Hi! Ive been traveling around in Mexico and took a lot of inter-city buses. Before my travels, I didn't really now what to expect. There are some nice sources (like this blog, or seperate reddit posts). But they never cover every bus company or answered all my questions. So I thought I could share my own experience :)

There are a lot of companies. They have different prices and luxury levels. But in general, most of them were WAY better than the inter-city buses I was used to in Europe (Flixbus/Blablacar)

ADO

Description: go-to company for traveling south from Mexico City.

Buses: they have multiple types of buses:

• AU: really cheap and basic. Never took this one so not sure.
• ADO:
  • Rreclining seats, comfortable chairs, good leg space
  • Usb-charging
  • Tv-screens that play Spanish movies on high volume (not during the night though).
  • Wifi on-board (but not that good).
  • One toilet.
• OCC: exactly the same as ADO, but often cheaper. We didn't notice any differences in quality though.
• ADO GL: same as ADO, but some additional stuff:
  • Seperate tv-screens for every seat
  • Every seat has a leg-rest.
  • You get earbuds and a water bottle.
  • Two toilets.
• ADO Premium: never took this one. But I heard they are comparable to ETN (see further)

General tips:

• We took a lot of night buses with ADO. Never had problems. In Chiapas, we were stopped sometimes for passport control. But we never needed to leave the bus, and police was always very friendly.
• BOOK EARLY AND ONLINE! They give 50% reduction of you are the first one to book a seat on a bus.
• I think it's possible to change your ticket to another bus on the same line (someone told me this, I never tried myself. But you apparently should ask someone at the help desk in a ADO station).

PRIMERA PLUS

Description: go-to company for traveling around the center of Mexico (we took it to travel between Mexico city, Guadalajara, Queretaro, Puerto Vallarta)

Buses: Comparable to ADO GL (good seats with leg-rest, seperate screens, 2 toilets). They don't provide you a water bottle at the start though.

General tips:

• They don't give big reductions for early-bookings like ADO. But I think booking online did give us a slight discount.
• if you plan on making multiple trips: create a Doters Account. You can save points to get reductions when buying tickets the next time. They are pretty generous with this (you don't need a lot of points before you get a reduction).

ETN/TURISTAR

Description: Premium company that connects bigger cities in Mexico (mostly in the center I think).

Buses: only 3 seats per row. Really wide chairs with leg-rest. Super comfortable. Seperate tv-screens. Usb-charging. 2 toilets. They gave me a water bottle at some occasions.

General tips:

• They don't give big reductions for early-bookings like ADO. But I think booking online did give us a slight discount.
• if you plan on making multiple trips: create a Doters Account. They work with the same point-system as Primera Plus. So points from Primera Plus bookings can be used to get ETN-reductions.
• Personally, we didn't take this bus much because it was more expensive than Primera Plus, and we didn't need the extra luxury. But we noticed that the prices were sometimes almost the same (e.g., between Guadalajara and Mexico City). So be sure to check it out!

ESTRELLA BLANCA

Description: big company that operates a lot of brands. Most brands are local (more basic) buses that connect towns that are less connected by the other major brands.

Buses: difficult to give an overview, because we noticed a lot of variety. Their bigger brands (Futura, Elite) were comparable to ADO or, at best, ADO GL in terms of luxury.

General tips:

• Try to avoid this company. Every time we took a bus from them, we had problems:
  • Always big delays (two times, a delay of 5+ hours).
  • They seem to take detours or avoid highways (altough I am not sure whether this is a real policy).
  • They were by far the worst in their communication (staff didn't know what was going on most of the time, and unlike with ADO, their app didn't give real-time info).
• If you do take one of their buses, always ask for the bus number at the help desk. Then you can wait on the platform and recognize your bus yourself when it arrives. We found this to be essential because Estrella Blanca has a lot of buses and a lot of delays, so it was necessary to be proactive instead of just waiting in the lounge and hoping they make a general call when your bus arrives.
• They have seperate websites for each daughter company. But it doesn't matter which website you use. Each website gives an overview of all of their companies that travel between the destinations you listed. They also give information about the quality of the bus.

OMNIBUS

Never had the chance to travel with this company, but this seems to be the other big company that connects a lot of cities. So you can also try to search for tickets on their website. Let me know in the comments if you have insights about their quality!

Final Thoughts

Ofcourse, this overview is based on personal experiences. Feel free to add your own experiences, or point out where you don't agree, in the comments

In general, I really liked to discover Mexico via bus travel. In many ways, it was way more professional and comfortable than bus travel in Europe. I would recommend it to everyone :)