🇲🇽Mexico

How your entry route is decided

Mexico is generous on paper and discretionary in practice.

1. Visa-free for up to 180 days: EU and Schengen passports, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan and many others, for tourism, business, transit or medical treatment.
2. Exempt through someone else's paperwork. Any nationality holding a valid multiple-entry visa or a physical permanent residence card from the United States, Canada, Japan, the United Kingdom or a Schengen country enters visa-free for up to 180 days. So do permanent residents of Chile, Colombia and Peru. This is the route many otherwise visa-required travellers use.
3. The document must be physical. Only a stamped visa in the passport or a physical residence card counts. Digital notices, EAD cards, Form I-797A, Advance Parole, I-20 and DS-2019 are explicitly refused.
4. SAE electronic authorisation is free, single entry and valid 30 days, for air travellers from Russia, Turkey and Ukraine; it does not work at land or sea borders.
5. Everyone else needs a consular visitor visa, fee USD 56.

Airport transit counts. Since 22 October 2023, anyone who needs a Mexican visa also needs one to change planes airside in Mexico.

The 180 days is a maximum, not an entitlement

The INM officer decides your stay and writes the number down. People assume 180 and get 30 or 15. If the number matters to you, be able to show a return ticket, a booking and funds, and say the length of your trip clearly.

• Passport validity: legally it need only cover your stay, but airlines enforce a 6-month rule at boarding, and the automated e-gates require 180 days of remaining validity.
• The officer may ask for: a return or onward ticket with fixed dates, hotel booking or a host invitation letter with the host's name, ID and address, and proof of funds of about USD 50 per day.

Forms and formalities

• Paper FMM forms have been abolished at airports. Arrival is recorded digitally as the Forma Migratoria Multiple Digital (FMMD), either by the officer or at an e-gate, and you can download your record afterwards from the INM portal.
• E-gates (Filtros Autonomos Migratorios) run at 66 airports for adult holders of chip e-passports from Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Germany, Italy and Mexico. The gate prints a receipt with a QR code - keep it. You must show it when you leave.
• Arriving by land still means completing the FMMe form online before you cross.
• The FMM fee is 983 MXN, already inside your airfare on a commercial flight. Land crossers staying over 7 days pay at the border.
• Since 15 October 2025 the INM takes card only. No cash payments at any INM office, for anything.
• Cash over the equivalent of USD 10,000 must be declared to SAT customs.

Overstaying means a visit to the INM desk at the airport before your flight to pay a fine, from a few hundred MXN upwards, and get exit clearance. Do not leave it to the boarding call.

• Electronic cigarettes and vaping liquids may not be imported. The ban covers personal use, devices are confiscated, and it applies at the airports and the land crossings alike.
• The random light is the inspection. After collecting your bags you press a button: green and you walk out, red and everything is searched. It is genuinely random and there is nothing to be gained by choosing a lane.
• The duty-free allowance is higher arriving by air than by land, and it covers a set amount of goods plus a small quantity of alcohol and tobacco per adult.
• Cash equivalent to USD 10,000 or more must be declared, and the same rule applies going out.
• Archaeological objects may not be exported. Pre-Hispanic pieces are national property whatever the seller says.

Do not drink the tap water, anywhere, including Mexico City. Bottled or purified only. Ice in established restaurants and hotels is made commercially from purified water (hielo purificado) and is safe - you do not need to refuse it.

• No vaccinations are required to enter. Hepatitis A, typhoid, tetanus, diphtheria and MMR are recommended.
• Dengue, Zika and chikungunya are present in low-lying tropical areas - Cancun and the coasts - in the rainy season from June to October. Use DEET repellent.
• Altitude protects the big inland cities: Mexico City at 2,240 m and Guadalajara at 1,560 m have essentially no mosquito-borne risk. Mexico City's altitude itself is worth respecting for the first day or two - take it slowly and drink more water than usual.
• Street food is fine if you pick well: a stall with a queue and high turnover, food cooked fresh in front of you.

The pharmacy system is unusually useful

• Chains are everywhere: Farmacias del Ahorro, Farmacias Guadalajara, Farmacias Similares, Farmacias Benavides.
• Antibiotics cannot legally be sold over the counter and need a prescription from a doctor licensed in Mexico.
• Which is easy, because most pharmacies have a doctor next door. The consultorio medico attached to a pharmacy charges 40 to 80 MXN for a consultation and issues a valid prescription on the spot. For a minor illness this beats a hospital in every way.

