Country guide
Mexico
Mayan ruins and cenotes, Oaxaca's food, Mexico City's museums and two coasts of beach towns; the dry winter is high season.
Currency
MXN
Language
Spanish
English
Widely spoken
Payment
Cards & cash mixed
Power
Type A / B
127 V, 60 Hz
Dialing
+52
Destinations
Cabo San Lucas
The end of the Baja peninsula: a granite arch, humpbacks in the bay and some of Mexico's loudest nights.
✓ best Nov-MayCancun
A beach strip built from nothing on the Caribbean, doubling as the front door to the Maya world and the second-longest barrier reef on earth.
✓ best Nov-AprCopper Canyon (Creel)
A canyon system bigger than the Grand Canyon, reached by one of the great mountain railways of the Americas.
✓ best Sep-JunCozumel
The Caribbean's classic drift dive, on reef walls minutes from town, around an island most cruise visitors never see past the waterfront.
✓ best Jan-AprGuadalajara
Mariachi and tequila were both born in Jalisco, and Guadalajara is the city that owns them - plus the finest murals in Mexico outside the capital.
✓ best Oct-MayGuanajuato
A silver city folded into a ravine, where the traffic runs underground and everything above it is alleys and stairs.
✓ best Oct-MayIsla Mujeres
Cancun's water without Cancun's towers, twenty minutes away by ferry.
✓ best Feb-MayLa Paz
Mexico's best base for the Sea of Cortez: sea lions, whale sharks and an island of red cliffs, from a state capital that never became a resort.
✓ best Oct-AprMerida
Yucatan's white city - colonial plazas, henequen mansions and a kitchen all its own, with Uxmal and the cenotes on the doorstep.
✓ best Nov-FebMexico City
An Aztec capital, a viceregal city and a modernist metropolis stacked on one lake bed, with world-class museums and street food on every corner.
✓ best Oct-MayOaxaca
Mexico's most distinctive table and its deepest indigenous roots in one walkable colonial city, with a Zapotec capital on the hill above it.
✓ best May, Oct-MarPalenque
The most refined architecture the Maya ever built, half-swallowed by rainforest, with the tomb of Pakal the Great sealed under its most famous temple.
✓ best MarPuebla
Mexico's tile city - blue-and-white Talavera facades, a gold-leaf baroque chapel and the home of mole poblano, two hours from the capital.
✓ best Oct-MayPuerto Escondido
Home of the Mexican Pipeline, one of the heaviest beach breaks on earth, in a town that still feels like a beach village.
✓ best Nov-AprPuerto Vallarta
A real Mexican town on one of the country's biggest bays, with cobbled streets climbing jungle hills straight behind the beach.
✓ best Nov-MaySan Cristobal de las Casas
A colonial grid at highland altitude in the Tzotzil and Tzeltal country of Chiapas, where the market towns around it matter as much as the town itself.
✓ best Nov-AprSan Miguel de Allende
A UNESCO-listed silver-road town under pink neo-Gothic spires, with one of the best-kept colonial centres in Mexico and the largest foreign community to go with it.
✓ best Aug-JunTulum
A walled Maya city on a Caribbean cliff, a jungle full of cenotes behind it, and a beach road that turned barefoot bohemia into a global address.
✓ best Dec-MayValladolid
The colonial town closest to Chichen Itza, with a cenote in the centre and the Maya east on its doorstep.
✓ best Nov-FebVeracruz
Mexico's oldest port city dances danzon in its main square and drinks its coffee poured from a height.
✓ best Nov-MayThe sweet-spot windows
Good weather, thinner crowds, better prices: the windows worth aiming for.
| Where | When | Why it works | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baja | Jan-Mar | Whale season + mild, dry weather before the summer heat | Aug-Oct hot + hurricane risk |
| Mexico City | Nov-Apr | Dry, mild, Day of the Dead (early Nov). Mild year-round | Jun-Sep afternoon rains |
| Oaxaca/Pacific | Nov-Apr | Dry, warm, great surf at Puerto Escondido. May-Oct bigger swell | Sep wettest |
| Yucatan/Riviera Maya | Nov-Apr | Dry season: sunny, cenotes + reef. Nov + Apr best value | Sep-Oct hurricane risk |
Climate zones, month by month
Mexico has 20 distinct climate zones. The right month depends on where in the country you're going.
