Mexico: When to Go
High season in most areas lasts from December to April, when temperatures are generally more bearable. The hotter, wetter season is from May to November - rain ranges from late-afternoon showers to days of prolonged downpours, with a risk of hurricanes in coastal areas between August and October.
South of the tropic of Cancer (which cuts across Mexico north of Tampico) it's hot and humid, particularly along the coastal plains and the Yucatán Peninsula. Inland, at higher elevations, it's much drier and temperate. Mountain areas can get very cold in winter, and often have snow.
Mexico has a reputation for constant festive fun: just about every month brings a major national holiday or fiesta, and every other day is a local saint's day celebration. The most important public holidays are:
January 1: New Year's Day
February 5: Constitution Day
February 24: Day of the Flag
Late February / early March: Carnaval (Carnival) - the big bash before the 40-day penance of Lent
March 21: Anniversary of Benito Juárez's birth
March/April: Good Friday and Easter Sunday
May 1: Labour Day
May 5: Celebration of the 1862 victory over the French
September 16: Independence Day - celebrating the start of the war for independence from Spain
October 12: Día de la Raza - celebrating Columbus' 'discovery' of the New World
November 2: Día de los Muertos ('Day of the Dead'), held the day after All Saints'. The souls of loved ones are believed to return to earth on this day, and for weeks beforehand markets are awash with candy skulls and papier-mâché skeletons that form part of welcoming shrines (along with fruit and other offerings) for the spirits
November 20: Día de la Revolución - anniversary of the 1910 revolution
December 12: Day of Our Lady of Guadalupe, celebrating the country's major religious icon
December 25: Christmas Day