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Are there any suburbs or smaller cities within an hour of the D.F. International airport that have significantly less air pollution, traffic, more inexpensive rentals? I think probably not but I thought I'd ask anyways.
If from the airport need to look north or east probably for the one hour. Lots of options really. depends on how clearly you want to be outside of CDMX sprawl.
Toluca or Cuernavaca could work but are west and south and a bit more than an hour from airport. CDMX so big a one hour requirement is tough.
good luck. Good choice Mexico to live if you can handle it. Great food, cheap living, weather decent.
One hour away? Have you spent time in CDMX? One hour during most weekday daylight hours gets you about a 25km drive away from the airport, if you are lucky. Yes an hour away gets you cheaper rentals, but I doubt someone posting here in English wants to live in most of those rentals as they are going to be a lot of working class areas.
If from the airport need to look north or east probably for the one hour. Lots of options really. depends on how clearly you want to be outside of CDMX sprawl.
Toluca or Cuernavaca could work but are west and south and a bit more than an hour from airport. CDMX so big a one hour requirement is tough.
good luck. Good choice Mexico to live if you can handle it. Great food, cheap living, weather decent.
Yeah my thinking is faulty. Since D.F. has so many frequent direct flights to USA cities, I thought I might be able to live near there and in case of medical emergency get to US quickly. But with the airport delays, I'm still looking at several hours, so unworkable. Unless I want to live in a border town, which most are not any good imo, I am looking at several hours driving to get to U.S. hospital. Most of the cities I checked either have no direct flights to USA or take several hours, or maybe one flight a day. My choices looks to be Mexicali. Nogales is lacking for me. The Eastern border towns are plagued with cartel violence, as is Juarez which has really gone done hill the last time I was there. I might take a closer look at Colombia and/or Central America. Thanks for all the replies.
Yeah my thinking is faulty. Since D.F. has so many frequent direct flights to USA cities, I thought I might be able to live near there and in case of medical emergency get to US quickly. But with the airport delays, I'm still looking at several hours, so unworkable. Unless I want to live in a border town, which most are not any good imo, I am looking at several hours driving to get to U.S. hospital. Most of the cities I checked either have no direct flights to USA or take several hours, or maybe one flight a day. My choices looks to be Mexicali. Nogales is lacking for me. The Eastern border towns are plagued with cartel violence, as is Juarez which has really gone done hill the last time I was there. I might take a closer look at Colombia and/or Central America. Thanks for all the replies.
I know you don't trust Mexican hospitals but for 98% of the ailments you can face they will do as good a job as a US hospital. I'm not sure where your distrust of how they would treat you or charge you comes from. For the rest of the ailments or for those a VA hospital can take care of because they aren't immediately urgent, you can get back within a short enough time.
One other thing is the new airport is coming soon with unclear airlift, but it is a bit out of the city to the north so it might be a better option as Hidalgo is less congested and I presume cheaper. Not sure if it will meet your requirements, but if you think going to Central or South America is better I just don't know what to tell you. Flights aren't anywhere near as diverse, short or plentiful, but you may live just a tad cheaper. Or maybe not, really depends on where you choose. Costa Rica and Panama aren't cheaper, Medelin and Cartagena are only slightly cheaper and not sure what other countries you'd consider.
Just being realistic here, not sure if you are fully thinking this through, especially if you think living in Mexicali is the best solution to your situation. Nothing against that city, but border crossings are never that fast and the area on the US side of the border is about the poorest area in the western US. Not sure how you'd expect top flight medical services there.
I know you don't trust Mexican hospitals but for 98% of the ailments you can face they will do as good a job as a US hospital. I'm not sure where your distrust of how they would treat you or charge you comes from. For the rest of the ailments or for those a VA hospital can take care of because they aren't immediately urgent, you can get back within a short enough time.
One other thing is the new airport is coming soon with unclear airlift, but it is a bit out of the city to the north so it might be a better option as Hidalgo is less congested and I presume cheaper. Not sure if it will meet your requirements, but if you think going to Central or South America is better I just don't know what to tell you. Flights aren't anywhere near as diverse, short or plentiful, but you may live just a tad cheaper. Or maybe not, really depends on where you choose. Costa Rica and Panama aren't cheaper, Medelin and Cartagena are only slightly cheaper and not sure what other countries you'd consider.
