This is my guide on how to get to the Mexican Grand Prix. The easiest way to get to the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez circuit is by using public transport, and in this guide I’ll talk you through the best and easiest options.
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Mexican Grand Prix circuit location & nearest airport
The Autodromo Hermanos Roriguez circuit is located in Mexico City, the capital of Mexico. The city is also known as CDMX which stands for Ciudad de México, the Spanish name for Mexico City.
The nearest airport to the Mexican GP circuit is the Aeropuerto Internacional de la Ciudad de Mexico (MEX) also known as the Mexico City International Airport. As you can see on the map below, it’s very close to the circuit – less than 5km away.
Getting to / from the airport
If you arrive at the airport with lots of luggage, the Metro can be a bit of a pain. It’s not that easy to get to from the airport, plus all the stations have lots of stairs.
So a better option for getting to and from the airport is to use a taxi – see my section on that lower down for more info.
Things to do in Mexico City
Mexico City is an amazing place. But it’s HUGE, and it has around 25 million people in it. So there’s far too much to see and do in just one trip.
But if you’re flying in for a few days and have some time to kill, there’s a few things that I did when I visited the city that I’d highly recommend.
First and foremost, enjoy the streetfood. There will be Mexican tacos like you’ve never had before. Make sure you go for plenty of lime and coriander.
Then enjoy the architechture. There’s new buildings, old buildings, churches, and monuments galore.
Next, I would definitely recommend going to see a Mexican wrestling match. Tickets are cheap, the atmosphere will be great, and you can get fully immersed by buying yourself your very own Lucho Libre mask like I did:
If you want to see something very impressive a little outside of the city you can take a half day trip to Teotihuacan, an ancient Mesoamerican city. It has two huge pyramids that you can climb. It’s about a 45 minute bus ride out of town, but well worth it if you’re in to your history.
Getting to the circuit using public transport
When you’re done seeing the sites, it’s time to head to the track. Being smack-bang in the middle of the city, public transport is the easiest way to get to the circuit. And it’s very easy indeed using either the Metro (train) or the Metrobus system
Metro (train)
Mexico City has a great Metro system, and using this is the easiest way to get to the track.
Here’s a full map of the CDMX Metro.
There are three stations close to the circuit that you might consider aiming for, depending on where you’re sitting. These are all on Line 9 of the Metro system:
- Ciudad Deportiva
- Puebla
- Velodromo
You can see these on the North side of the circuit in the image below:
All of these stations are within walking distance of the entrance gates, and it’s no more than a couple of minutes walk from each.
But which one to aim for depends on which grandstand ticket you have, and therefore which zone you’re in for the race weekend. Here’s my full guide to Zones at the Mexican GP for reference.
Ciudad Deportiva metro station is best for:
- Zona Verde (Green Zone) 1 minute walk – Grandstand 1, Grandstand 2
Puebla metro station is best for:
- Zona Azul (Blue Zone) 1 minute walk – Grandstand 3A, Grandstand 4, Grandstand 5, Grandstand 5A, Grandstand 6, Grandstand 6A, Grandstand 6B
- Zona Naranja (Orange Zone) 3 minute walk – Grandstand 2A
- Zona Amarilla (Yellow Zone) 15 minute walk – Grandstand 7, Grandstand 10, Grandstand 11, Grandstand 12
- Zona Rose (Pink Zone) 20 minute walk – Grandstand 8, Grandstand 9
Velodromo metro station is best for:
- Zone Gris (Grey Zone) 10 minute walk – Grandstand 14
- Zona Cafe (Brown Zone) 10 minute walk – Grandstand 15
Ciudad Deportiva and Puebla are the most popular stations for getting to / from the circuit. At the end of the day when everyone leaves these will become the busiest. Hang around at the circuit for a while after the race to avoid the masses of people, or aim for the Velodromo station instead which should be a little quieter.
To ride the Metro, each journey costs 5 Pesos ($5 MXD) which is currently around $0.3 USD or £0.20 GBP. It’s a fixed price per journey, no matter how far you go. It’s VERY cheap – much cheaper than getting a taxi.
All the Metro station turnstiles have contactless card readers, so this is the simplest way to get around.
Alternatively you can buy a transit card called “Tarjeta de movilidad integrada” which is a card you top-up. This works on the metro and the buses. You can purchase them at any metro station, and top them up at all stations as well.
It’s $15MXD for the card, then you can load up as much as you want on it.
Metrobús
The Metro really is the easiest and cheapest way to get to the circuit. The Metrobús is a good option, however, if you’re sitting in Zona Amarilla – the Yellow Zone.
At the image below shows, there’s a bus stop called Upiisca on Line 2 not far from gate 14 which gets you in to the Zona Amarilla. It’s a 5 minute walk from that bus stop to that gate.
Metrobús doesn’t accept contactless, but the same transit card works. Each journey on the Metrobús is $6MXD
Taxis - Uber / Didi
I would definitely recommend using a Taxi app rather than trying to hail a cab off the street.
The two most popular ride-sharing apps in Mexico City are Uber and Didi. Both are app-based and you can hail and pay for taxis on each all through their apps. No need for cash.
Didi is often cheaper but some people prefer the user experience of Uber.
A couple of things to remember:
- Any kind of taxi is going to be more expensive than the Metro
- Traffic in CDMX gets bad, especially around the circuit on the race weekend. You might find you end up sitting in traffic for a lot of the journey. You can get them to drop you off nearby and walk the final stage, or get them to drop off you near a metro station and then take the metro for the final part.
Ticket2Ride Shuttle
There are dedicated shuttle bus that collect F1 fans from various destinations around the city and take them to the track. These could be a good option if you don’t want the hassle of public transport.
Tickets cost $945MXD per person for a single-day return.
The departure / drop off locations are as follows:
- Mundo E shopping centre – Google Maps link
- Interlomas Paseo de la Herradura – Google Maps link
- Galerías Coapa – Google Maps link
- Sante Fe – Google Maps link
- Perisur – Google Maps Link
- Condesa – Google Maps Link
- Plaza Lindavista – Google Maps Link
- Venados – Google Maps Link
Departures are between 8am and 8:30am, and they will drop you off near Entrance Gates 12 and 13, for the Blue / Yellow Zones.
At the end of the day the buses will depart up to 30 minutes after the event ends. They will collect from here.
You can buy Ticket2Ride shuttle tickets for this year’s event through Ticketmaster here.