Hospitals

• Private hospitals are excellent: Centro Medico ABC in Mexico City, Hospital Angeles nationwide, Hospiten in Cancun, all with English-speaking staff. They require a card deposit or proof of insurance before admission.
• Public IMSS hospitals are overcrowded with long waits and are not the right choice for tourist emergencies if you have any alternative.
• Insurance is not required to enter but is strongly advised, because private care is billed at full price.

Bringing medication

Controlled substances are tightly regulated by COFEPRIS - ADHD medicines such as Adderall, strong opioids and psychotropics. Keep them in original packaging with the prescription and a doctor's letter.

• Taxes are added on top and are not always in the online price. The state lodging tax (ISH) is 3% to 5% of the room rate, 5% in Mexico City and Quintana Roo. In Quintana Roo - Cancun, Playa del Carmen, Tulum - there is also an environmental sanitation fee of roughly 33 to 70 MXN per room per night, collected in person at the desk.
• A physical passport or photo ID is inspected and recorded at check-in by law, for every adult.
• Platforms: Booking.com, Airbnb, Expedia and Hoteles.com. Boutique properties often price better direct.

Where to stay for a first visit

• Mexico City: Roma Norte and La Condesa are the default answer - leafy, walkable, endless cafes and restaurants, and safe to walk at night. Polanco is upmarket and very secure. Juarez and Zona Rosa are central and lively. Coyoacan is quiet, historic and a long way south of everything else.
• Cancun: the Zona Hotelera for the beach strip and the resorts; El Centro downtown for a fraction of the price, real restaurants and the ADO bus station.
• Guadalajara: Colonia Americana for walkable nightlife and cafes, Zona Centro for the historic core, Providencia for a quiet upmarket base.

Buy Telcel, and buy it at an OXXO rather than the airport.

• Telcel is the market leader with the widest 4G and 5G footprint - cities, rural areas and highway corridors. If you are leaving the resorts, this is the only sensible choice.
• AT&T Mexico is a strong second in Mexico City, Guadalajara, Monterrey and Cancun, weaker on secondary highways.
• Movistar is cheaper, fine in cities, limited outside them.

Where to buy, and why it matters

• OXXO, 7-Eleven and Circle K sell prepaid chips for 50 to 100 MXN with no passport and no identity check. There is an OXXO on practically every corner. This is the easy path.
• Airport kiosks at MEX, CUN and GDL charge 200 to 400 MXN over retail for the same product.
• Official carrier stores (Centro de Atencion a Clientes Telcel) do require an original passport or photo ID to activate a line, which is the one place the paperwork appears.

Telcel prepaid packages (Paquete Amigo Sin Limite)

All of them include unlimited WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram and X, which do not consume your data allowance, plus unlimited calls and SMS within Mexico, the US and Canada. In practice the 200 MXN package goes much further than 3 GB suggests, because messaging is free.

eSIM

• Telcel sells a tourist eSIM online and AT&T Mexico supports eSIM in stores and online.
• An international eSIM: Saily rides on the big local networks at USD 4.99 for 1 GB over 7 days, USD 16.99 for 5 GB over 30 days or USD 24.99 for 10 GB over 30 days. Its daily-cap plans start at USD 18.99 for 5 days.

Sockets in Mexico are Type A and B at 127 V, 60 Hz - the American standard, at a nominal voltage a few volts above the US.

• Unearthed Type A outlets are common. Newer buildings and hotels have the three-hole Type B, but a two-slot socket with no earth is a normal sight in older housing.
• American and Canadian plugs fit straight in. Everyone else needs an adapter.
• 127 V behaves like 120 V. Anything built for the US works; a 230 V-only European appliance does not.
• Voltage dips are worth planning for in older neighbourhoods, which is why sensitive equipment is often run through a surge protector - hotels in this class usually provide one for the television, not for you.

• Power: Type A and B sockets at 127V, 60 Hz. North American devices plug straight in; European and UK visitors need an adapter, and single-voltage 230V appliances need a converter.
• Time: Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey are on UTC-6. Cancun and the rest of Quintana Roo are on UTC-5 and do not change clocks, so the difference between Cancun and Mexico City is one hour for part of the year and two for the rest. Check before booking a connecting flight.
• Tap water: not drinkable. Refill from the purified garrafones that hotels and restaurants keep.
• Language: Spanish. English is common in international airports, resorts and upmarket restaurants in Cancun, Mexico City and Guadalajara, and rare among bus drivers, market vendors and local police.

