Best Time to Go to Mexico for Weather: Which Part of Mexico, in Which Month

Which part of Mexico, and which month?

Mexico does not have one best time; it has a best time for each coast and plateau. The usual advice, that November to April is the dry season, is right in broad strokes for all five of our bases. It hides two gaps: in November the Caribbean coast is still wet from the autumn, and in December and January the plateau around Mexico City is dry and bright but cold at night. Here is the winter, one month at a time:

• November: Mexico City or Puerto Escondido. Skip the Riviera Maya.
• December: Puerto Escondido for dry weather, the Yucatan coast if you accept showers, Mexico City if you can live with cold nights.
• January: Puerto Escondido, then Mérida (28°, 1 rain day) for mild days.
• February: anywhere. The Yucatan coast is about as dry as it gets, and it is the last comfortable month in Mérida.
• March: Puerto Escondido, Tulum or Playa del Carmen. Mérida is getting hot.

The grid shows the whole year, because the dry season ends in different months in different places. Look for the pale cells: the large number is millimetres of rain, the small one is rain days.

Read it down each column. Puerto Escondido has the longest pale run, December to April. Mexico City and Mérida dry out from November to April, with Mérida's rain returning in May and June. Playa del Carmen and Tulum are pale only from February to April, with a showery December and January either side. For the capital alone, see Mexico City weather by month.

Where to be next: your month-by-month route, $19

A route for your months with a leave-by date for each stop, a backup, and the seasonal traps on your path. Drafted from 11 years of weather data, every number checked against it, in your inbox within 48 hours. Not included: visas, insurance or bookings.

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Is November already dry enough?

Not on the Caribbean coast. Playa del Carmen averages 201 mm of rain in November, on about 7 of 30 days, and Tulum 177 mm. That is the tail of the autumn rains, and it is wetter than any month from December to April. Mérida, inland, is already much drier (56 mm), Mexico City is dry (12 mm, about 2 rain days) and Puerto Escondido has 16 mm. So if your plans start in November, choose Mexico City or the Pacific coast and move to the Yucatan in December or January.

What is the weather in December and January?

December is when the Yucatan coast turns, to about 5 rain days a month. January is similar, 4 rain days. It is warm, with highs of 26° to 27° and nights above 21°, but not as dry as the coast gets. Showers pass through and clear.

Puerto Escondido wins for dry weather: no rain days in either month and a high near 31°. Mexico City has rain on about 1 day, a 22° high and nights of 8° in December and 7° in January. That is the trap on the plateau: sunny and dry by day, cold in the evening, and most flats have no heating.

Are February and March the best months?

For the whole country, yes: the best two months of the winter. Both coasts of the Yucatan have rain on about 2 days, highs of 27° to 29° and cloud down to about a third of the sky, the sunniest stretch of the year on the coast. Mexico City warms to 24° in February and 26° in March and still has 1 to 2 rain days. Puerto Escondido has no rain days.

Many top results name March and April as the sweet spot. April is still dry on every coast (0 to 3 rain days), so the advice holds, with two catches: Mérida is at 35° and Mexico City reaches its yearly warmest, 27°. Mérida is the one to watch. February is a comfortable 30°, March is 33°, and from there the heat keeps building. If you choose Mérida, the window is November to February.

When is it hottest in Mexico?

In the inland south, in April and May. Mérida reaches 35° in April and 36° in May, with nights of 23° to 24°, and stays at 34° to 35° through July even once the rain is back. The Pacific and Caribbean coasts are warm but steadier: Puerto Escondido has a high of 30° to 32° in every month, and Playa del Carmen and Tulum peak at 30° to 31° in summer. Mexico City never gets hot, with a high of 27° at most.

When does the rain come back, and what about hurricanes?

In May the rain returns: Puerto Escondido goes from 5 mm in April to 51 mm, Mexico City to 53 mm and Mérida to 70 mm. By June all five are clearly in the wet season, with 124 mm in Mexico City and 245 mm in Playa del Carmen. Plan to leave the Pacific coast and the plateau by the end of April.

Over a full year the totals differ a lot: Mexico City and Puerto Escondido are the driest of the five, Mérida is in the middle, and Tulum and Playa del Carmen get more than twice as much as the capital. The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June to November, and on the Pacific side from about mid-May to November. Our figures are rain, heat and cloud, not storms, so look at a forecast for any trip in those months, especially September and October.

What is a good circuit through Mexico?

A circuit that works on weather alone: Mexico City or Mérida in November, Puerto Escondido in December and January, then Playa del Carmen or Tulum in February and March. Playa del Carmen and Tulum sit on the same coast, so their weather is close; Tulum is a little drier in winter. For Oaxaca, dry from November to April with cold nights, see Oaxaca weather by month. San Miguel de Allende is not in our places, so we give no numbers for it.

What does this page not cover?

We do not cover prices, flights, internet or hurricanes beyond what rain figures show. For one place in more depth, see the pages for Mexico City, Playa del Carmen, Tulum, Mérida and Puerto Escondido (month by month: Puerto Escondido weather by month), or compare with where is warm in February.