# where in Mexico???



## USA expat (Nov 30, 2015)

I am interested in relocating to Mexico and have identified some cities, most of which are close to the US border. I would like positive and negative feedback about any of these cities as to quality of life and anything else relevant. The cities are ensenada, chihuahua, mexico city, mexicali, nogales, ciudad juarez, ciudad acuna, nuevo laredo, monclova, monterrey, and matamoros. Maybe you can recommend other cities. I lived in Leon so I know that area. Thank you!


----------



## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

USA expat said:


> I am interested in relocating to Mexico and have identified some cities, most of which are close to the US border. I would like positive and negative feedback about any of these cities as to quality of life and anything else relevant. The cities are ensenada, chihuahua, mexico city, mexicali, nogales, ciudad juarez, ciudad acuna, nuevo laredo, monclova, monterrey, and matamoros. Maybe you can recommend other cities. I lived in Leon so I know that area. Thank you!


"Anything else relevant" has a lot to do with why you are planning to move (to retire?) to Mexico. More details will help us to help you with useful information.


----------



## beachseeker (Oct 22, 2015)

Highly recommend Merida. Very affordable city, low cost of living. Full of history & culture with beaches very close by.


----------



## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

beachseeker said:


> Highly recommend Merida. Very affordable city, low cost of living. Full of history & culture with beaches very close by.


Don't forget to mention the delightful weather!


----------



## beachseeker (Oct 22, 2015)

Isla Verde said:


> Don't forget to mention the delightful weather!


YES - I LOVE it and so does everyone here. I moved from Canada mainly to escape the cold. Bonus there is very little pollution here


----------



## USA expat (Nov 30, 2015)

Thanks for the reply. Relevant might be anything that comes to mind about the place.


----------



## USA expat (Nov 30, 2015)

Thanks! I'm in Wisconsin and like the idea of being somewhere warmer.


----------



## USA expat (Nov 30, 2015)

Thanks!


----------



## RVGRINGO (May 16, 2007)

What kind of hot weather do you prefer?
Unbearably humid and rainy
Oppressively hot and humid
Tolerable only after dark
Too hot to be able to afford to run the AC
Too humid for an evaporative cooler to work
Always hot and buggy
Just hot and muggy
Over 100ºF but just dry heat
Hot in April and May, until it rains in June
Too hot to walk barefooted
Too humid for sex
Never hot enough
Hot but not sunny
Sunny but not hot
Never too hot to jog


----------



## NCas (Sep 9, 2013)

Ensenada is a nice touristy place you can go. To me it's a little boring after you've been to it a few times, but to be fair I'm mostly an outdoors kind of guy. Having said that there are some nice beaches you can go to and if you drive a bit further I'm sure you can find a beach where you're alone. There is a national park about 2-3 hours south of Ensenada with an observatory. It has a high altitude so it snows there during those really cold winters. There are wineries where that you can visit you'd like. 

If you're looking for a place to rent they usually charge in dollars. I'm sure you can find a number of post on Craigslist you can check out to give you an idea of how much you'll have to allocate for rent. In and out of Tijuana into San Diego is speedy if got a sentry pass. Compare to central Mexico (Queretaro) where I moved up from I'd say rent, food, and utilities are more expensive in Baja California Norte.


----------



## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

beachseeker said:


> YES - I LOVE it and so does everyone here. I moved from Canada mainly to escape the cold. Bonus there is very little pollution here


It makes sense that those who have chosen Merida like the weather, or else why are they living there? Those of us who are not fond of horribly hot and humid weather prefer to live in the more temperate climate offered by the central highlands. To each her or his own!


----------



## USA expat (Nov 30, 2015)

Thanks! Very helpful.


----------



## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

USA expat said:


> Thanks! Very helpful.


When you are replying to a particular post, it's helpful to click on the Reply With Quote button, before typing your response.


----------



## chicois8 (Aug 8, 2009)

Isla Verde said:


> It makes sense that those who have chosen Merida like the weather, or else why are they living there? Those of us who are not fond of horribly hot and humid weather prefer to live in the more temperate climate offered by the central highlands. To each her or his own!