Hours and holidays

• Shops 09:00 or 10:00 to 20:00 or 21:00, daily. Banks 09:00 to 16:00 weekdays, some Saturday mornings.
• Public holidays that close business: 1 January, the first Monday of February, the third Monday of March, 1 May, 16 September (Independence Day), the third Monday of November and 25 December.

Small things

• Toilet paper goes in the bin beside the toilet, not down it. Mexican drainage cannot take it, and this applies in good hotels too.
• Public toilets cost 5 to 10 MXN and you need coins. Paper is handed out at the entrance, so take some before you go in.
• Cover shoulders and knees in churches such as the Catedral Metropolitana.
• Tipping is expected more widely than in Europe - see the money section. Petrol stations are attended and the attendant gets 5 to 10 MXN.

Money and paying for things

Mexico uses the Mexican peso (MXN).

• Cards work in mid-range and upmarket restaurants, hotels, department stores and supermarkets in Mexico City, Guadalajara, Monterrey and the Cancun hotel zone.
• Cash is mandatory for street food, taquerias, markets, public transport, small taxis, public toilets and anywhere rural. Keep small notes - a 500 MXN note at a taco stand is a problem.
• Withdraw only from ATMs inside bank branches: BBVA, Santander, Banorte, Citibanamex, HSBC or Scotiabank. Skimming on standalone street machines, in convenience stores and at petrol stations is the most common financial crime against visitors here - tampered card slots and pinhole cameras. A machine inside a branch, in daylight, is worth the walk.
• Fees: bank ATMs charge 30 to 100 MXN per foreign-card withdrawal (BBVA about 35, Santander about 38, Banorte about 45), and per-transaction limits run 4,000 to 8,000 MXN.
• Decline dynamic currency conversion. Choose MXN; accepting the machine's rate costs 10% to 15%.
• Airport casas de cambio are 10% to 15% off market. Use a bank ATM.

Tipping (la propina)

• Restaurants: 10% standard, 15% for good service. Check the bill first - propina is sometimes added automatically, particularly in tourist areas, and paying twice is easy.
• Bars and cafes: 10 to 20 MXN a round, or 10% to 15%.
• Hotel porters: 20 to 50 MXN a bag. Housekeeping: 30 to 50 MXN a night.
• Taxis: not expected unless the driver handled luggage.

What things cost

Use the apps, not the street taxis. This is both the cheap option and the safe one, and locals do the same.

• Uber covers Mexico City, Guadalajara, Monterrey and the regional centres. DiDi operates in the same cities and is usually cheaper. InDrive works on fare bidding in secondary cities. Cabify is a Mexico City alternative.
• Do not flag an unmetered street taxi, particularly at night. The banderazo - an altered or absent meter - is the classic overcharge, and street taxis are the setting for most of the rarer but nastier incidents.
• Mexico City runs on one card. The Tarjeta de Movilidad Integrada costs 15 MXN and works on the Metro (5 MXN), Metrobus (6 MXN), Cablebus (7 MXN) and Trolebus (4 MXN). Buy it at any station machine on day one.
• Women-only carriages (vagones exclusivos) at the front of Metro and Metrobus vehicles are strictly reserved for women and children during operating hours. Men should not board them.

Between cities

• Coaches are excellent and the main way to travel. ADO covers the southeast and Gulf, ETN Turistar runs luxury executive coaches, Primera Plus serves the centre and west. Book on Busbud, ClickBus or the operators' own apps.
• The Tren Maya connects Quintana Roo, Yucatan, Campeche and Tabasco; book on the official portal or at station counters.
• Ferries: Ultramar and Winjet run Puerto Juarez to Isla Mujeres and Playa del Carmen to Cozumel.
• If you drive, use the toll roads (carreteras de cuota) rather than the free ones (libres), and do not drive at night on secondary roads. Unlit stretches and unmarked topes - speed bumps that will damage a car at speed - are the reason.

• Uber - https://www.uber.com/mx/ - Works everywhere and takes foreign cards without trouble.
• DiDi - https://web.didiglobal.com/mx/ - Usually cheaper than Uber. Requires SMS verification at signup, so install and register before you travel while your home number still works.
• Citymapper - https://citymapper.com/ - The best routing for Mexico City, and it understands Metro, Metrobus, Cablebus and Trolebus together.
• Google Maps - Reliable transit routing in all the big cities; Waze is what locals use for driving.
• ADO Mobile - https://www.ado.com.mx/ - Intercity coach tickets.
• Rappi - https://www.rappi.com.mx/ - The delivery super-app for food, groceries and pharmacy. It frequently declines foreign cards as a fraud measure; link it through PayPal or choose pago en efectivo and pay the courier cash.
• Uber Eats - Accepts foreign cards more reliably than Rappi.
• Google Translate - Download the Spanish pack. English fades quickly outside hotels and resorts.

