Country · 4 guides
Pyramids in the jungle, cenotes under the limestone, and a coastline that runs from the Caribbean to the Sea of Cortez.
Mexico packs an extraordinary amount into one country — Caribbean beaches and Pacific surf breaks, Maya and Aztec cities still standing in the jungle and the highlands, colonial towns built on silver money, and a food culture that UNESCO lists in its own right. The Yucatán draws the most visitors, where Cancún's white sand sits within reach of Chichén Itzá and hundreds of freshwater cenotes, but the capital, the canyons of the north and the markets of Oaxaca reward anyone who goes further. Use this hub to plan your trip: browse our Mexican city guides below, or read on for the regions, seasons and routes that tie the country together.
Mexico in numbers
Plan your tripAttraction-by-attraction guides to 4 cities in Mexico, each one mapped.
Trip planner
The tail of the dry season and the hottest stretch before the rains arrive — clear skies almost everywhere, parched brown highlands, and building heat and humidity on both coasts and across the Yucatán. Semana Santa, the week before Easter, is the biggest domestic travel week of the year, so beaches and colonial towns fill with Mexican families.
The wet season, though rain here usually means a heavy afternoon downpour rather than a washed-out day. The highlands turn green and stay pleasantly mild thanks to altitude, while the coasts are hot and humid. This is also when Atlantic hurricane season opens, and when whale sharks gather off the Yucatán's Caribbean coast.
September and October carry the highest hurricane risk on the Caribbean and Gulf coasts, and are the quietest, cheapest months there. From about mid-October the rains ease and the dry season returns. Día de Muertos on 1–2 November is the country's most striking celebration, marked most famously in Oaxaca and Mexico City.
The dry season at its best and the peak travel window: warm, sunny days and low humidity on the coasts, cool and crisp evenings in the highlands, where Mexico City and the colonial towns sit high enough to need a jacket after dark. Grey whales calve in the Baja lagoons, and the beach resorts are at their busiest and priciest.
The classic first trip to Mexico, pairing Caribbean beach time with the peninsula's Maya cities and cenotes. Distances are short, the roads are good, and the Tren Maya now links most of the stops if you would rather not drive.
A city break in one of the world's great capitals, mixing Aztec and colonial history with museums, markets and food, plus a day trip out to the largest pyramids in the country.
A slower trip through Mexico's culinary heartland, built around markets, mole and mezcal, with Zapotec archaeology and craft villages within an easy drive of the city.
Eight questions travellers ask before they go.
Late autumn through spring — roughly November to April — is the sweet spot almost everywhere: it's the dry season, with warm sunny days on the coasts and comfortable temperatures in the highlands. December to February is the peak window and the most expensive. September and October are the wettest and carry the highest hurricane risk on the Caribbean and Gulf coasts, which also makes them the quietest and cheapest months to visit the Yucatán.
A beach trip to Cancún or Los Cabos works well in four to five days. A week lets you pair a coast with something inland — Cancún with Chichén Itzá and Mérida, for example, or Mexico City with the pyramids at Teotihuacán and a colonial town. Ten days to two weeks is enough to combine two very different regions, though the distances are large: plan on flying between them rather than driving.
Not for a city or resort trip. Mexico City has an extensive metro, the historic centres are walkable, and first-class long-distance buses connect the country comfortably and cheaply. A car is genuinely useful on the Yucatán peninsula, in Baja and along the Pacific coast, where cenotes, ruins and beaches sit between the towns. If you do drive, use the toll roads where possible and avoid rural highways after dark.
Mexico is best known for its beaches and Caribbean resorts, above all Cancún and the Riviera Maya, and for the ancient cities left by the Maya and the Aztecs — Chichén Itzá, Teotihuacán, Tulum and Palenque among them. It's equally famous for its food, which UNESCO recognises as intangible cultural heritage, for tequila and mezcal, for Day of the Dead, and for colonial cities and colourful colonial architecture.
In the resort areas, yes — Cancún, the Riviera Maya, Los Cabos and Puerto Vallarta are geared to international visitors and you'll be served in English almost everywhere. In Mexico City and the larger tourist towns you'll usually find English in hotels, restaurants and at major sights. Away from those places it thins out quickly, and a little Spanish goes a long way; translation apps cover most of the rest.
The Mexican peso, written with a dollar sign — so a menu price of $350 means about 19 US dollars, not 350. Cards are widely accepted in hotels, restaurants and shops in the cities and resorts, but cash is still king for markets, street food, small towns, taxis and tips. Resort areas will often take US dollars, though usually at a poor rate, so paying in pesos is almost always cheaper.
Tacos are the national staple and vary enormously by region — al pastor in Mexico City, cochinita pibil in the Yucatán, fish tacos in Baja. Look for mole in Oaxaca, tamales and pozole across the country, and ceviche and aguachile on the coasts. Drink-wise, Mexico is the home of tequila and its smokier cousin mezcal, alongside micheladas, fresh fruit aguas frescas and hot chocolate — a drink the country has been making since long before the Spanish arrived.
Beach resorts, ancient sites and road trips.
