Great weather and perfect before Christmas, after is also good but it´s high season, so try to book tours and activities in advance.
WEATHER
The weather is usually sunny and warm, yet some random days and nights are cold, just bring an extra coat in case our crazy weather decides to be cold, or you can buy one very easily. It´s a dry season, you won´t have to worry about rain.
THIGS TO CONSIDER
So we are a predominantly catholic country, this means that December 24th and 25th are messy dates, On the 24th restaurants only open for breakfast and lunch and they close usually at 5:00 some host special Christmas parties but look in advance, the best place to find one is at hotels restaurants. On the 25th like 80% of the restaurants will be closed. This it’s improving when I was a kid literally 99% of the places were closed because this is a family day. The same happens on the 31st and 1st, the difference is that more options will be available for new Year’s Eve than for Christmas.
COOL THINGS TO DO AND SEE
- Christmas lights – The historic center has a cool exhibition of Christmas lights that i love to see with my friends, also some street vendors sell hot drinks and you can enjoy them while you walk around.
- Ice Skating– Every year a huge rink in the middle of the Zócalo, this is a free attraction and the lines are enormous, so i wouldn’t recommend you to actually skate unless you want to spend hours waiting on a line, what i do is go people watching.
- Romerías or Christmas markets – Most of the markets in the city have an extended market outside just for this season, you will find piñatas an christmas decorations, Christmas tree and lots of nativity figures, also traditional food like bacalao (cod) Romeritos (mole with some herbs like and shrimps) buñuelos, and ponche a drink made with hibiscus, apples, sugar cane, guava, and other ingredients. Some places spike the ponche and call it hapiness or piquete, if you see these words you´ll know your ponche will be alcoholic 🙂
- Guadalupe Virgin Day – On December 12th we celebrate the virgin birthday, this is one of the biggest pilgrimages in America and it´s worth seeing if you like crowds and are interested in local traditions. You´ll need to arrive walking and be prepare for the rivers of people floding the area, its a one in a lofe time experience, lot of pilgrims spend the night over thereto be ready to sing Las Mañanitas at 12:00 am.
