At a Glance
Compared to this destination's peak season The Christmas-to-New-Year stretch is the most expensive of the year alongside Día de Muertos, roughly the 20th to the 2nd. The days around the 12th are busy with domestic pilgrims rather than international visitors, so rates move less than the crowds suggest.
Mexico City in December — Travel Guide
By Harry Nara · Last updated
Mexico City in December offers some of the best conditions of the year, ideal for families & culture seekers. Expect temperatures of 8–22°C, around 1 day of rain, and high crowds across the city. Daily budgets typically land around $50–180 for mid-range travellers. Book accommodation two to three months ahead — the most popular rooms sell out fast during peak visiting windows.
Contents12 sections
#Weather in Mexico City in December
Mexico City in December averages 8–22°C (46–72°F) with around 1 day of rain, and crowds are high.
| Measure | December |
|---|---|
| Daytime high | 22°C / 72°F — the coolest of the year |
| Overnight low | 8°C / 46°F — joint coldest with January |
| Rain | 1 wet day, 5mm — the driest month of the year |
| Air | Clean, though winter inversions can trap haze on still mornings |
December is the driest month Mexico City has: five millimetres of rain and a single wet day across the whole month. Afternoons are mild at 22°C and nights are the joint coldest of the year at 8°C, which in unheated buildings is the thing visitors consistently fail to pack for.
What makes December distinctive is not the weather. It is the length of the religious season, which starts on the 12th and does not finish until Reyes on 6 January — nearly four weeks in which the city is continuously marking something.
#What to Do in Mexico City in December
Día de la Virgen de Guadalupe (12 December)
Fixed, and the largest annual religious gathering in the Americas.
Millions travel to the Basílica de Guadalupe in the north of the city, many of them walking for days to get there and covering the last stretch on their knees. Pilgrim groups arrive through the preceding week, the atrium is full through the night of the 11th, and Las Mañanitas is sung to the Virgin at dawn on the 12th.
⚠️ Go as a visitor to somebody else's devotion. It is open to anyone and nobody will object to your being there, but this is not a festival and the appropriate posture is quiet.
Posadas (16 to 24 December)
Nine consecutive nights re-enacting the search for lodging, held in streets, neighbourhoods and offices. Candles, a procession, a sung request for shelter at each door, and then food, ponche and a piñata. Many are private; plenty are open neighbourhood affairs and Coyoacán and the southern villages are the easiest places to come across one.
The Zócalo at Christmas
An ice rink, lights across the square and the surrounding streets, and crowds every evening. It is free and it is the city at its most cheerfully public.
Alebrijes and the craft markets
December is the month to buy.
The Mercado de la Ciudadela is at its fullest and the Christmas markets around the Alameda and Coyoacán run through the month.
#Getting Around
Dry-season conditions and heavy traffic. December is the worst month of the year for road congestion as shopping, posadas and holiday travel overlap.
⚠️ The Basílica de Guadalupe draws enormous numbers around the 12th and the roads and Metro in the north of the city are extraordinarily busy for several days. Line 6 and the stations near La Villa are the pinch points.
Altitude still applies on arrival.
#Budget & Costs
The Christmas-to-New-Year stretch is the most expensive of the year alongside Día de Muertos. Hotels price accordingly from about the 20th through the 2nd.
The first half of December is considerably better value, and the days around the 12th are busy with domestic pilgrims rather than with international visitors, so hotel pricing moves less than the crowds suggest.
Hotels carry a lodging tax on top of the room rate and 16% value-added tax applies broadly. ⚠️ Confirm the current rate at booking.
Tipping runs 10 to 15% and is not usually included.
#Food & Dining
December is ponche season — a hot fruit punch with tejocote, guava, sugarcane and cinnamon, ladled from enormous pots at every posada and street stall, usually with the option of a shot of rum in it.
Bacalao and romeritos appear on Christmas tables, and tamales are eaten throughout. From 5 January the bakeries switch entirely to rosca de reyes, which belongs to the next month but goes on sale before the year ends.
Restaurants in Roma and Polanco book out for December work dinners through the first three weeks.
Tap water is not drunk here; bottled and filtered is universal.
#Nightlife
The first three weeks are the busiest social stretch of the Mexican year, driven by posadas and office parties rather than by tourism. Booking is necessary everywhere worth going.
