Mexico Travel

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Mexico at a Glance:

Capital of Mexico: Mexico City

Population of Mexico: +103'000,000

Currency: Mexican Pesos
It's recomended to exchange dollars for mexican pesos at the airport in banks or any authorized foreing exchange office and always try to pay cash. The better practice will be to use credit card.

Languages Spoken: 1. Spanish 2. English 3. Nahuatl (indigenous-native communities)

Largest Cities/Population: 1. Mexico City (Distrito Federal) / + 8'720,000 but almost 20'000,000 in Distrito Federal and suburbs called Metropolitan zone of Mexico City.
2. Guadalajara / + 1'650,000
3. Monterrey / + 1'110,000



Major National Holidays
Public Holidays: 1.Cinco de Mayo (Puebla's Battle) --> May 5 2. Independence Day --> Sept. 16 3. New Year's Day --> Jan 1 4. Constitucion Day --> Feb. 5 5. Benito Juarez’s Birthday --> Mar 21 6. Holy Thursday & Holy Friday 7. Labor Day --> May 1 8. Mexican Revolution --> Nov. 20 9. Christmas Day --> Dec 25

Additional Holidays, Celebrated Days:
Mexico is a very religious country ( more than 87% catholic) therefore the holidays more celebrated by the people are the religious ones, and those are the ones that can be considered like the major celebration days. From the public holidays: Holy Thursday & Holy Friday, Christmas and New Year's Day. In addition of those, these are other holidays:

1. Day of the Dead --> Nov. 1 & 2 People's homes and graves in cemeteries, are decorated with candles, flowers (orange marigold named cempaxochitl); chocolate, sugar skulls and the preferred food and beverages of their dead relatives are also offered, because the celebration says that dead people come back these days. Dead children are honored in Nov 1 and the adults in Nov.2. Also is a tradition to eat a special “egg bread” with sugar named "Pan de Muerto" (bread of the dead).

2. Virgin of Guadalupe Day --> Dec 12 There are processions, in all over the country from many days before, also in churches, there are specials masses to sing a birthday song (Las Mañanitas) to the Virgin.

3. The Three Wise Men --> Jan 5,6 In the evening of January 5, the families get together to eat a special bread named “Rosca de Reyes” accompanied with hot chocolate or atole (a traditional cornstarch-based hot drink). That night, the children expect the presents they asked to the Wise Men but they will get them on the morning of the 6th.

4. Candelaria’s Day --> Feb 2 This day is a mixture of prehispanic and catholic traditions; on one hand, February 2 represented the end of the Christmas festivities, when Jesus (as the first child of Joseph) is presented to the church, for that, the images of baby Jesus are dressed with special clothes and taken to the church to be adored in mass. In the other hand, people who won the plastic figures of baby Jesus, in the Rosca de Reyes (Jan 5), host Tamales and Atole for the rest of the family, coworkers or friends, because winning the plastic figure represents being the godparent of baby Jesus. The Rosca de Reyes, is a tradition that is usually followed in almost every place, so, on January 5, the people eat Rosca de Reyes in their offices, in their homes and also with friends, every Rosca de Reyes have many plastic figures, and for February 2, all those that won the figures cooperate for the Tamales and Atole; this part of the actual tradition is derived from the prehispanic traditions of offerings they made asking for rain and a good agricultural year. Also, in some towns of the southeast of Mexico, this day is also a celebration for the Virgin of Candelaria, they make processions with the image or the virgin walking around the towns.

The only day that is a huge celebration in Mexico and is not of a religious origin, is the Independence Day. In every city and little town is a big celebration for people. The majors in every town, governors in the state capitals and the president of Mexico in Mexico City, make a little representation of the Grito de Dolores (Dolores’ shout) that was the call, given by Miguel Hidalgo, for insurrection against the authorities imposed by Spain. The president of Mexico rings Hidalgo’s bell and repeats a variant of his words (Viva México! Viva nuestra independencia! Viva los héroes que nos dieron patria! Viva la Virgen de Guadalupe! Viva México! -- > Hurrah for Mexico! Hurrah for our independence! Hurrah for our heroes! Hurrah for the Virgen of Guadalupe! Hurrah for Mexico!) The governors and majors also ring the bells of their cities and repeat the same words. After that, there are fireworks. This celebration is observed on the night of September 15. The official day is September 16, when there is a military parade.

Note: Although May 5 is a public holiday, Cinco de Mayo is not really celebrated in Mexico, this is a misconception. The date represents the victory of Mexican forces over the French’s in the Battle of Puebla, but it’s a minor holiday. However in the United States is usually seen this day like a big celebration of Mexican heritage.

Know Before You Go

Tips for getting around:



Immunizations needed (if any):



Travel documents needed (visas, etc):

• Passports: not needed by Canadian citizens, unless they travel with a stop in the United States, for any other citizenship passport is a most, including the USA as of this year.
• Government issued Photo ID
• Visa: citizens of The United States and Canada don’t need visa. For other countries, you need to check if you need it, there are other 47 countries that don’t need visa.

Savvy traveler tips (safety, using the phones, local customs, etc):

Don't drink the water.

Helpful Resources