1

On a Sunday night in the D.F., things tend to be quiet. Both near the airport (where I don't know of something/someplace you could be interested in seeing/doing) and in the Centro Historico district. But if you wanted to get out of the airport, stretch your legs and walk/gawk a bit and have something to eat to consume several hours ... you could take one of the convenient forms of public transportation to an area of the city. Traveling by Metro, particularly since you won't be carting-around luggage, would be my recommendation. Take a taxi back to the airport.

LW

2

Good suggestions. Alternatively, stay at the airport—look at the shops, then enjoy a relaxing supper and drink at one of the hotel restaurants. I remember taking in a fun show of lively music at one of the hotel bars, but that was a couple decades ago—I don’t know if they still do that.

3

use Metrobus line 4 to quickly get into the Centro. You can judge by the time it takes to get downtown how long it might take to get back. I personally would go somewhere in the city with that much time.

4

Agree with #3, you can have a solid 4 hours of wandering that way. Though Sunday is generally quieter, the zócalo will still be buzzing till at least 10 p.m. or so. I'd take taxis both ways to take advantage of the time.

5

I woud take the Metro from the airport, like only a block away. I also would use it to return to the airport. Sorry, do not remember if a change of Metro lines is required at no cost for like 30 cents (3 pesos). The other advantage would be not to worry about if a taxi got stuck in traffic in case of an accident and besides being so much cheaper. I would also suggest you keep track of the the time it takes you to get to get there, so you will have an idea how long it will take to get back to the airport on the Metro. By the way, the Metro stops running at midnight. Other posters may be able to tell you what Metro stops would be a good stop to exit to see in your short time there. Buen viaje ( Have a nice trip), Edmund

6

if a taxi got stuck in traffic

On Sunday eve? Nah.

Not to say there's anything wrong with the metro, but getting stuck in a taxi won't be an issue on that day and is actually faster than going into the metro.

7

Thanks so much for these great suggestions. Really appreciate the guidance.

8

Another endorsement for #3, take the Metrobus between the airport and downtown. It is direct, whereas the metro (subway) requires two changes of line between airport and downtown (Zócalo).

9

The subway is reliable, cheap and safe, but you have to change subway lines two times to get to the Zocalo. The Zocalo subway station is the blue line, the airport the yellow line. You'd go from "Terminal aerea" airport station to Pantitlán (which is REALLY HUGE, the only subway station in the continent that has 4 subway lines connected together), Pantitlán isn't hard to cross, but it takes you 10 minutes to change lines from yellow to brown.

From the brown station you change stations at Chabacano, another 7 minutes of wasted precious time changing lines if you are lucky enough to know the station very well. You probably don't and have a high risk of getting lost, it's a confusing station with strange stairways in the sideways going to one direction escalators. The brown to blue line change involves climbing a ton of stairs, the blue line in Chabacano is above the ground level. You might be lucky and find a functional escalator, but it will be infested with people and it's just faster to climb the 100 stairs yourself (you might discover altitude sickness though).

From Chabacano to Zocalo it's not a lot of stations, but even if you know the subway very well like I do you will lose 45 minutes changing lines and praying the subway doesn't make a billion stops the whole way. With just 4 hours and in a rush I wouldn't risk it.

The metrobus now recently operates from the airport and according to them only takes 30 minutes to get to the Zocalo. Traffic on Sunday light is pretty light and I'd probably believe them when they say it only takes that long. I'd rather takes my risks with the metrobus than the subway, too much walking.