Discover the best time of year, based on historical climate, temperature, and precipitation.
The best time to visit Mexico City is January, February, December, when the weather, flight prices, and crowds align. — very predictable climate
🌥Mild
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Contains affiliate links.
| Score | 98 | 98 | 95 | 93 | 87 | 55 | 46 | 50 | 56 | 81 | 94 | 98 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Climate | Mild | Mild | Pleasant | Pleasant | Pleasant | Rainy | Rainy | Rainy | Cool & rainy | Mild | Mild | Mild |
| Temperature | 7–22°C | 8–24°C | 10–26°C | 12–27°C | 13–27°C | 13–25°C | 13–23°C | 13–23°C | 13–22°C | 11–22°C | 9–23°C | 8–22°C |
| Feels like | 5–20°C | 6–22°C | 8–25°C | 10–26°C | 12–27°C | 13–25°C | 13–24°C | 13–24°C | 12–23°C | 10–22°C | 8–22°C | 6–20°C |
| Precipitation | 10mm 4 days | 11mm 3 days | 29mm 6 days | 38mm 9 days | 76mm 13 days | 164mm 18 days | 225mm 26 days | 239mm 25 days | 213mm 22 days | 86mm 13 days | 26mm 6 days | 11mm 3 days |
| Sunshine | 10.1h ☀︎ 91% | 10.9h ☀︎ 95% | 11.3h ☀︎ 94% | 11.8h ☀︎ 93% | 11.8h ☀︎ 90% | 9.8h ☀︎ 74% | 8.7h ☀︎ 66% | 8.5h ☀︎ 67% | 7.7h ☀︎ 63% | 8.5h ☀︎ 73% | 10.2h ☀︎ 91% | 10.3h ☀︎ 94% |
| Wind | W · 17 km/h | NW · 19 km/h | W · 21 km/h | SW · 21 km/h | W · 20 km/h | N · 18 km/h | NW · 15 km/h | NW · 14 km/h | NW · 15 km/h | NW · 17 km/h | NW · 16 km/h | NW · 15 km/h |
| Humidity (%) | 55% | 48% | 46% | 46% | 53% | 66% | 76% | 76% | 77% | 73% | 65% | 60% |
| Perfect days | 67% | 78% | 65% | 48% | 36% | 28% | 17% | 20% | 24% | 43% | 59% | 71% |
| Dry streak | 18d | 19d | 15d | 11d | 9d | 8d | 3d | 3d | 4d | 10d | 15d | 23d |
| Sunny streak | 27d | 25d | 29d | 30d | 30d | 24d | 24d | 25d | 21d | 22d | 25d | 27d |
| Extreme cold | 0% | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 0% |
| Temperature | +2.3° | +2.8° | +3.8° | +2.8° | +4.0° | +3.0° | +2.0° | +1.9° | +2.4° | +3.4° | +4.5° | +2.1° |
| Rainfall | Stable | Stable | Stable | Getting drier | Stable | Stable | Getting wetter | Getting wetter | Getting wetter | Getting drier | Stable | Stable |
| Ideal warm days | 1% | 15% | 28% | 40% | 28% | 17% | 1% | 0% | 1% | 3% | 6% | 0% |
| Outdoor comfort | 65% | 80% | 73% | 58% | 46% | 34% | 18% | 20% | 26% | 50% | 65% | 70% |
| Dry week odds | 56% | 61% | 38% | 24% | 16% | 10% | 0% | 0% | 2% | 18% | 43% | 69% |
| Heavy rain | — | — | — | — | 1% | 4% | 6% | 6% | 6% | 2% | — | — |
| Day length | 11.1h | 11.5h | 12.0h | 12.6h | 13.1h | 13.3h | 13.2h | 12.8h | 12.2h | 11.7h | 11.2h | 11.0h |
| Tourist Crowds | Low season | Shoulder season | Shoulder season | Shoulder season | Shoulder season | Low season | Low season | Low season | Shoulder season | High season | High season | Shoulder season |
Mexico City transforms with elaborate altars, marigold flowers, and the massive Grand Parade inspired by James Bond, hon…
Formula 1 races through the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, with a signature stretch through the old baseball stadium's st…
On the night of September 15, hundreds of thousands gather in the Zócalo as the president reenacts the historic Cry of I…
Perched at over 2,200 meters in the Valley of Mexico, the capital defies tropical stereotypes: its winter months deliver bone-dry air, crystal-clear skies, and ideal walking weather, while summer drowns afternoons under heavy mountain downpours.
Sprawling across the high volcanic basin of the Valley of Mexico, this enormous metropolis lives at mountain altitude, a geography that shapes every hour of its daily life. At 2,240 meters above sea level, the equatorial heat people anticipate never arrives. Instead, you encounter thin air, sharp morning chills, and brilliant high-altitude sunlight. The rhythm of the calendar is brutally binary. For half the year, the sky refuses to yield a drop of moisture; for the other half, immense storm clouds roll over the surrounding peaks every afternoon like clockwork, flooding avenues and halting traffic. Understanding that rhythm is the difference between falling in love with the capital’s endless street life and watching it through a streaming taxi window.