Well safety is another reason people like Merida, Isla do you remember when Howard Hughes was gaga,gaga over Jane Russell and he had stationed guards on her block for safety? It is the same today, the Zeta's have moved most all parents and close family into Merida hence no so much crime.............


----------



## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

chicois8 said:


> Well safety is another reason people like Merida, Isla do you remember when Howard Hughes was gaga,gaga over Jane Russell and he had stationed guards on her block for safety? It is the same today, the Zeta's have moved most all parents and close family into Merida hence no so much crime.............


I feel quite safe living in big, bad Mexico City, thank you very much!


----------



## alectejas (Jan 22, 2014)

Hello USA Expat, 
I have lived in the Rio Grande Valley, right across from Matamoros for 10 years. My wife's family is from Reynosa and Nuevo Laredo. Right now these towns are way too dangerous to move to. As you get away from the border things improve a lot. 
Good Luck.


----------



## USA expat (Nov 30, 2015)

Thank you so much. Very appreciated.


----------



## Orfin (Sep 26, 2016)

Time of year per region is a thing to keep in mind.

If you are used to life in southern California, southern Arizona, southern New Mexico or southern Texas, then you will already be familiar with the year round weather in Northern Mexico near the border. It is all dry desert that can get a bit chilly in the winter. 
Lots of Options for places in Mexico, so narrowing them down by year-round climate is the way to go. 
North of Mazatlan is Desert and places like Hermosillo can peak at over 105f degrees between July and August. And winters can be a bit too cool for easy beach life.

Mazatlan is where the desert starts to ease into a mediteranean type of climate but a bit more heat in the winter than the Mediterranean. That extra heat brings Mazatlan up to a sweet spot climate between October and May. 

Mazatlan Gets hot in the Summer but it retains some of the desert dry air which tames the humidity a bit.
You can even get the desert air effect as far down as Puerto Vallarta but it is rare because major weather events bringing north air down south is what it takes to get some dry air as far down as Puerto Vallarta. PVR can get humid in the peak of summer, but the rest of the year it is the ideal middle ground of not being desert and not being sweltering hot jungle. 

So Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta are different latitudes. And sure enough, Merida is just about the same Latitude as Puerto Vallarta which very likely means similar temperatures year round. Hawaii also is just about the same latitude as PVR and Merida. And hawaii is called paradise not just for its looks, but blissful temperature ranges that never get into a sweltering humid range other than rare years or maybe now more often with global warming. ?

There is a fine line before you end up in Hot sweltering summer time temperatures. By the time you get as far south as Nicaragua, February becomes one of the hottest months of the year while February is the coldest almost anywhere in Mexico. Both are tropical Countries but it depends where their latitudes are relative to the Intertropic zone. 
I think the tropic of cancer line runs through Mexico at roughly between Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta. It is where Winter lands and tropical lands mingle their weather and the effect can cover a wide line of latitude such as from Mazatlan to as far south as Manzanillo and can have its weather patterns undulate outside of the actual line on the map. 
Once you cross south of the tropic of cancer line, temperatures starts to trend towards hot year round and then hotter February and March than any other months. Then the rains come to cool things and cloud out the sun. 

It becomes a whole different climate logic when you are at altiudes around 4000 feet and above. No matter how hot the desert or sweltering the jungle, if you go to 5000 feet altitude, it will cool down a lot and even get cold at around 9000 feet. Any lattitude makes no difference if you have good altitude under your feet. 

I stay winter months in Mexico where the temperatures are world class for beach fun paradise, plus endless beach options. Then i go to Ecuador on the Equator for the summer, which sounds odd where the equator should be scorching in July, but that is not the case in Ecuador where there are so many cities and towns above 5000 feet. Also the beaches there can get to be 90f degree range of weather but the Antarctic side of the equator is in full winter during July and antarctic sends cold water currents to cool the climate as far north as the equator. When it is summer up in north hemisphere, it is winter in the southern hemisphere. The Equator never gets a true winter, just a mellowing of things during antarctic winter because the antarctic has more cold to spread around than the arctic up north. Antarctic winter has mostly ocean water to chill rather than huge land like siberia in the arctic region. So the South Pacific gets cold and water currents run up towards the equator to cool the water and that water cools the air and makes the weather cooler over-all than other places on the arctic side of the equator. 

