Mexico City has two airports and they are 50 kilometres apart.
Benito Juárez (MEX)
The main one, five kilometres east of the centre — unusually close, which is why aircraft come in low over the city.
Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 are on opposite sides of the airfield and are not walkable. They are connected by the Aerotrén, which is free but only for passengers with a boarding pass, and by a shuttle bus. Allow 20 to 30 minutes between them.
Check which terminal your flight uses. Aeroméxico and Delta use T2; most others use T1.
Getting in
Authorised taxis — buy a ticket at a booth inside the terminal, at a fixed price by zone, then take it to the rank. Do not accept an offer from anyone approaching you in the hall.
Uber and DiDi both operate with designated pickup points and are usually cheaper. They work well.
Metrobús Line 4 runs from both terminals to the Centro Histórico and San Lázaro for a low flat fare. It takes luggage, unlike the metro, and it is the cheapest sensible option. You need a Movilidad Integrada card, bought at the station.
The Metro has a station at Terminal 1 (Terminal Aérea, Line 5), but large luggage is officially not permitted and in practice you will struggle. It is not the route with suitcases.
Al Aeropuerto Internacional Felipe Ángeles (AIFA)
Opened in 2022, about 50 kilometres north of the city on a former air force base. Some domestic and a growing number of international flights use it, and low-cost carriers have been moved there.
It is a long way out — an hour to ninety minutes by road, more in traffic. There is a shuttle bus, and a suburban rail link to Buenavista opened in 2024, which improved matters considerably.
Check the airport code on your ticket. MEX and NLU are both sold as Mexico City.
Times
Allow three hours for international departures from MEX. It is a congested airport and the queues are unpredictable.
Money and arrival
Mexico uses the peso. ATMs are in both terminals — use a bank machine rather than a standalone one, and decline any offer to charge you in your home currency.
Cards are widely accepted in the central districts. Carry cash for markets, street food, taxis and anything outside the tourist areas.
Airport exchange rates are poor. Withdraw rather than exchange.
SIM cards and eSIMs are cheap; Telcel has the best coverage.
Immigration
Most nationalities enter visa-free for tourism. Mexico stopped issuing paper FMM tourist cards at most airports in 2022 — the permitted stay is now stamped in the passport, and the number of days granted is at the officer’s discretion. It may be fewer than you expect.
Check the stamp before leaving the desk. Overstaying carries a fine on departure.
Which terminal, restated
Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 are not connected on foot. The Aerotrén between them requires a boarding pass; otherwise it is a shuttle bus or a taxi around the perimeter, and either takes 20 to 30 minutes.
If you are connecting between airlines in different terminals, allow well over two hours.
Leaving
Allow three hours for an international departure. The airport is congested and the security and immigration queues are unpredictable.
Traffic to the airport in the evening peak can double the journey; leave earlier than the map suggests.
The exit stamp and overstaying
Mexico stopped issuing paper FMM cards at most airports in 2022 and now stamps the permitted number of days directly in the passport. The officer decides the number and it is often fewer than the maximum.
Photograph the stamp. If you overstay, there is a fine payable at the airport before departure, and it is easier to avoid than to argue about.
The Metrobús route, in detail
Line 4 runs from both terminals to the Centro Histórico, San Lázaro and Buenavista, and it is the only public transport at the airport that takes luggage without difficulty.
Buy a Movilidad Integrada card at the station inside the terminal — the machines take cash and cards — and load a small amount. The fare to the centre is a flat rate and trivially cheap.
Journey time is 40 minutes to an hour depending on traffic, since it shares some road space.
Arriving late
Both terminals operate around the clock and the authorised taxi booths stay open. Uber and DiDi both work at any hour.
The Metrobús runs a reduced night service; with luggage after midnight, a car is the sensible answer.
A note on the approach
Benito Juárez is close enough to the city that aircraft descend over dense residential districts, and the airport is hemmed in on every side with no room to expand. That is the reason a second airport was built at Santa Lucía, and the reason the government has been trying to move traffic to it.
The abandoned Texcoco airport project — half-built on the old lake bed and cancelled by referendum in 2018 after billions had been spent — sits between the two. Its site is now being returned to wetland as an ecological park, which is a rare piece of good news for the lake.