Mexico City has no bad season, but it has very different ones, and the difference shows up in what a furnished flat costs and in how easy the city is to live in. Every figure below was checked in September 2026.
The rainy season, roughly May to October
Normals published by Climates to Travel for 1991–2020 give the shape of the year: 5 to 25 mm of rain a month from January to April; about 55 mm across 11 days in May, when the season turns; 110 to 160 mm a month from June to September, over 13 to 17 days; about 45 mm in October; 15 mm in November, 5 mm in December.
Datasets disagree on totals. That source puts the annual figure at 710 mm; weather-and-climate.com, on 1990–2020 normals, gives 1,109 mm and makes August the wettest month at 203 mm. Take the pattern, not the millimetre.
When it falls matters more than how much. The rain comes as afternoon and evening storms, not all-day drizzle: a typical July day is bright until about four, then heavy for an hour or two, then clear. The effect is on your commute. The Metro keeps running; the streets do not always cope. Drains back up, underpasses flood, app fares surge, and a trip of twenty-five minutes at two can take an hour at six. Between June and September, plan to be where you need to be before the rain.
Temperatures barely move: the same source gives average highs of 21.6 °C in January to 26.7 °C in April and May, and lows from 6.5 °C to 13.8 °C. Flats have neither heating nor air conditioning, and a January night at 6 °C in a concrete flat is colder indoors than that sounds.
The dry months and the contingencia ambiental
The dry season runs November to April. It is sunny, and the air is worst. The Comisión Ambiental de la Megalópolis puts the ozone season from March to June, when clear skies, strong sun and still air let ozone build over the valley.
El Universal reported on 26 April 2026 that six environmental contingencies had been declared in the Valle de México that year: five for ozone, on 8 January, 12 and 15 February, 10 March and 25 April, and one on 1 January for PM2.5 from New Year fireworks. Before the season the city's monitoring system estimated 5 to 15 contingency days for 2026, and CAMe expected three to five heat waves between March and May, up to 4 °C above average.
A Fase 1 contingency triggers doble Hoy No Circula: twice as many cars barred from the road that day. If you do not drive, the effect is fuller transport and advice to keep outdoor exercise short. If you have asthma, or a small child, February to May is the stretch to plan around.
Arriving at 2,240 metres
Mexico City sits at 2,240 m, about 7,350 ft, with roughly five per cent less oxygen than at sea level. Most arrivals are fine. A minority get headaches, breathlessness on stairs, broken sleep and fatigue twelve to twenty-four hours after landing, and most adjust within 24 to 72 hours. It is worse in the dry months. Give yourself two unscheduled days at the start of a lease.
Mexico City is in an active seismic zone. Public loudspeakers carry a seismic alert and drills are routine. Ask the owner in advance where the building's assembly point is.
The weeks that fill the city
These are the periods when short-stay demand spikes and owners hold out for nightly rates.
- Late October to early November. The worst overlap of the year. The 2026 Formula 1 Mexico City Grand Prix runs 30 October to 1 November at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, race on Sunday 1 November. The tenth Gran Desfile de Día de Muertos is Saturday 31 October 2026, from the Puerta de los Leones in Chapultepec along Paseo de la Reforma to the Zócalo; the Mega Procesión de Catrinas is Sunday 25 October. A race weekend and the city's largest free event fall on the same days, then Día de Muertos on 1 and 2 November.
- Semana Santa. The date moves; for 2027 the SEP school calendar sets the break from 22 March to 2 April. Residents leave, domestic visitors arrive, much of the city closes.
- Mid-September. The Grito on the night of 15 September in the Zócalo, the military parade on 16 September. The centre is shut for two days.
- Mid-December to early January. Posadas through the second half of December, then Christmas, New Year and Día de Reyes on 6 January.
One caveat: there is no public occupancy series for monthly furnished rentals here, so nobody can quote the exact premium in those weeks. Hotel occupancy is published and moves the same way. Mexico City hotels ran at 63.21 per cent in March 2026; the national average was 65.0 per cent across June and July 2026, a period including the World Cup. Outside the spikes, this is not a hard city to find a flat in.
How far ahead to arrange a monthly rental
For a lease starting in a quiet month — February, June, July, August, early September — six to eight weeks is usually enough; four weeks often works. For one starting or running through late October and early November, allow three to four months; the F1 weekend is the constraint and it is fixed a year out.
For December and January, three months, and expect fewer options rather than higher prices. For Semana Santa, two to three months is enough, because the pressure falls on the coast and the colonial towns, not here.
What the quiet months are good for
June, July and August are the best combination the calendar offers. The air is at its cleanest, because the rain washes the valley most afternoons. The city is green, furnished prices are softest, and the rain that puts people off is a two-hour event most days, not a condition.
Late January and February are the other quiet stretch: dry, bright, cold at night, the ozone season not yet under way. The trade-off is dust and the year's first contingencies.
The months to think twice about are March, April and May: dry, hot by local standards, the worst air of the year, and the stretch in which CAMe expects most of its contingency days.
Prices and dates move. The event dates above are the announced 2026 and 2027 ones, and every figure was checked in September 2026 against the source named beside it. Confirm the current calendar before you commit.