Transport, safety, and car rental: Mexico City-Oaxaca-Yucatán

Hi there,

We’re planning a road trip in Mexico.

Is it feasible to rent a car from Mexico City to Oaxaca? What’s the road safety like?

After that, we’d like to take a domestic flight to the Yucatán. Same question—especially about safety when visiting Palenque.

We have a child, so we don’t want to take any risks with safety.

We speak Spanish and have already lived in Nicaragua for two years.

What’s the weather like in August? We’re a bit unsure.

Thanks for your help and tips!

Marc

hi there aren’t really any safety issues *per se* unless you head into "tense" areas like Chiapas. Keep in mind that distances in Mexico are huge. I took a bus from Mexico City all the way to Villahermosa in Tabasco—it was a solid 12–15 hours on the bus

Hi, I spent about ten days in Chiapas and didn’t feel any less safe than on the Yucatán Peninsula. Was I just really lucky?

There’s no feeling of insecurity in these regions. We avoid driving at night because of the "topes" (speed bumps), and the roads can be tiring.

However, driving from Mexico City to Oaxaca in a rental car will cost you a lot because you won’t be returning the vehicle to the same agency where you picked it up...

Be careful on the way to Palenque—there are roadblocks near Ocosingo. I talk about it on my blog Chrissandvoyage. It’s better to take the detour to be sure you’ll get through while the conflict between locals and the government isn’t resolved.

Thanks for your help.

And what’s the weather like in August? What do you think?

August isn't a great time in theory, but these days the weather's hard to predict. We were there in September (hurricane season), and in the end, we had amazing weather—just one rainy day in Oaxaca.