Where Should You Live in Mexico?

After traveling throughout Mexico for more than 40 years, I came to San Miguel de Allende in the central highlands about 10 years ago. I fell in love with it—and I never left.

But that doesn't mean San Miguel is the right place for everyone. In fact, one of the questions I get asked most often by people considering a move to Mexico is:

“What is the best place to live in Mexico?”

My answer is usually:

“What part of Mexico is the best fit for you?”

Those are two very different questions.

There is no single “best” place to live in Mexico. Mexico is an enormous and incredibly diverse country, and the experience of living in San Miguel de Allende can be completely different from living in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico City, Mérida, Oaxaca, Guadalajara, a small town in the mountains, or a community along the coast. So before I suggest a particular city, I want to know something much more important:

What kind of life are you hoping to create in Mexico?

That leads to a whole series of questions.

1. Do You Want a Cooler, Colonial City?

If you don't like heat and humidity, don't assume Mexico isn't for you. Much of central Mexico sits at considerable elevation, and the climate can be surprisingly comfortable. Places such as San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Querétaro and parts of the central highlands offer a very different climate from Mexico's tropical coastal areas.

Where I live in San Miguel, I can walk to many of the places I regularly go. I don't need a car for much of my daily life. The architecture is beautiful, the cultural life is extraordinary, and the city is large enough to offer plenty to do without feeling like a huge metropolis.

Other colonial cities, including Guanajuato, Querétaro, Morelia and Oaxaca, offer their own versions of this lifestyle. But even among these cities, the differences can be significant.Climate, altitude, size, cost of living, tourism, healthcare, transportation and the character of the local community all matter.

2. Do You Want the Beach?

Mexico has an enormous amount of coastline and some spectacular beach communities. I've visited many of them during my decades of traveling around Mexico, including Puerto Vallarta, Playa del Carmen, Cancún, Mazatlán, Huatulco and La Paz. But there's something important to understand:

Living at the beach is not the same as taking a beach vacation.

On vacation, the heat and humidity may seem wonderful. After you've lived there for six months, they may feel very different. If you're considering a coastal community, you need to think about things like humidity, heat, rainy seasons, tourism, healthcare, infrastructure, transportation and how busy the area becomes during different times of the year.

The question isn't simply:

“Do I like the beach?”

It's: “Do I want to live my everyday life in a beach environment?”

3. Do You Want a Large, Cosmopolitan City?

For some people, the answer is absolutely yes. Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey offer an entirely different lifestyle from a colonial city or small Mexican town. You have museums, concerts, restaurants, shopping, universities, sophisticated healthcare, public transportation and enormous metropolitan populations.

If you enjoy having virtually everything available to you, a major city may be a much better fit than a smaller community. And don't overlook Mexico City simply because it's a huge city. For the right person, it can be an extraordinary place to live.

4. Do You Want a Smaller Mexican Town?

This is where things get particularly interesting. There are hundreds of smaller communities throughout Mexico where life can be very different from what you'll experience in the country's better-known expat destinations. You may find less tourism, lower housing costs and a much deeper immersion in everyday Mexican life.

But there can also be trade-offs.

There may be fewer English-speaking services, fewer resources for foreigners, less sophisticated healthcare and fewer of the conveniences that people from the U.S. or Canada may be accustomed to. For some people, those aren't disadvantages at all. They're exactly what they're looking for. For others, they can become frustrating after the novelty wears off.

5. Do You Want to Be Surrounded by Other Foreigners—or Not?

This is one of the questions I think is often overlooked in articles about the “best places to live in Mexico.” Some people want an established foreign community. They like having people around who have gone through the same transition. They want English-speaking doctors, real estate agents, social groups, restaurants and other familiar resources. For someone moving to another country, that can make the transition considerably easier.

Other people specifically want to get away from a foreigner community. They want to learn Spanish, make Mexican friends and become part of everyday Mexican life. Neither approach is inherently right or wrong.

It's about what kind of life you want to create.

The Questions I Tell People to Ask Before Choosing a City

Before deciding where to live in Mexico, I encourage people to think beyond the usual “Where is cheapest?” or “Where are the most expats?”

Ask yourself:

• What kind of climate do I enjoy?

• Do I want to walk most places?

• How important is being near an international airport?

• How much do I want to spend on housing?

• Do I need sophisticated private healthcare nearby?

• Do I want a large expat community—or would I rather have fewer expats around me?

• How important is nightlife?

• Do I want a quiet town or a busy city?

• Am I comfortable driving in Mexico?

• How important is it to be able to live without a car?

• Do I want to live in a tourist-oriented area or a more traditionally Mexican community?

• How important is proximity to the United States or Canada?

• Do I want to learn Spanish through everyday life?

• What will I actually do with my days once I'm no longer working?

That last question may be one of the most important of all. Moving to Mexico isn't just about finding a beautiful place with inexpensive housing.

You're choosing how you're going to live your life.

Don't Choose Your Mexican Home From a Vacation

One of the biggest mistakes I see is people falling in love with a place during a one-week vacation and assuming it will be the right place to live. Vacationing somewhere and living there are two very different experiences.

On vacation, you may spend your days in restaurants, walking around the historic center, sightseeing and sitting by the pool. When you live there, you're thinking about grocery stores, doctors, internet service, transportation, banking, neighborhood noise, water, electricity, finding a rental, making friends—and what you're going to do on an ordinary Tuesday afternoon.

That's why I encourage people to experience Mexico as a place to live before deciding where to make it their home.

Visit Before You Move

If you're seriously considering a particular city, don't just visit once for a few days. Spend enough time there to experience ordinary life—not just the things that attracted you there in the first place.

Stay in a neighborhood where you might actually live. Go to the grocery store. Take public transportation. Walk around at different times of day. See what the neighborhood is like on a weekday. Talk to people who actually live there. If healthcare is particularly important to you, find out what healthcare is actually available—not just what you read online.

And pay attention to something people often overlook:

How do you feel when you're doing absolutely nothing special?

Because eventually, the vacation ends. There will be an ordinary Tuesday morning. And an ordinary Wednesday afternoon. And that's when you need to be happy with where you live.

So perhaps the most important question isn't:

“What's the best place to live in Mexico?”

It's:

“Can I see myself living an ordinary life here?”

That's the question I encourage people to answer before they make one of the biggest decisions of their lives.

If You're Not Sure Where You Fit

After nearly 40 years of traveling throughout Mexico and a decade of living here full-time, I've learned that choosing where to live is rarely about finding the “best” city.

It's about finding the place that fits you.

Your climate preferences. Your budget. Your lifestyle. Your healthcare needs. Your desire—or lack of desire—for an expat community. Whether you want a car. Whether you want the beach, the mountains, a colonial city or a major metropolitan area.

Those are the things that should drive the decision.

If you're considering making Mexico your home but aren't sure where you should live, that's one of the things I help people work through.

We can look at your priorities, lifestyle, budget and plans and begin narrowing down the parts of Mexico that may make sense for you.

Because the goal isn't simply to move to Mexico.

It's to find your Mexico.

Ready to get started? Schedule your complimentary 30-minute consultation by clicking here.