Monterrey Mariano Escobedo MTY: the complete layover guide

MTY is three terminals in a row in Apodaca, northeast of Monterrey proper, and none of them is big enough to get lost in. That is the airport in one sentence, and it is mostly a compliment.

Terminal A is the original building and still the largest, handling a mix of domestic and international carriers including Volaris, American Airlines and Air Canada. Terminal B is the newer two level building next door and works as the Aeromexico and Delta house, which makes it the SkyTeam corner of the airport. Terminal C is a simple single level building dedicated to Viva, which runs one of its main bases here. If you fly Viva, plan around the fact that C has the thinnest amenities of the three.

There is no airside link between the terminals. Changing buildings means exiting, riding the free shuttle that loops between A, B and C roughly every 10 minutes between 5:00 and midnight, and clearing security from scratch on the other side. A and B sit close enough that a walkway connects them and the walk takes only a few minutes, but you are still landside either way. Treat any terminal change as a 45 to 60 minute job and you will never sweat it.

For connections inside one terminal, MTY is genuinely fast. Gate to gate walks rarely pass 10 minutes, security lines move better than at the big Mexico City airports, and 90 minutes on a single ticket is comfortable. International arrivals clear Mexican immigration here, and queues are generally shorter than at Mexico City, though current typical wait times are to be confirmed and a bank of US arrivals can stretch them, so build in margin if your connection is tight.

Heading into the city, downtown Monterrey is about 17 miles away. A taxi from the authorized stands takes 30 to 40 minutes and runs roughly 20 to 25 USD; Uber works from MTY and usually comes in slightly cheaper. The budget route is the Ruta Aeropuerto Express bus to Y Griega metro station and the metro onward, which costs around 1 USD total but eats about 90 minutes each way. On a layover, the math only favors the bus if time is the thing you have most of.