Get close to nature and the historical part of Mexico, in contrast to the white sandy beaches. Not far from Playa Del Carmen are great hiking and caving with Maya for relics.
How to plan your trip to Mexico? When it comes to trip planning, you should definitely take your time before making any final calls. Here is what you'll need to do before traveling to Mexico:
- Pick your destinations in Mexico
- Decide the duration of your trip
- Book flight, train or bus ticket and accommodation
- Plan out your day-to-day activities
- Pack
- Ready, set, go!
1. Decide the duration of your trip to Mexico
Once you have chosen the destination, the second decision you must take to start budgeting in detail is the duration of the trip. Is it going to be a 10-day trip? Or a longer one? This aspect will affect every other decision you’ll make along the way.
2. Book flight, train or bus ticket and accommodation in Mexico
Booking your tickets and accommodation well in advance is an important step in organizing your visit to Mexico. Both of these things are subject to availability and price changes over time, and getting the booking done before your vacation comes knocking on your doors will help you avoid any additional costs.
Mexico is a culture-rich destination. For example, you can rent historic homes that are changed over into hotels, and the price is a lot less as compared to those at Cancun's prominent hotels. There is however a lot to enjoy in Cancun, and partying here is a perfect way of ending your day.
3. Plan out your day-to-day activities in Mexico
Choosing the dates and your destination isn’t the end of planning your vacation. You will need to plan your daily activities as well. Explore the destination you choose for your trip to Mexico and learn what it has to offer. Make a list of things you’d like to do, see and try.
Located on the Caribbean coast of the Riviera Maya, Playa del Carmen offers warm temperatures all year round , with an annual average of between 25 and 30 degrees and high humidity. June to November is the wettest season and most likely for tropical storms and hurricanes; while between December and May the dry season extends, with better weather.
The high season is distributed between Christmas, Easter and the months of April, July and August. Therefore, the best time to go is during the first days of December, January and May.
4. Mexico Packing List
Yes. It is time for you to pack your suitcases. Make a list of things you would like and need to take with you before you start packing and avoid confusion. Putting everything on a piece of paper will help stay organized and avoid mistakes that can cost you time, money and energy. Don't know where to start to get the ultimate Mexico packing list ready? You can visit websites such as easymovekw.com and explore their blog. It’s rather easy to find many useful tips and tricks for packing, and perhaps even some suggestions on how to move to Mexico hassle-free if you happen to enjoy it during your trip!
5. Mexican food
Some people think of it as being one certain thing with Mexican food but there are 49 subregions of cuisine within Mexico and many American’s haven’t tried most. Mexico City, being a melting pot of the country, has all of them. Mexico is a very diverse place with many cultures; ranging from the north, to the north-centre, the south-centre passing through the capital to the south and southeast. With such cultural diversity, it’s to be expected regional dishes and foods that can’t be found as easily outside of that area.
Mexico’s cuisine has several regional varieties, that are quite different from each other, which is no wonder if you consider the country’s large size (about 1/4 of the continental US) and complicated geography. Up north, particularly in Chihuahua, your restaurant food is dominated by meat and cheese dishes. Vegetables are somewhat limited in this vast region dominated by mountains and deserts. Central Mexico is the place of origin of many other famous dishes such as mole, chile en nogada, cemitas, chalupas, gorditas, pozole, carnitas and many others I’m forgetting. Many of the most famous dishes from Mexico come from this region.
The south of the country is another important region for Mexican gastronomy; cuisine in the Yucatan peninsula have a greater Maya influence, with dishes like cochinita pibil, sopa de lima, marquesitas and poc chuc. Tlayudas, mezcal, crickets, chocolate (try chocolate from Oaxaca), and many, many others come from this region.
Mexican food is its polar opposite in many ways. It's an in-your-face attack to the senses. It's rich and abundant, colorful in its vibration to the point of pulling the inner child out of you to play with the intense flavors. It’s the one true king when it comes to the use of chilies, corn and avocado, all which it has given to the world at large.
Taking a glance at the West of the country we can find birria, tortas ahogadas, carne en su jugo, frijoles charros, sopes, tequila, tejuino, and others. And finally, we can look at the North, with things like carne asada, barbacoa, cortadillo, burritos, cabrito, discada, several dairy products, chilorio, jamoncillos, and a huge list.
And just like it’s provided so many ingredients to the world, Mexico’s sheer variety makes any comparison meaningless. In addition, Mexican food is always changing and incorporating new things; it evolves so much faster. It’s both cheap and good, and people outside Mexico only scratch the surface of its greatness (incidentally, if you want expensive Mexican food, you can totally find it).
