There is a pretty good Italian restaurant on the zolcalo under the portales. Vittorio's. Open late at night. I go there on every trip to Puebla as it is conveniently located (I stay close to the zocalo) and not Mexican food (I get tired of Mexican after a few meals).

For tacos al pastor, go to Las Ranas.

Meson Sacristade la Compania is famous and very good. Also La Casona de la China Pobalana - I highly recommend that one.

Kampai has excllent Japanses food and sushi. Very very very good. Extensive menu. I an eat there several imes in one trip and be happy.

La Route de Vins is a very nice french place w/fondues and crepes and assorted other good plates to go with their wine selections.

Don't worry about transportation in Puebla. There are lots of cabs, and they are very reasonable. Last trip I met a cab driver who subsequently became "my driver." He was reliable and picked me up on day to take me to another town for a day trip, came to pick me up to go back to the bus station when I was heading back to Mexico City, etc.

Cholua is nice. The 2nd largest pyrmaid in the world is located there, but it is unexcavated, so it looks liek a big hill. there is a stunningly beautiful church on top of it, and from there you can see the volcano. But your wife is pregnant, and the climb to the top of the pyramid to the church up there has a lot of steps, you'd have to see how she does. There are tunnels under the pyramid that you can go through. Cholula is nice on market day, as the people from the neighboring places come in and set up their selling on the streets around the market. Lots of exotic beans, flowers, crops, etc., an people in indigenous dress.

Cholula is like a suburb of Puebla, you never really leave the city to get there, and it only takes a half hr from Puebla's zolcalo to get there. There are second class buses that leave from a sort of station a few blocks out from the zocalo, but you can probably get a cab at a good price, and it would be more comfortable for your wife.

There is a cool Italian settlement caled Chipilo just outside of Puebla, on the road that goes to Atlixco. The people there still speak an Italian Venetian dialect, and there are good Italian restaurants. Google it and you'll see.

I like Tlaxcala very much but it is a longer ride, about 1.5 hrs.

Hi, great you are coming to Puebla.

1.As you will be staying in la Purificadora, you will have a lot of options for a great meal, you could try casa reyna (www.casareyna.com), is an hotel very close from yours, you can eat there without being a guest (try the homemade pancakes and jams, or the enchiladas de requesón). If you want something more typical you could try over "el Parian" area (really close from your hotel) you will find there a lot of small places with typical food,or even an authentic pozoleria called "matamoros", if you are not sure where to eat you can have a round over the parian, buy some handcrafts in this market and walk to some of this restaurants on the area:

Casa de los muñecos: in the same building of the state university museum 2 norte No. 2 col. centro histórico Museo de Arte BUAP,Tel. (222) 2 42 48 25)

El mural de los poblanos 16 de Septiembre 506 col. centro histórico http://www.elmuraldelospoblanos.com 1

La casona de la china poblana 4 Norte 2 Centro Histórico, 72000 Puebla 01 222 242 5621

For a drink I will recommend:

El sueño hotel+spa 9 Oriente No 12, Puebla 72500, Mexico
http://www.elsueno-hotel.com/ also an spa session .

or Puebla de Antaño you can see the cathedral from their great terrace
3 Oriente 206 Puebla
01 222 246 2403

or Mi viejo Pueblito also with a great view of the Cathedral.

2. Taxis are good, I could recommend you one later if you want, or just call a taxi central from your hotel. If you like to walk you don´t need to take a cab over the downtown.
For special torus, you can take the touristic bus in front of Puebla's cathedral, It will take you to Cholula or over Puebla, depending on which tour do you want to take, I will recommend you to take at least one of this.

3. You can try Cholula or Cantona, both with archaeological ruins, but Cholula is in the middle of a town with a lot of things to see, eat and do. Cantona is just for the ruins.

4. Don´t miss mole poblano, tacos arabes (typical from Puebla), , molotes, cemitas, if you can give a try to chiles en Nogada. But if you want international food, you can also eat it in all the places I just mentioned.

The Italian restaurant that somebody talked about is good to.

Enjoy your time here.

Lili

thanks very much for the information and suggestions so far. we are excited. one question about taxis: i heard you can buy "tickets" for prepaid taxi rides. is this true? and will most restaurants call you a taxi? this was super convenient in costa rica

I have never heard of paying ahead for taxi rides in Mexico, anywhere in the country. And I have traveled in Mexico for 35 years. I think restaurants will call a taxi, but IMO, in Puebla you won't need it. Taxis are going to be around if you are in the area od the historic center and zocalo. And your wife is pregnant, you are not going to be out that late, right? (That is why you are staying in only Puebla for a week, right?) So don't worry so much about it. Just my two cents, after travelng in Mexico through two pregnancies, and 8 to 10 trips to Puebla.

I thought I'd offer this up, as it is something I have thought about doing in Puebla. This lady runs food tours and market tours in Mexico City, Puebla, and Oaxaca. I saw her recently on a show about Mexico on the Veria cable channel. Her blog is very enjoyable for those who enjoy all the variety there is in food in Mexico. I was impressed to see on her blog that she recently went to Puebla from Mexico City to get ingredients for a special meal she was making.

Here is her Puebla tour info, and there is access to her other tours here also:
http://www.eatmexico.com/tours/puebla/

here is her blog:
http://www.themijachronicles.com/

You can also read this blog http://www.puebla-mexico.com/

that's very helpful Liliana... thanks. having trouble finding non-mexican cuisine however. I see one german place and a few italian ones. is there a street with lots of different options to choose from? we both love Mexican food, we just don't want it for every meal

When just sight-seeing, I do not think that you need a taxi in the center of Puebla, although some walks represent a distance. Restaurants are scattered all over the colonial core. We used a bus to go to Cholula and from there a taxi to see some outlying churches and get back to Puebla. You might want to take a look at my trip report; click on my name to find it.

thanks for the feedback i've received so far. i do have a question though. How hard is it to find plantains in the restaurants? (platano maduro) It's one of my favorite side items but i noticed that many places don't mention them. What about churros con chocolate? i had some in Spain and they were awesome

There is a shop off the Zocalo (behind the cathedral, hence SE of the Zocalo?) which makes fresh churros, the process can be seen from the street as the deep-fryer is facing a picture window.

I do not recall any plaintain dishes in restaurants.

I have never seen plantains on a menu in Puebla.

There are some vegetarian restaurants in PUebla that might serve plantains you'd need to check them out to see:
La Zanahoria restaurant, which features freshly squeezed juices, three-course fixed-price lunches, and a la carte items at its two locations (5 Oriente 206 and Avenida Juárez 2104-C). The organic eateries Green Me (Circuito Juan Pablo II #1751, Col. La Noria) and Green Roof (3 Norte #414, San Andrés Cholula, atop Amma Yoga) offer ample vegetarian items, too.

La Casa de Los Munecos = a very good non-Mexican food restaurant in the centro historico. Some Mexican food menu items but many more contempoorary cuisine items.

tailsok, did you miss my post above in this thread listing other non-Mexicsn restaurants in Puebla? So far I have listed 6-7 such restaurants, have you looked at those? Don't miss La Route de Vins.