Cabo San Lucas Baja California Sur →
✓ Best Nov-May · ✗ Avoid Aug-Sep
Conditions Jan-Feb Mild, whales · Mar Warm, whales · Apr-May Warm & dry · Jun Hot & dry · Jul Hot · Aug Hot, humid · Sep Hot, hurricane · Oct Warm, hurricane · Nov Warm & dry · Dec Mild, whales start
Watch for Jun-Nov cyclones & hurricanes risk · Aug extreme heat risk
Cards tinted by verified verdict · big number = typical daily high, small = low · hover for conditions
Cancun Quintana Roo →
✓ Best Nov-Apr · ✗ Avoid Sep-Oct
Conditions Jan Dry & sunny · Feb Dry · Mar Dry & warm · Apr Dry & hot · May Hot, wet starts · Jun Wet · Jul Brief showers · Aug Wet · Sep Wettest, hurricane · Oct Wet, hurricane · Nov Drying · Dec Dry
Watch for Jun-Nov cyclones & hurricanes risk
Cards tinted by verified verdict · big number = typical daily high, small = low · hover for conditions
Copper Canyon (Creel) Chihuahua →
✓ Best Sep-Jun
Cards tinted by calculated verdict · big number = typical daily high, small = low · hover for conditions
Cozumel Quintana Roo →
✓ Best Jan-Apr
Watch for Jun-Nov cyclones & hurricanes risk
Cards tinted by calculated verdict · big number = typical daily high, small = low · hover for conditions
Guadalajara Jalisco →
✓ Best Oct-May · ✗ Avoid Jul
Watch for Jul monsoon flooding risk
Cards tinted by calculated verdict · big number = typical daily high, small = low · hover for conditions
Guanajuato →
✓ Best Oct-May
Cards tinted by calculated verdict · big number = typical daily high, small = low · hover for conditions
Isla Mujeres Quintana Roo →
✓ Best Feb-May
Watch for Jun-Nov cyclones & hurricanes risk
Cards tinted by calculated verdict · big number = typical daily high, small = low · hover for conditions
La Paz Baja California Sur →
✓ Best Oct-Apr · ✗ Avoid Jul-Aug
Watch for May-Sep extreme heat risk · Jun-Nov cyclones & hurricanes risk
Cards tinted by calculated verdict · big number = typical daily high, small = low · hover for conditions
Merida Yucatan →
✓ Best Nov-Feb
Watch for Apr-Aug extreme heat risk · Jun-Nov cyclones & hurricanes risk
Cards tinted by calculated verdict · big number = typical daily high, small = low · hover for conditions
Mexico City →
✓ Best Oct-May
Conditions Jan Dry & mild · Feb Dry · Mar Dry & warm · Apr Warm & dry · May Warm, wet starts · Jun Wet afternoons · Jul-Sep Wet · Oct Drying · Nov Dry, Day of Dead · Dec Dry & mild
Watch for Dec-Mar smog risk
Cards tinted by verified verdict · big number = typical daily high, small = low · hover for conditions
Oaxaca →
✓ Best May, Oct-Mar
Cards tinted by calculated verdict · big number = typical daily high, small = low · hover for conditions
Palenque Chiapas →
✓ Best Mar · ✗ Avoid Jun, Aug-Nov
Watch for Apr-May extreme heat risk · Jun, Aug-Nov monsoon flooding risk
Cards tinted by calculated verdict · big number = typical daily high, small = low · hover for conditions
Puebla Central Highlands →
✓ Best Oct-May
Cards tinted by calculated verdict · big number = typical daily high, small = low · hover for conditions
Puerto Escondido Oaxaca Coast →
✓ Best Nov-Apr · ✗ Avoid Sep
Conditions Jan Dry, surf · Feb Dry · Mar Dry & hot · Apr Hot & dry · May Hot, big surf · Jun Wet, surf · Jul Wet · Aug Wet, big surf · Sep Wettest · Oct Wet easing · Nov Drying · Dec Dry
Watch for Jun-Nov cyclones & hurricanes risk
Cards tinted by verified verdict · big number = typical daily high, small = low · hover for conditions
Puerto Vallarta Pacific Coast →
✓ Best Nov-May · ✗ Avoid Jul-Sep
Watch for Jun-Nov cyclones & hurricanes risk · Jul-Sep monsoon flooding risk
Cards tinted by calculated verdict · big number = typical daily high, small = low · hover for conditions
San Cristobal de las Casas Chiapas →
✓ Best Nov-Apr
Cards tinted by calculated verdict · big number = typical daily high, small = low · hover for conditions
San Miguel de Allende Guanajuato →
✓ Best Aug-Jun
Cards tinted by calculated verdict · big number = typical daily high, small = low · hover for conditions
Tulum Riviera Maya →
✓ Best Dec-May · ✗ Avoid Jun
Watch for Jun-Nov cyclones & hurricanes risk · Jun monsoon flooding risk
Cards tinted by calculated verdict · big number = typical daily high, small = low · hover for conditions
Valladolid Yucatan →
✓ Best Nov-Feb
Watch for Apr-Aug extreme heat risk · Jun-Nov cyclones & hurricanes risk
Cards tinted by calculated verdict · big number = typical daily high, small = low · hover for conditions
Veracruz Gulf Coast →
✓ Best Nov-May · ✗ Avoid Jul-Sep
Watch for Jun-Nov cyclones & hurricanes risk · Jul-Sep monsoon flooding risk
Cards tinted by calculated verdict · big number = typical daily high, small = low · hover for conditions