Two parallel networks: the cuota you pay for and the libre you do not, and the difference is more than speed.

• Take the cuota. The toll roads are faster, better maintained and better policed. The free libre runs through every village with topes - speed bumps that will destroy a low car at speed.
• Mexican liability insurance is compulsory and a foreign policy does not satisfy it. Cars hired locally include it; a car driven down from the United States needs a Mexican policy bought at the border.
• Do not drive intercity at night. Unlit vehicles, animals and the risk of roadblocks are the standard local advice, and hire agreements sometimes make it a condition.
• Fuel is sold by attendants and the pump should be at zero before they start. Pemex is the default, and cards are accepted at most but not all stations.
• Toll plazas take cash and cards, and the IAVE tag is common in hire cars.

Mexico's safety picture is regional, not national. Mexico City, Quintana Roo and Jalisco are at US Level 2, exercise increased caution - the same as France. But Colima, Guerrero, Michoacan, Sinaloa, Tamaulipas and Zacatecas carry Level 4, do not travel. Check the advisory for the specific state, not the country.

The scams you will meet

• The mustard or spill scam: someone spills something on you, a second person helps you clean up, your wallet leaves with them.
• The mordida: an officer stops you, usually in a rental car, and asks for cash to avoid impounding the vehicle. Ask for the written ticket (multa) payable at a police station. That request usually ends the conversation.
• The banderazo: an unmetered street taxi charging whatever it likes. Use Uber or DiDi.
• ATM skimming on street machines. Use one inside a bank.

Areas to avoid

• Mexico City: Tepito, La Lagunilla after dark, Iztapalapa, the eastern part of Doctores, Ciudad Nezahualcoyotl.
• Cancun: the outer residential colonias in the north and west of the city late at night.
• Guadalajara: Lomas de Polanco and the outer parts of San Juan de Dios late at night.

Natural hazards

• Earthquakes. Central Mexico is seismically active and Mexico City has a public warning siren (Alerta Sismica) that sounds seconds before shaking arrives. If you hear it, move away from windows and follow the people around you - they have all done this before.
• Hurricane season runs 1 June to 30 November in Quintana Roo.

Everything else

• Solo and female travellers: use Uber or DiDi rather than street taxis at night, do not leave drinks unattended, and use the women-only Metro carriages.
• LGBTQ+: same-sex marriage is legal nationwide, with progressive attitudes in Mexico City (especially Zona Rosa) and Guadalajara, and more conservative ones in small towns.
• Drugs are illegal, cannabis included, and sentences are severe. Buying anything on the street also puts you into contact with the people you least want to meet.
• Do not discuss cartels or organised crime with people you do not know. It is not a conversational topic here.

Emergency numbers

• 911 - police, ambulance and fire, nationwide. In tourist areas the dispatcher will usually find you an English speaker.
• 078 - Angeles Verdes, the tourist helpline and roadside assistance service. Bilingual, 24 hours, and the better number to call for anything that is a problem rather than an emergency - a breakdown, a dispute, being lost, needing advice.

The Angeles Verdes also patrol the toll highways in green trucks and will help with a breakdown for free, charging only for parts and fuel.

If your passport is lost or stolen

1. File a denuncia at a Ministerio Publico office. This is the formal report and everything else depends on it.
2. Book an emergency appointment at your embassy or consulate.
3. Bring the police report, a copy of your photo ID, passport photographs and the fee.

Embassies in Mexico City

• United States - Paseo de la Reforma 305, Colonia Cuauhtemoc, 06500 - +52 55 5080 2000 (press 0 for the duty officer)
• United Kingdom - Plaza Grijalva 12, Colonia Cuauhtemoc, 06500 - +52 55 1670 3200
• Canada - Schiller 529, Colonia Polanco, 11560 - +52 55 5724 7900
• Australia - Ruben Dario 55, Colonia Polanco, 11580 - +52 55 1101 2200

If you overstayed, the INM desk at the airport handles the fine and exit clearance, and takes card only. Arrive early.