Between Christmas and New Year the city empties of residents and fills with visitors, and the character changes completely — quieter streets, easier tables, and a Zócalo full of people on the 31st.
⚠️ Altitude amplifies alcohol, and ponche hides rum effectively.
#Shopping
The best craft month of the year.
Mercado de la Ciudadela at its fullest, Christmas markets around the Alameda, and Lagunilla on Sundays for antiques.
⚠️ Markets and streets in the Centro are extremely crowded in the week before Christmas. Go early in the day or go in the south.
#Culture & Etiquette
⚠️ If you are invited to a posada, go, and take something. Ponche, fruit or sweets for the piñata are all normal. The sung request for shelter is the whole structure of the evening and joining in badly is better than standing back politely.
At the Basílica, quiet and distance. Pilgrims arriving on their knees are not a photograph opportunity.
#Essential Local Phrases
| Spanish | What it means |
|---|---|
| Posada | A nine-night December celebration re-enacting the search for lodging |
| Ponche | The hot December fruit punch, with or without rum |
| Las Mañanitas | The song sung to the Virgin at dawn on 12 December |
| Guadalupana | A devotee of the Virgin of Guadalupe |
| Piñata | The December one has seven points, for the deadly sins |
| La cuenta, por favor | The bill, please — it will not arrive unrequested |
| Colonia | The neighbourhood — addresses are given by colonia, not district number |
#Packing List
- A proper coat, not a jacket — December evenings are the thing visitors get wrong
- Layers, because interiors are unheated and the swing from noon to nine is large
- Comfortable shoes for standing, at the Basílica and in the Zócalo
- Sunscreen, because winter sun at altitude is still strong
- Heavy moisturiser and lip balm for very dry cold air
- A scarf, which does more here than a thicker coat
- Something smarter for December dinners
- Cash in small notes for markets and stalls
#Safety & Health
The cold is the health issue, and it is a dry cold at altitude: dehydration creeps up on people who never feel hot. Drink more than you want to.
⚠️ Winter thermal inversions can trap haze on still December mornings, which is a different mechanism from the spring ozone season and usually clears by midday. December is still among the better air-quality months of the year.
Crowds around the Basílica on the 11th and 12th are on a scale few visitors have experienced. Keep valuables out of sight, agree a meeting point, and expect phone signal to fail.
Altitude is unchanged. Slow first day.
Ordinary city sense otherwise: ride-hailing rather than street-hailing, phone out of sight at rush hour.
#Backup Plans
- Museums close on Monday, and many close on the 25th and 1st.
- If the Basílica is impossible on the 12th, the days either side are still full of arriving pilgrim groups and are far easier to move in.
- Between Christmas and New Year the city is at its emptiest of residents, which makes it the easiest week of the month for museums and restaurants.
- If the Centro is too crowded before Christmas, Coyoacán's market and Christmas stalls are calmer and closer to the domestic version of the season.
- New Year's Eve in the Zócalo is free, enormous and cold. Layers and a plan for getting home.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What happens at the Basílica de Guadalupe on 12 December?
The largest annual religious gathering in the Americas. Millions travel to the basilica in the north of the city, many walking for days and covering the last stretch on their knees. Pilgrim groups arrive through the preceding week, the atrium is full through the night of the 11th, and Las Mañanitas is sung to the Virgin at dawn. Go quietly; it is devotion rather than a festival.
What are posadas?
Nine consecutive nights from 16 to 24 December re-enacting the search for lodging, held in streets, neighbourhoods and offices. Candles, a procession, a sung request for shelter at each door, then food, ponche and a piñata. Many are private, but Coyoacán and the southern villages are the easiest places to come across an open one.
How cold is Mexico City in December?
Days reach 22°C, the coolest of the year, and nights drop to 8°C. The problem is not the number but that buildings here are rarely heated, so interiors are cold in the evening. Bring a proper coat rather than a jacket, and a scarf, which does more here than a thicker coat would.
Is December expensive in Mexico City?
From about the 20th, yes, and it is the most expensive stretch of the year alongside Día de Muertos. The first half of the month is considerably better value, and the days around the 12th draw domestic pilgrims rather than international visitors, so hotel pricing moves less than the crowds would suggest.