Travel Guide: Puebla, Mexico
The City of Puebla, or the City of Angels, is Mexico's fourth largest city yet remains somewhat off the typical tourist map. However, with a recent flurry of coverage in major travel publications and new hotel properties its unlikely to remain as undiscovered and authentic as it is today for long. Puebla is known for its various architectural styles, brightly colored facades, numerous churches, Talavera pottery, Mole Poblano, the battle of Cinco de Mayo, and several large auto manufacturing plants (Volkswagen and Audi). It was also the birthplace of the Mexican Revolution in 1910.
{Get There}
Located about a 2.5 hour drive southeast from Mexico City, Puebla is easily accessible via bus from any of the downtown bus terminals or
directly from the airport. The bus service is frequent, inexpensive and dare I say rather luxurious (for bus travel that is). We took the Estrella Roja line.
We decided to splurge on the recently opened Rosewood property in Puebla. The entire property was truly stunning from the Talavera tile details to the large picture windows and splashes of the signature bright Puebla colors. The rooftop pool is also not to be missed. We don't normally add breakfast to our hotel stays but it was definitely worth it here for the lovely morning spread.
{Do & See}
Markets
There are several shopping areas in Puebla, however, there are four very manageable markets located close together in the main part of the city. With everything from second hand toys to movie posters to gorgeous antique wooden doors.
Frog Alley/Antiques Toads
El Parian
Los Sapos
Barrio Artists
Biblioteca Palafoxiana was the first public library in Latin America. Today it houses over 42,000 books!
Profetica Book Store is home to a collection of old and new volumes and a courtyard cafe.
The Zocalo is the main square downtown and is always busting with activity from morning to night. Take a seat at one of the ornate benches and soak in the hustle, from the shoe shine stands to the ballon sellers to the delighted kids.
Uriarte Talavera tile workshop and showroom. Note: they also have showrooms in Mexico City which I found to have more merchandise but the workshop is interesting to see. '
If you have time, you can take a train or an Uber to the nearby town (some call it a suburb) of Choula to see the Pyramid Zona Arqueológica and the Gran Pirámide de Cholula.
Churches of Puebla
According to legend, during colonial times, Hernán Cortés vowed to build 365 churches in Puebla—one for each day of the year. They most likely weren't all built and certainly there aren't that many surviving today, but both Puebla and the nearby town of Cholula are full of churches. One to note in particular is the Capilla Rosario inside Santo Domingo church which is entirely decorated in gold and truly breathtaking.
{Eat & Drink}
Casa Azul (and all the restaurants) at the Rosewood were delicious and much appreciated as we were there over Christmas and many smaller establishments were closed.
Hotel Cartesiano is brand new and in a great location. The rooftop is definitely worth checking out for a drink.
Casa Barocco is on the fancier end of the spectrum but is still very affordable and the food and service were really nice.
Restauro is right on the Antiques Toads market and has a great outdoor patio. The food we had wasn't too memorable but that was probably more of a situation of us miss-ordering as the tacos the table next to us had looked delicious and based on their ever expanding group and never ending taco orders a definite hit!
San Perdito Licorecia for a mezcal tasting. We had the place to ourselves and had a great time chatting with the bar tender and trying the various samples he poured for us.
Augurio is the restaurant next door and though we didn't eat there it looks like a great spot.