Skip to content
MyVisaPort

🇲🇽 Mexico

Many passports can visit Mexico visa-free; others need a Mexican visa unless they hold a valid US, Canadian, UK, Japanese or Schengen visa. Below: visa rules for every passport.

Check your visa route for Mexico

Pick your passport and where you live — Mexico is already filled in.

Visas or permits I hold (optional)

Visa rules for your passport ↓

Explore Mexico: things to do, shopping, food and getting around

Mexico City, Teotihuacan and Chichén Itzá. Every item links to its source: the Mexico City Tourism Secretariat and INAH (the national institute that runs archaeological sites and museums). visitmexico.com didn't respond, so it wasn't used.

Things to do

Places to visit

Shopping

Cheap ways to get around

Nightlife

Food

General tips

Summarised in our own words from the linked pages, official tourism boards and transport authorities first; items marked "Not official" come from other guides. Prices and opening times change, so check the source before you go. Last checked 23 Oct 2026.

Common tourist traps and how to avoid them

Scams and risky spots named in official travel advice for Mexico, plus a few reported in public visitor reviews (labelled), in our own words.

  1. Unlicensed taxis

    How it works: Unlicensed taxi drivers have robbed and assaulted passengers, including in Mexico City.

    How to avoid it: Use regulated 'sitio' taxis from authorised ranks or ask your hotel to order one. At airports, use only authorised pre-paid airport taxis.

  2. Express kidnapping at ATMs

    How it works: Short opportunistic kidnappings happen mainly in cities: victims are forced to withdraw cash from an ATM before they are released.

    How to avoid it: Stay alert, avoid higher-risk areas and don't travel at night in them.

  3. Virtual-kidnapping phone calls

    How it works: Callers claim a relative or colleague is being held and demand money.

    How to avoid it: Hang up, then check on the person directly.

  4. Drink and food spiking

    How it works: Criminals have drugged travellers in bars and restaurants, then robbed or assaulted them. Tainted alcohol, including methanol, has also caused illness and deaths.

    How to avoid it: Never leave food or drinks unattended, and get medical help quickly if anyone shows signs of methanol poisoning.

  5. "Free taxi" timeshare touts at Cancún airport (visitor reports)

    How it works: Visitors describe sales agents in official-looking vests in the corridor after customs at Cancún airport. They ask to see your transfer voucher, claim your shuttle is delayed, then offer a 'free' taxi or tours if you attend a timeshare presentation. Other visitors report fraudulent taxi drivers at the airport.

    How to avoid it: Walk straight through to the exit where pre-booked drivers wait, don't show your voucher, and ask 'Is this a timeshare presentation?'

    From visitor reviews, not official Cancún International Airport. Sources: reddit.com · thecancunsun.com. Researched 23 Oct 2026; there is no official page to re-check, so this date is not updated automatically.

Areas flagged in official advice

  • Tijuana and Tecate (Baja California), with exceptions for airport transit and border routes
  • State of Chihuahua outside the listed exceptions
  • Parts of Sinaloa, Jalisco and other states listed by FCDO

Official advice: FCDO advises against all but essential travel to parts of Mexico, including Tijuana, Tecate and most of Chihuahua state. Check the current list before you go.

Emergency numbers in Mexico

Other traps paraphrased from official travel advice: FCDO travel advice – Safety and security · FCDO travel advice – Warnings and insurance · FCDO travel advice – Getting help (emergency numbers) · FCDO page updated 20 Oct 2026 · Last checked 23 Oct 2026. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Cash you can bring in and take out

Customs rules for banknotes and other cash when you enter or leave Mexico.

Not yet confirmed — check the official customs page of Mexico.

Mexico visa rules by passport

The general rule for each passport, from official sources. Open a passport to see conditions and options that depend on where you live.

Visa-free62 passports
eVisa1 passport
Embassy visa134 passports

Verified rules for Mexico: 196 of 198 passports; awaiting verification: 2; not yet covered: 0. A rule that is awaiting verification or not yet covered is not a negative visa decision: it only means we haven't confirmed it on an official source yet.

⚠ Unofficial sources: 1 rule for Mexico is not from an official Mexico government source (based on other governments' travel advice or secondary research). They are labelled on each page, are not counted as verified above, and should be confirmed with the embassy before travel.

Nearby destinations

Official travel advice

Suggest something for our Mexico guide

A place, a tip or a correction. We check every suggestion against a reliable source before anything is published.

Don't include personal details. We store the suggestion, the optional name and the page, not your email or IP address. No cookies are set. Privacy

Optional travel offers

Some links are affiliate links. Booking through them costs you nothing extra, and a small commission helps pay MyVisaPort’s ongoing hosting and maintenance costs and keeps the site free of banner ads. We only list services we think are useful, and they never affect the visa information we publish. These offers are not part of the visa guidance above and are never used to rank routes. How partner links work

Plan your trip to Mexico

Verify with the embassy before you book. Visa rules change without notice. We link every rule to its official source and last checked it on 23 Oct 2026, but the embassy, official e-visa portal and your airline have the final say. MyVisaPort is not a visa agent and is not affiliated with any government.