What's on in Isla Mujeres, Mexico through the year

Busy — Day-tripper season, school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in January.

Still on: Day-tripper season (15 Dec – 15 Apr)

Busy — Day-tripper season

Nothing new starts in February.

Still on: Day-tripper season (15 Dec – 15 Apr)

Peak crowds — Semana Santa and Pascua, Day-tripper season

• Holiday

  Semana Santa and Pascua

  29 Mar – 12 AprEaster & Holy WeekCrowdedBook earlyClosures

  Holy Week and the Easter week after it are Mexico's main spring break: schools close, domestic travellers fill hotels and long-distance buses, rates rise, and many offices and shops shut on Holy Thursday and Good Friday. Source ↗

Still on: Day-tripper season (15 Dec – 15 Apr)

Peak crowds — Semana Santa and Pascua, Day-tripper season

• Hazard

  Sargassum season

  1 Apr – 30 Sep · usually

  The east-facing side takes the seaweed and the smell that comes with it once it rots. Playa Norte, tucked behind the north tip, usually stays clear, which is why the island holds up better than the mainland coast. Source ↗

Still on: Semana Santa and Pascua (29 Mar – 12 Apr), Day-tripper season (15 Dec – 15 Apr)

Shoulder season — an ordinary month

• Nature

  Whale shark season

  15 May – 17 SepDive seasonBook early

  Permits run mid-May to mid-September for the aggregation twenty-odd miles north of the island. Peak is July and August, the boat ride out is long and open, and seasickness ends more of these trips than weather does.

Still on: Sargassum season (1 Apr – 30 Sep (usually))

Quiet — school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it, one of its worst months for weather

• Hazard

  Hurricane season

  1 Jun – 30 Nov

  September and October are the months that matter on this corner of the Yucatan. The ferry from Cancun is the first thing suspended and the last thing restored, so a storm costs you days either side of it. Source ↗

Still on: Sargassum season (1 Apr – 30 Sep (usually)), Whale shark season (15 May – 17 Sep)

Shoulder season — school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it, an ordinary month

Nothing new starts in July.

Still on: Sargassum season (1 Apr – 30 Sep (usually)), Whale shark season (15 May – 17 Sep), Hurricane season (1 Jun – 30 Nov)

Shoulder season — school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it, an ordinary month

Nothing new starts in August.

Still on: Sargassum season (1 Apr – 30 Sep (usually)), Whale shark season (15 May – 17 Sep), Hurricane season (1 Jun – 30 Nov)

Quiet — school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it, one of its worst months for weather

Nothing new starts in September.

Still on: Sargassum season (1 Apr – 30 Sep (usually)), Whale shark season (15 May – 17 Sep), Hurricane season (1 Jun – 30 Nov)

Quiet — one of its worst months for weather

Nothing new starts in October.

Still on: Hurricane season (1 Jun – 30 Nov)

Busy — Fiestas de la Inmaculada

• Festival

  Fiestas de la Inmaculada

  30 Nov – 8 DecReligious feastCrowded

  Nine days for the island's patron saint, ending on 8 December with a procession of fishing boats around the bay, fireworks off the malecon and the centre closed to carts. Source ↗

Still on: Hurricane season (1 Jun – 30 Nov)

Peak crowds — travelers describe it as peak season, Fiestas de la Inmaculada

• Season

  Day-tripper season

  15 Dec – 15 AprCruise seasonCrowded

  The island belongs to Cancun day boats between about ten and four in high season: Playa Norte fills in waves off the ferry, then empties by five and the centre goes back to the people who live there.

Still on: Fiestas de la Inmaculada (30 Nov – 8 Dec)