Highway from Cuacnopalan, Puebla to Oaxaca City, Oaxaca

Approx. Distance: 265 kms
Approx. Driving Time: 2.5 hours
Toll Costs (2005): $160 pesos

A few years ago, a trip to Oaxaca from Mexico City, Puebla or anywhere in the interior of the country meant a grueling, many-hour-long odyssey over narrow, winding roads that passed through the parched high central hills and plateau of Mexico.

The new Highway 190, which stems off from the Puebla-Veracruz Route 150D at Cuacnopalan, a point about 80 kms. south-east of Puebla and 50 kms. north of the Tehuacan turnoff, has put an end to the rigors of that trip, and one can now sail down a lovely strip of pavement that, from the above-mentioned turnoff all the way to the City of Oaxaca, takes only about 2 1/2 hours to transverse.

The route carries the motorist straight over the mountain crests with incredible high views of the sierra on either side, with the lines of hilltops fading off into the far distance. The road itself is only 2-lane, but with very ample shoulders that allow for easy passing of slow vehicles, and gentle curves instead of the switchbacks and tight bends we had to contend with on the old route. When we travelled the route in 2001, traffic was minimal.

Coming out of the mountains into the lower central valley on the approach to Oaxaca City itself, the vistas and countryside are of a different kind but equally impressive.

Toll booths along this route are located at: Cuaconopalan, Entronque Tehuacan, San Jose Miahuatlan, Entronque Nochixtlan and Santiago Etla.