I rent a place in Mexico for the northern winter, then rent a place in Ecuador when it is summer in Mexico. Will be splitting time between Colombia and Ecuador this summer. Colombia also has a lot of higher altitude towns and cities.


----------



## USA expat (Nov 30, 2015)

Wow!!! What a great message!!! Very helpful. Thank you!!!


----------



## chicois8 (Aug 8, 2009)

Orfin, you use PVR a lot, if you need to abbreviate Puerto Vallarta just use PV as PVR is the international airport code for the Puerto Vallarta Airport...
Orfin, you then write: I think the tropic of cancer line runs through Mexico at roughly between Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta."
I drove the area last week and the Tropic of Cancer runs 14 miles north of Mazatlan...


----------



## USA expat (Nov 30, 2015)

Isla Verde said:


> When you are replying to a particular post, it's helpful to click on the Reply With Quote button, before typing your response.


Thanks for the tip. This is new to me. I am impressed by the number of replies and the interactiveness. Pretty awesome!


----------



## Maxwell99 (Mar 18, 2018)

I am also looking to move to Mexico. Considering Puerto Vallarta or Mérida or ?Have retirement of $2500 a month income. Like the Hawaii type climate, hotter be fine. Prefer white sand beaches to mountains etc. Appreciate any info anyone can provide on location, budget, beaches and of course safety.


----------



## Haskins (May 21, 2017)

I was born in Monterrey and lived there as a child. It's probably the most expensive large city in Mexico. A very busy place indeed. The mountains that surround it are beautiful! From the iconic Cerro de la Silla, to the "M" on the sierra madre, to the Cerro de las Mitras. There are lots of natural wonders to see nearby, las Grutas de Garcia cavern, horsetail falls, Chipinque on the Sierra Madre, and Huasteca Canyon. It does get hot in the summer and cold in the winter, much like the Rio Grande Valley (McAllen)which is where I'm living at the moment.


----------



## Meritorious-MasoMenos (Apr 17, 2014)

Haskins said:


> I was born in Monterrey and lived there as a child. It's probably the most expensive large city in Mexico. A very busy place indeed. The mountains that surround it are beautiful! From the iconic Cerro de la Silla, to the "M" on the sierra madre, to the Cerro de las Mitras. There are lots of natural wonders to see nearby, las Grutas de Garcia cavern, horsetail falls, Chipinque on the Sierra Madre, and Huasteca Canyon. It does get hot in the summer and cold in the winter, much like the Rio Grande Valley (McAllen)which is where I'm living at the moment.


How's the violence these days? My ex-sister-in-law and hubby, both Mexican chilangos, he a top exec at Japanese auto firm, had a glorious house and wonderful life in Monterrey, driving to U.S. to shop, private schools for kids, until drug gangs started street warfare in that city. I think they also feared kidnapping of him or children. Company transferred all top execs to D.F. four or so years ago. I've been out of Mexico since Jan. 2016. Have gangs called a truce? Has one gang won and ended the violence? I think everyone knows federal gov't has no hope of reigning in gangs at this point, so that I won't even ask if gov't took effective action.


----------



## Orfin (Sep 26, 2016)

chicois8 said:


> Orfin, you use PVR a lot, if you need to abbreviate Puerto Vallarta just use PV as PVR is the international airport code for the Puerto Vallarta Airport...
> Orfin, you then write: I think the tropic of cancer line runs through Mexico at roughly between Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta."
> I drove the area last week and the Tropic of Cancer runs 14 miles north of Mazatlan...


Thanks. I googled the tropic line and got no clear map picture with cities to reference and one map had the line as a thick red line that was as broad as from Mazatlan to around PV.
I was wondering where exactly the line is. It is the best marker for climate zone spectrum, and sure enough Just North of Mazatlan is where the desert climate begins to liven up towards the greenery side of life.


----------