The street food and food culture in Mexico is big and one of the best in the world (UNESCO heritage). You can walk past markets and be surrounded by myriads of flavors, exotic fruits and vegetables, and dishes with prehispanic roots, and a taco scene with hundreds of flavours all for pennies and food you’ve never even knew existed. No wonder they made taco chronicles a show on Netflix.
Molletes are delicious. It’s a loaf of bread with retried beans, melted cheese and Pico de Gallo salsa, usually spicy too. It has everything the body needs for the cheapest possible price at a place you can also do your work in peace. Some restaurants actually call them University Molletes or a variation of this on the menu itself because they know they’re popular among students.
Note this is not the cheapest you can eat in Mexico - taco stands can be even cheaper. Tacos is a way of eating, just as sandwiches are. You can eat meatball, rostisserie chicken sandwiches, among a lot of fillings. So you have traditional mexican recipes: Manchamanteles, Mole Poblano, Chiles Rellenos, Aporreadillo, Amarillito or whatever the dish is, you take a tortilla, you put some of the this on it, you roll up and start eating all along (you don't even need cutlery).
Pozole (from Náhuatl pozolli or tlapozonalli, meaning "boiled" or "sparkling") is a traditional soup or stew with cooked and prepared corn grains (nixtamalized), specifically with cacahuazintle corn (white corn with large, round, and soft grains), with pork or chicken meat, and with a salsa de chiles (chilies sauce), generally accompanied with shredded lettuce, radishes, chopped onion, lime (it's optional), and with tostadas (just the tostada).
The origin of pozole is pre-Hispanic (it is of indigenous origin), consumed since the times of the Aztecs and other Mesoamericans, the original recipe was made with human flesh, as a religious ritual, being replaced with pork/chicken meat by the Spanish. Nowadays, pozole is eaten during the Fiestas Patrias (National Holidays), especially between the night of September 15, and September 16, Mexico's Independence Day.
Tostadas meaning toasted in Spanish are a typical Mexican dish, an easy and quick one (unlike pozole), and malleable as a taco. Tostadas are made with fried corn tortillas (they are very crunchy), with different ingredients on top of them, being common to serve them with a base of beans, and with chicken, cheese, lettuce, tomato, avocado, and it is even possible to see them with seafood, fish, it’s really possible to put whatever you want on top.
It can be served with salsas or sour cream, or with nothing, it depends a lot on what do you want. It's something that is eaten very commonly in Mexico, due to its easy preparation.
Menudo is a traditional Mexican soup, made with cow's stomach (tripe) in broth with a red chili pepper base. It’s accompanied with oregano, onion, lime, coriander, varying its way of preparation in each region of the country. Due to its time-consuming preparation, it is consumed on national holidays or celebrations.
Gorditas (means chubbies in Spanish) are a typical Mexican dish, made with cooked corn dough (creating a kind of thick and soft tortilla) and filled with different ingredients, such as beans, cheese, chorizo, chicharrón, picadillo, nopales, scrambled eggs, salsa verde, being just as malleable as a taco or toast, with anything you want to put inside it.
Mole is something very special in our country. Mole refers to various types of salsas or marinades seasoned with chili peppers and spices, thickened with corn dough, its preparation varies too much, being able to find a number of variants throughout the country. Chocolate, if used, is added at the end of cooking.
The most popular variants are those of Puebla and Oaxaca. All mole preparations begin with one or more types of chili pepper. Among the ingredients that can be observed in the moles are: chile ancho, chile pasilla, chile mulato, chile chipotle, achiote, guaje, cumin, cloves, anise, tomatoes, tomatillos, garlic, seasame seeds, dried fruit, and many others.
Mole poblano has an average of 20 ingredients, while the mole oaxaqueño has an average of 30 ingredients. The ingredients of mole can be grouped into five distinct classes: chiles, sour (tomatillos), sweet (dried fruits and sugar), spices, and thickeners (nuts and tortillas). Mole is one of the most representative dishes of Mexico, especially for major celebrations, being very influential in Mexican culture.
You can get Queso fundido which is hopefully made with locally produced authentic Mennonite cheese and the good chorizo from Villa Ahumada. Queso fundido means melted cheese - but do not think fondue now! You fry onions and the chorizo and add grated cheese, which you then melt in the oven. Often, this preparation comes in a clay dish, and is eaten with those freshly made, big and soft flour tortillas.
