EVENTS

Cancún treats every day as a holiday, but also plans a few organised events throughout the year. The biggest event is Carnaval, a joyous, usually drunken celebration held in February right before Lent's period of fasting and penitence. Inmaculada Concepcion is a religious festival held on Isla Mujeres in December.

The athletically inclined might consider running Cancún's International Marathon right before the mad Christmas tourist rush.

Public Holidays
25 Dec - Día de Navidad
20 Nov - Día del la revolución
12 Oct - Día de la Raza
16 Sep - Día de la Independencia
5 May - Cinco de Mayo
1 May - Día del Trabajo
21 Mar - Día de Nacimiento de Benito Juárez
24 Feb - Día de la Bandera
5 Feb - Día de la Constitución
1 Jan - Año Nuevo

When to Go

Cancún has the sun on permanent retainer. The city's temperature averages an idyllic 80°F (27°C) year-round, dipping painlessly from time to time, hitting 65°F (19°C) in January. It can swelter to 100°F (38°C) in May, though ocean breezes keep it more bearable than the rest of the Yucatán, which can get drenchingly muggy and hot. Rainfall is rare, though violent storms called nortes can roll in on any afternoon, their black clouds, high winds and torrents of rain followed within an hour by bright sun and blue sky. Hurricane season lasts from July to November. Cancún last got clobbered in 1988 by Hurricane Gilbert.

November and early December are perhaps the best times to go, as there are fewer tourists and prices are low. The busy season is from mid-December to April, when prices are noticeably higher. Surcharges get tacked on around the Christmas, New Year's and Easter holidays.