December through February is Mexico City at its atmospheric best. Mornings require a warm jacket as the thin mountain air retains none of the night's heat, but once the sun crests the rim of the valley, the city warms into flawless, mild afternoons. The skies are intensely blue and virtually rainless, lending a clean, sharp edge to the colonial stone of the Zócalo and the tree-lined promenades of Condesa.
February draws the heaviest crowds of the entire year, and it is easy to see why. The light filters through the canopies of Bosque de Chapultepec with an almost cinematic clarity, outdoor café terraces stay packed from noon until dusk, and the complete absence of afternoon downpours means your walking plans never unravel. You can spend an entire day crisscrossing Coyoacán on foot without checking a weather forecast once.
If you prefer that same immaculate weather without the peak crowd density, January is the quietest secret on the calendar. The post-holiday lull leaves the cultural institutions breathing easy, the air is clean and crisp, and the daytime temperatures hover in that sweet spot where you can walk fifteen miles through Roma Norte without breaking a sweat. Just come prepared for chilly evenings that drop sharply as soon as the sun dips.
By March, the morning bite disappears and the city heats up quickly. This is the warmest period of the year, with daytime highs steadily climbing into the upper twenties. The valley begins to haze over slightly under the trapped heat, but the city compensates with a breathtaking visual spectacle: thousands of jacaranda trees burst into vivid purple bloom, carpeting sidewalks across Condesa and Roma Norte in fallen petals.
April and May continue this arid warming trend. While the mornings and early afternoons remain lovely for strolling beneath the purple canopies, the heat accumulates by mid-afternoon, made sharper by the intense solar radiation at this elevation. Walking long distances along unshaded boulevards can feel exhausting between one and four in the afternoon.
Rain begins to tease the city late in May, initially as isolated evening gusts that knock the dust out of the air. Crowd levels drop to their lowest numbers of the spring, making it a rewarding window if you do your wandering in the morning and tuck into galleries and indoor courtyards when the sun peaks overhead.
June marks the definitive arrival of the rainy season, and July and August represent the wettest months of the entire year. Tropical moisture sweeps into the mountain bowl, building into massive, bruising storm clouds by late morning. The pattern is remarkably consistent: clear or hazy mornings, followed by a wall of afternoon rain that unleashes torrential water and frequently snarled transit across the alcaldías.
This is the most challenging time to experience the capital as a pedestrian. The total rainfall is intense, and because the city’s historic drainage works against its ancient lakebed geology, low-lying avenues flood quickly and hail is not uncommon. Trying to hail a car or cross a major boulevard during a 4:00 PM downpour will test anyone’s patience. If you visit in midsummer, structure your days like a local: schedule walking tours, neighborhood explorations, and park visits strictly for the morning, and plan to be comfortably indoors at a museum or gallery by mid-afternoon.
September brings more of the same drenching rains, but with a massive spike in energy around mid-month. For the Grito de Independencia on the night of September 15, hundreds of thousands pack into the Zócalo in the historic core to reenact the cry for freedom under sweeping displays of green, white, and red lights. It is an unforgettable, deafening celebration, but navigating the crowds under an autumn drizzle requires genuine stamina and waterproof gear.
October acts as the bridge back to dry weather. The afternoon storms taper off steadily over the course of the month, leaving behind washed skies and lush, green foliage across Bosque de Chapultepec. By November, the rains have ceased almost completely, ushering in the autumn festival season that draws travelers from all over the world.
Late October through early November is arguably the most sensory time to be in the city, dominated by Día de Muertos. The scent of cempasúchil (marigolds) blankets public plazas, intricate altars take over the Zócalo, and colorful costumed processions fill the central avenues. The weather is dry, temperate, and practically flawless for cemetery vigils and late-night street wandering, though the sheer volume of visitors means you will share every plaza with massive crowds.
The energy spikes even higher when the Mexico City Grand Prix takes over the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez. Between the racing fans packing the grandstands and the cultural visitors flooding downtown, November is busy, vibrant, and buzzing. The days are pleasantly cool, the nights crisp, and the entire city feels alive on its feet.
Top sights and attractions to build your days around once you know when to go.
The Metropolitan Cathedral of the Assumption of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven, also commonly called the Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral, is the cathedral church of the Catholic Archdiocese of Mexico. It is situated on top of the former Aztec sacred precinct near the Templo Mayor on the northern side of the Plaza de la Constitución (Zócalo) in the historic center of Mexico City. The cathedral was built in sections from 1573 to 1813 around the original church that was constructed soon after the Spanish conquest of Tenochtitlan, eventually replacing it entirely. Spanish architect Claudio de Arciniega planned the construction, drawing inspiration from Gothic cathedrals in Spain.