Or try Frijoles charros. This is a kind of stew, made from cooked whole pinto beans, bacon, chorizo, ham or sausage bits, and pork cracklings, known as chicharrones. (fried pieces of pork skin) And your usual ingredients such as cilantro, chilies, tomatoes, onion, garlic. This also can be eaten as a simple dinner in January when money is tight.
Carne asada of course is grilled beef. In Chihuahua, you usually use a cut with bone in for this, that is rather thin. Traditionally, only one cooking grade is offered - well done! Nowadays, people have moved away from this, due to international influence, but the myth that done beef is always dry is just that. A myth. From places with inferior meat quality or by a chef with a bad hand at meat. That is why the cut is thin, it only needs a very short cooking time, you take it off not done and let it rest away from the grill.
Carne asada means just the beef. No potatoes or corn on the cob. But you usually get a compliment of grilled scallions or spring onions and a healthy helping of avocado. Thinly cut lettuce and tomatoes and a few halves of those green lemons complete the platter. In Mexico, people like lemon juice with their meat or as a dressing for the salad. But the salad is meant to be placed into the tacos you will be making from your meat.
Usually 6 types of salsa are served, too: Guacamole, green hot, Pico de Gallo, mild red chili with tomato and the thick, brick-red, fierce one. And usually one made just from onion and cilantro - for there are people in Mexico who do not like chili. Allow for at least a pound of meat per person and lots of these small, freshly made corn tortillas.
More like the vegetarian type? Then Chiles rellenos may suit the bill! This typical dish from Chihuahua is made from deep fried, sweetish “Anaheim” chilies (called Chile California in Chihuahua) that are filled with Mennonite or Asadero cheese and covered in an egg batter. Usually, you will get the typical Mexican tomato rice and refried beans with that. This is also a dish that usually is not hot at all - unless you borrow some of the salsas of your meat-loving buddies.
Luckily, the Mexican cuisine is not as dessert-happy as -say- the German or Austrian cuisine! I usually have just some ice cream. If you are lucky, they have an assortment of those delicious Mexican sweet breads and if they do, you need to try those. Otherwise, a fairly typical dessert is Pastel de Tres Leches, the “Three Milk-Cake”. That is a layered cake soaked with three different types of milk.
Non-alcoholic beverages work well with Mexican food as well, such as coke (from a glass bottle) and there are certainly a selection of Aguas frescas on display or at least available. These are very good and icy cold. Finish off with a nice coffee or two, and a shot of a very good, aged Tequila. Pure, not mixed and please, No salt!
Originally from Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Burritos are served MAINLY in Northern Mexico and come with different kinds of fillings, such as beans, meat, cheese, potatoes, carrots, chilies, red/green pepper and onion and/or guacamole. THEY DO NOT CONTAIN sour cream nor lettuce nor yellow shredded Cheddar cheese.
Chilaquiles. This classic Mexican breakfast dish packs the crunch of tortillas and the spiciness of salsa. The cheese adds to the flavor of this simple dish and makes it the perfect option for breakfast. You can have it with a side of eggs, baked beans, or nopalitos.
6. Best time to visit Mexico
Traveling. It sounds exciting - and it is. However, in order to fully enjoy your vacation – you need to come prepared. Yes, adventure awaits you, but, when it comes to traveling to a foreign country, being prepared for what's to come really is your best option. Let’s begin! How to choose the best time to visit Mexico?
Mexico is a large country, and the weather varies by region. So, before you try to figure out what the best time to visit is, you should choose a place you'd like to travel to. Checking the local forecast is your best bet, however – the best time to travel to Mexico is during the dry season.
The dry season in Mexico lasts for a few months, from December to April. And with virtually no rain, you will be able to enjoy your trip to the fullest.
On the other hand, this doesn't mean you should visit Mexico during the summer months. You can have fun in Mexico on any given day, and anybody who ever visited it will tell you the same thing. There are just so many things to do and see in this country, that you won’t even mind the weather.
And especially if you are coming from a place with a similar climate. Remember, you can always enjoy your time in Mexico by exploring its culture, cuisine, and other tourist attractions without even stepping a foot outside. There are many museums, restaurants, galleries, shopping malls, and clubs worth your while, so make sure to plan your trip accordingly. Don't let the bad weather destroy this trip for you.
Ready, set, go!
There is not one single answer to your question about the best time to visit Mexico. This great country has so much to offer, and even if you pick the wrong dates – we are sure you'll have a lot of fun. And lots of it!