Mexico City, Mexico
Spring-like all year at 2,240 m, and quietly one of the world's great food capitals.
Best time to visit
Weather by month
| Month | High | Low | Rain | Season |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 21° | 7° | 18 mm | |
| Feb | 23° | 8° | 17 mm | |
| Mar | 25° | 9° | 28 mm | prime |
| Apr | 26° | 11° | 43 mm | prime |
| May | 26° | 12° | 70 mm | |
| Jun | 23° | 13° | 146 mm | |
| Jul | 22° | 12° | 182 mm | |
| Aug | 22° | 12° | 181 mm | |
| Sep | 21° | 12° | 189 mm | |
| Oct | 21° | 11° | 92 mm | prime |
| Nov | 21° | 9° | 28 mm | prime |
| Dec | 21° | 8° | 15 mm | prime |
30-year averages (1995–2024) from ERA5 reanalysis via Open-Meteo. Rain is the monthly total.
Cost
Serves travellers at Backpacker→Premium level. Typically around $80 a day on the ground.
Ranges are typical costs, not quotes. Check the real price before you book.
What's on
Zona Maco February
Latin America's biggest art fair
Día de Muertos November
Parade and altars, 1–2 November
Worth knowing
The metro is extensive and cheap and packed at rush hour. App taxis are what most visitors use and are plentiful. Roma, Condesa and the Centro are walkable within themselves but not to each other. A car is a liability in a city with this much traffic and this little parking.
getting around · editorial
Benito Juarez sits inside the city, half an hour to an hour from the central neighbourhoods depending entirely on traffic. The second airport, Felipe Angeles, is well to the north and adds an hour or more; check which one your flight actually uses, because they are not interchangeable.
getting there · editorial
The city is at 2,240 metres. The first day will leave you short of breath on stairs and alcohol will hit harder than you expect. The seismic alarm is tested regularly and is loud enough to be alarming; when it sounds for real, people leave the building calmly and you follow them.
know before · editorial
Cash for markets, street stalls and small fondas, which is where the good food is. Cards in restaurants, bars and shops. Tipping is expected in restaurants and for the person who watches your car.
money · editorial
April and May are the hottest weeks and the air is at its worst, sitting in the basin before the rains break it. The rains themselves, May to October, arrive most afternoons and clear by evening, which is a pattern rather than a problem.
when not to go · editorial
Roma Norte and Condesa are tree-lined, walkable and where most of the eating and drinking is. Juarez sits between them and the centre. Polanco is upmarket, with the big museums and wide avenues. The Centro Historico has the monuments and the noise and empties out in the evening. Coyoacan, far to the south, is cobbles and a village square and a long way from everything else.
where to stay · editorial
Quests
Icon
Zócalo
One of the largest squares in the world, with the cathedral slowly sinking on one side.
Templo Mayor
The Aztec temple found in 1978 under the city centre. It had been there the whole time.
Palacio de Bellas Artes
White marble outside, murals by Rivera and Siqueiros inside.
Chapultepec Castle
The only royal castle in the Americas, at the top of the park.
National Museum of Anthropology
The Aztec sun stone is here. Allow half a day at the very least.
Coyoacán
The cobbled quarter, with its two squares side by side.
Xochimilco
The canals left from the original lake, with the painted trajineras.
Teotihuacán
The Pyramid of the Sun, an hour from the city. Arrive at opening time.
See
See the Rivera murals in the Palacio Nacional
Eat
Eat tacos al pastor after midnight, standing up
Eat tacos al pastor cut from the trompo, with pineapple
After nine at night is when they come right.
Eat a tlacoyo in the morning, from a street stall
Stuffed blue corn masa, cooked on the griddle in front of you.
Moment
Go to Coyoacán on a Saturday morning
Go up to a viewpoint and watch the city not end
Twenty-one million people. You cannot see where it stops.
Walk from Reforma to the Centro on a Sunday
The avenue closes to cars. The whole city comes out on bicycles.