Just being realistic here, not sure if you are fully thinking this through, especially if you think living in Mexicali is the best solution to your situation. Nothing against that city, but border crossings are never that fast and the area on the US side of the border is about the poorest area in the western US. Not sure how you'd expect top flight medical services there.
I never said I don't trust Mexican hospitals. But you're right one thing I do not trust them, given the corrupt nature of Mexico in general, that they won't try to rip me off on charges when they have an American in their medical custody. I know that sounds racist but I have read some horror stories about that.
VA hospitals of course are only good if your a Veteran.
Re the new airport, thanks for mentioning that, I will search it. "coming soon" might mean next month or never so not sure about that. Do you know what it means exactly?
Actually fights are better say from Cali to several American cities, albeit longer in most cases. More to choose from. Outside of Guadalajara, MX D.F. most Mexican cities do not have direct flights to USA, have to go through DF usually. Cali has multiple flight to more than one USA city as one example. I think Merida has one flight a day is it to Houston can't recall.
According to numbeo which is usually pretty accurate, Cali is significantly cheaper than most MX cities. I don't know could be inaccurate I guess since I have not lived in Cali. The main advantage to MX is that IF they have NOT CHANGED the rules, you can live 6 mos there and cross the border and then another 6 mos. Do you know if that has changed?
You're right the border problem is a big problem, so flying might be better. And it's hot as hell in Mexicali in the summer. Costa Rica, too expensive, ditto Panama to a lesser extent.
Thanks much for your replies.
Last edited by BigOlBear7; 10-15-2021 at 12:22 AM..
Reason: spelling and proper formating
If from the airport need to look north or east probably for the one hour. Lots of options really. depends on how clearly you want to be outside of CDMX sprawl.
Toluca or Cuernavaca could work but are west and south and a bit more than an hour from airport. CDMX so big a one hour requirement is tough.
good luck. Good choice Mexico to live if you can handle it. Great food, cheap living, weather decent.
preliminary research shows it's expensive to live there.
One hour from the airport it is difficult to find something with clean air and all the required amenities such as basic services and high speed internet. If you have a car it is possible but by public transport or uber it would be a nightmare.
Check on google maps:
San Juan del Rio, Queretaro is 2 hours in car and 3 in public transport.
Pachuca is a state capital and is more direct in car, just 1.3 hours.
Tlaxcala and Puebla are just 2 hours either.
My guess is that your best option is Toluca or some adyacent town as Malinalco, La Marquesa or Ixtapan de la Sal.
Yeah I said, I really did not think it through. In further searching there are other cities having direct flights to USA. I might choose one of those. Guadal is one example. Still I will have to live in a border town to get my trip down to under 3-4 hours. Thx your reply.
One hour from the airport it is difficult to find something with clean air and all the required amenities such as basic services and high speed internet. If you have a car it is possible but by public transport or uber it would be a nightmare.
Check on google maps:
San Juan del Rio, Queretaro is 2 hours in car and 3 in public transport.
Pachuca is a state capital and is more direct in car, just 1.3 hours.
Tlaxcala and Puebla are just 2 hours either.
My guess is that your best option is Toluca or some adyacent town as Malinalco, La Marquesa or Ixtapan de la Sal.
I lived in Querétaro for six years and live in Tlaxcala now. I can certainly recommend both cities!
Querétaro is four hours from Mexico City, but there are plenty of direct routes out of the airport - one needn’t go to the Mexico City airport to travel outwards. Cost of living is medium-high for Mexico (but much less than Mexico City!). Big city amenities. A lot of historic atmosphere. Huge expat community, especially when one considers San Miguel de Allende less than an hour away. A hub of international business, altogether very cosmopolitan.
I moved to Tlaxcala when I retired because it is MUCH cheaper than Querétaro, or almost anywhere. I rent a beautiful two-story, three-bedroom, 1200 sf modern house with a landscaped yard for only $225 / month. Semi-rural neighborhood (chickens! sheep!), but only 2 km from Centro and on a bus route.
Tlaxcala is Mexico’s smallest state capital, only about 100,000 population. Charming historic downtown. Puebla is less than an hour away, but really everything you might need is probably in Tlaxcala itself. Few expats here, so more of a “pioneer” feeling in that respect. I have to amuse myself, but fortunately I have a dog, five cats, and a lot of books!
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thanks to all for good replies....
