bus Tickets in Mexico:
If you are purchasing bus tickets in a Mexican bus terminal and are not fluent in the
Spanish language, write your destination, time of departure, and the listed price on a
piece of paper or in a note book page along with your name spelled out legibly. The
ticket sales person will assign the seat to your name.
  • Bus Fares
Bus lines post their destinations, departure times, and prices on boards behind the
counter in most stations or out in front at a few others. The clerk, seeing that you are a
tourist, might assume that you want an elevated level of service. (called Lujo, Grande
Lujo Executivo etc.) The elevated level of service cost considerably more but is not
much different than “Normal” first class service except for the free bottle of water and
perhaps a bag of chips.

If you write down your destination, which you probably couldn't’t pronounce correctly
anyway - try saying Coatzacoalcos three time rapidly - write the price and the
departure time, you prevent communication errors.

Tip:
Always choose your own seat. If you let the ticket clerk assign a seat, they will give you
the seat at the back of the bus and you will be too close to the lavatory, the engine
noise, the tire noise, and the slamming lavatory door.

Don’t stress too much over seats, however, the buses rarely fill and once the bus is
rolling you can move to a more comfortable location.
Bus Travel from Nogales to Yucatan could include a
Tufesa Bus from Nogales to Mazatlan, or other first class bus
lines available in Nogales.

The tufesa station is adjacent to another first class bus terminal.
Once in Mazatlan, Primera Plus Bus offers service through
Guadalajara to Mexico City.  From Mexico City, ADO Buses
serve through Veracruz or Oaxaca to the Yucatan.
Oaxaca would offer the Pacific Coast Bus route.
On this Coastal Route described, you will pass through Guadalajara and reach Mexico
City's Terminal Norte in about 36 hours from the time you leave Nogales.  
At Terminal Norte you will have several options to continue south.
You could go from Mexico City to Oaxaca (7-8 hours) via ADO and continue on ADO
from there to Palenque and then on to Merida on the Yucatan.  
Alternately you could go via ADO from Mexico City to the Gulf Coast and follow the coast
through Veracruz and on to Merida.  Merida is a good transportation hub to all of the
Yucatan
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Bus Travel from Nogales to Yucatan could include a Tufesa
Bus from Nogales to Mazatlan and Primera Plus Bus, from Mazatlan
to Mexico City Terminal Norte.  From Bus Terminal Norte, ADO Bus
offers bus routes from Mexico to the Yucatan.
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One other good option is the Bus from Nogales to the City of Chihuahua and then
Chihuahuenses, Futura, or Omnibus to Zacatecas, Aguascalientes, or San Luis
Potosi to Mexico City's Terminal Norte.  From Norte you take an ADO bus to  
continue the trip south to the Yucatan.
Bus Travel Through Mexico:
Border Crossing, Nogales, The Tufesa Bus: Coastal Route
You can book a cross border bus from Tucson south to Mazatlan or Guadalajara,
Mexico on the Tufesa Bus  

Tucson's Tufesa Station is at 5550 South 12th Avenue, Phone 520-294-3780
website, http://www.tufes.com/.

A small station serves passengers from Tucson through to Mexico.
The ticket sellers speak English and Spanish.  You will not need a reservation
although Tufesa has a good website that would allow you to make a reservation and
get a seat assignment.  (Most Mexican Bus lines do not have functioning websites)

  • Reservations
You rarely need a reservation when traveling through Mexico by bus; you can usually
have the flexibility of just showing up.  

(The exception would be Easter and Christmas.  Although the buses will not likely be filled,
the choice seats will go early)

The downside to just showing up is that you might not get  the seat that you want.
Any seat between seat 4 to seat 20 should be a good ride  Anything in the high teens
or the low 20s for a night trip should smooth out every bump and every rattle. Any seat
in the high teens and low twenties makes a great snooze.