The National Museum of Anthropology is a national museum of Mexico. It is the largest and most visited museum in Mexico. Located in the area between Paseo de la Reforma and Mahatma Gandhi Street within Chapultepec Park in Mexico City, which is a wide-open natural park and has a great history, because it was the place where Aztec emperors spent time. The museum contains significant archaeological and anthropological artifacts from Mexico's pre-Columbian heritage, such as the Stone of the Sun and the Aztec Xochipilli statue.
The Templo Mayor was the main temple of the Mexica people in their capital city of Tenōchtitlan, which is now Mexico City. Its architectural style belongs to the late Postclassic period of Mesoamerica. The temple was called Huēyi Teōcalli in the Nahuatl language, meaning 'great church' or 'great house of god'. It was dedicated simultaneously to Huītzilōpōchtli, god of war, and Tlāloc, god of rain and agriculture, each of which had a shrine at the top of the pyramid with separate staircases. The central spire was devoted to Quetzalcōātl in his form as the wind god, Ehēcatl. The temple devoted to Huītzilōpōchtli and Tlāloc, measuring approximately 100 by 80 m at its base, dominated the Sacred Precinct. Construction of the first temple began sometime after 1325, and it was rebuilt six times. The temple was almost totally destroyed by the Spanish in 1521, and the Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral was built in its place.
The National Palace is the seat of the federal executive in Mexico. Since 2018 it has also served as the official residence for the President of Mexico. It is located on Mexico City's main square, the Plaza de la Constitución. This site has been a palace for the ruling class of Mexico since the Aztec Empire, and much of the current palace's building materials are from the original one that belonged to the 16th-century leader Moctezuma II.
The Frida Kahlo Museum, also known as The Blue House for the structure's cobalt-blue walls, is a historic house museum and art museum dedicated to the life and work of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. It is in the Colonia del Carmen neighborhood of Coyoacán in Mexico City. The building was Kahlo's birthplace, the home where she grew up, lived with her husband Diego Rivera for a number of years, and where she later died in a room on the upper floor. In 1957, Rivera donated the home and its contents to turn it into a museum in Kahlo's honor.
Chapultepec, more commonly called the "Bosque de Chapultepec" in Mexico City, is one of the largest city parks in Mexico, measuring in total just over 866 hectares. Centered on a rock formation called Chapultepec Hill, one of the park's main functions is as an ecological space in Greater Mexico City. It is considered the first and most important of Mexico City's "lungs".
Chapultepec Castle is located on top of Chapultepec Hill in Mexico City's Chapultepec park. The name Chapultepec is the Nahuatl word chapoltepēc which means "on the hill of the grasshopper". It is located at the entrance to Chapultepec park, at a height of 2,325 metres (7,628 ft) above sea level.
Luis Barragán House and Studio, also known as Casa Luis Barragán, is the former residence of architect Luis Barragán in Miguel Hidalgo district, Mexico City. It is owned by the Fundación de Arquitectura Tapatía and the Government of the State of Jalisco. It is now a museum exhibiting Barragán's work and is also used by visiting architects. It retains the original furniture and Barragán's personal objects. These include a mostly Mexican art collection spanning the 16th to 20th century, with works by Picasso, Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco, Jesús Reyes Ferreira, and Miguel Covarrubias.
The Basilica of Santa María de Guadalupe, officially called Insigne y Nacional Basílica de Santa María de Guadalupe is a basilica of the Catholic Church, dedicated to the Virgin Mary in her invocation of Our Lady of Guadalupe, located at the foot of the Hill of Tepeyac in the Gustavo A. Madero borough of Mexico City. It belongs to the Primate Archdiocese of Mexico through the Guadalupana Vicariate, which since November 4, 2018, is in the care of Monsignor Efraín Hernández Díaz, who has the title of general and episcopal vicar of Guadalupe and abbot of the basilica.
The Angel of Independence, most commonly known by the shortened name El Ángel and officially known as Monumento a la Independencia, is a victory column on a roundabout on the major thoroughfare of Paseo de la Reforma in downtown Mexico City.
Estadio Ciudad de los Deportes is a 34,253-seat multi-purpose stadium located in Ciudad de los Deportes, Mexico City. The facility is used for association football matches and for American football as well. The Tazón México has been played at the stadium. It is the current home stadium of football club Club América.
The Monument to the Revolution is a memorial arch commemorating the Mexican Revolution. It is located in the Plaza de la República, near the heart of the major thoroughfares Paseo de la Reforma and Avenida de los Insurgentes in downtown Mexico City. It is the tallest memorial arch in the world, standing 67 m (220 ft) high.
Places from Wikidata and Wikipedia.
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