North and Central America

What does North and Central America cover as a destination?

The arc spans more than 100 degrees of latitude. Greenland's ice sheet covers around 81% of the island's 2,166,086 km², while at the southern end the Panama Canal separates the Pacific and Caribbean by only around 80 km. In between lie the Rocky Mountains, the deserts of the Southwest and Baja, the volcanic chain of Central America with more than 20 cones in Nicaragua's Maribios range, and the rainforests of Petén and Darién.

Administratively, the region is far from uniform: the USA, Canada and Mexico are sovereign states with their own pages for Alaska, Hawaii, Baja California and Yucatán. Greenland belongs to Denmark but lies outside the EU and the Schengen Area; Bermuda is a British and Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon a French overseas territory, each with its own entry rules. The five Central American countries form a hub of their own in between.

What's missing from this page

Not part of this page are El Salvador and Honduras, for which TalkTravel does not yet maintain a dedicated page, as well as all Caribbean states from Cuba to Trinidad: they form their own world region with its own overview page, even though Cancún, Belize and Costa Rica's Caribbean coast lie geographically close to the Caribbean.

Sources: Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs (BMEIA), Austria · Servicio Nacional de Migración de Panamá · Federal Foreign Office, Germany

How do the 15 destinations of North and Central America differ?

Entry is usually similarly simple: US states run via ESTA, Mexican regions via the free FMM tourist card, and Guatemala and Nicaragua share the CA-4 area with El Salvador and Honduras, using a single stamped passport valid for 90 days. The outliers are Greenland and Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon: both lie outside the Schengen Area, so a valid passport is required even though no visa is needed.

On safety, there is a clear gradient: Canada, Bermuda and Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon rank among the safest destinations, while parts of Mexico, Guatemala and the Darién province of Panama carry structural security risks. Everyday crime in Nicaragua is considered comparatively low according to the FDFA, but the political situation is tense. Check the current situation with the FDFA, Federal Foreign Office and BMEIA.

Sources: U.S. Customs and Border Protection · Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada · Instituto Nacional de Migración (Mexico) · Wikipedia · Federal Department of Foreign Affairs FDFA, Switzerland · Federal Foreign Office, Germany · Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs (BMEIA), Austria · Federal Department of Foreign Affairs FDFA, Switzerland · Federal Foreign Office, Germany · Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs (BMEIA), Austria · Federal Department of Foreign Affairs FDFA, Switzerland · Federal Foreign Office, Germany · Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs (BMEIA), Austria · Federal Department of Foreign Affairs FDFA, Switzerland · Federal Foreign Office, Germany · Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs (BMEIA), Austria · Federal Department of Foreign Affairs FDFA, Switzerland · Federal Foreign Office, Germany · Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs (BMEIA), Austria · Federal Department of Foreign Affairs FDFA, Switzerland · Federal Foreign Office, Germany · Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs (BMEIA), Austria · Federal Department of Foreign Affairs FDFA, Switzerland · Federal Foreign Office, Germany · Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs (BMEIA), Austria · Federal Department of Foreign Affairs FDFA, Switzerland · Federal Foreign Office, Germany · Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs (BMEIA), Austria · Federal Foreign Office, Germany · Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs (BMEIA), Austria · Federal Foreign Office, Germany · Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs (BMEIA), Austria · Federal Foreign Office, Germany · Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs (BMEIA), Austria · Visit Greenland · Légifrance

When is the best time to visit North and Central America?

Hurricane season: two coasts, two calendars

For the Atlantic, the National Hurricane Center's official season runs from June 1 to November 30, with a statistical peak around September 10; affected are the US East Coast, the Caribbean coast of Mexico and Belize, and Bermuda. The Eastern Pacific has its own, longer season from May 15 to November 30 with a less sharply defined peak in late August; it affects the Pacific coast of Mexico and Baja California as well as Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama.

The north: short summer, long night

In Alaska, northern Canada and Greenland, June to August is the ice-free season with midnight sun north of the Arctic Circle; seeing the northern lights requires darkness, most reliably from late September to April in Fairbanks and around Nuuk. In the US Northeast and in Vancouver, May to October is the mild season, while New York and Chicago have cold, snowy winters.

The north: Nuuk, Fairbanks, Vancouver and New York

Average daily highs and lows, and monthly rainfall. Temperaturen: Mittel der täglichen Höchst- und Tiefstwerte 2010–2024 der Station NUUK (GODTHAAB) (1 km, 84 m), auf 5 m umgerechnet. Niederschlag: NASA POWER, Monatsmittel 2001–2020. Temperaturen: Mittel der täglichen Höchst- und Tiefstwerte 2010–2024 der Station WAINWRIGHT AAF AIRPORT (5 km, 138 m). Niederschlag: NASA POWER, Monatsmittel 2001–2020. Temperaturen: Mittel der täglichen Höchst- und Tiefstwerte 2010–2024 der Station VANCOUVER HARBOUR CS BC (2 km, 3 m). Niederschlag: NASA POWER, Monatsmittel 2001–2020. Temperaturen: Mittel der täglichen Höchst- und Tiefstwerte 2010–2024 der Station THE BATTERY (1 km, 4 m). Niederschlag: NASA POWER, Monatsmittel 2001–2020.

Deserts, peninsulas and Central America: dry seasons instead of the four seasons

The US Southwest and Baja California are very hot in summer — Las Vegas regularly tops 40 °C in July and August —, while gray whales pass off La Paz from December to April. Yucatán, meanwhile, lies within hurricane season, and in Costa Rica, Guatemala, Panama, Belize and Nicaragua, the dry season ("verano," November to April) replaces winter and the rainy season ("invierno," May to October) replaces summer; the exception is the Caribbean sides of Costa Rica and Panama, which see rain year-round without a pronounced dry season.

Deserts and Central America: Las Vegas, Cancún, San José and Panama City

Average daily highs and lows, and monthly rainfall. Temperaturen: Mittel der täglichen Höchst- und Tiefstwerte 2010–2024 der Station NORTH LAS VEGAS AIRPORT (6 km, 667 m), auf 610 m umgerechnet. Niederschlag: NASA POWER, Monatsmittel 2001–2020. Temperaturen: Mittel der täglichen Höchst- und Tiefstwerte 2010–2024 der Station CANCUN INTL (14 km, 6 m). Niederschlag: NASA POWER, Monatsmittel 2001–2020. Temperaturen: Mittel der täglichen Höchst- und Tiefstwerte 2010–2024 der Station TOBIAS BOLANOS INTL (7 km, 994 m). Niederschlag: NASA POWER, Monatsmittel 2001–2020. Temperaturen: Mittel der täglichen Höchst- und Tiefstwerte 2010–2024 der Station MARCOS A GELABERT I (2 km, 10 m). Niederschlag: NASA POWER, Monatsmittel 2001–2020.

Hawaii, Bermuda and Belize: warm year-round

Hawaii is warm year-round for travel; humpback whales pass by from December to April. Bermuda is warmest from May to October and lies within the Atlantic hurricane season at the same time; Belize's coast is driest from February to May.

Sources: National Hurricane Center (NOAA) · Wikipedia

Which destinations belong to North and Central America, and what do they offer?

USA, Canada and Mexico

The USA cover around 9.83 million km² across six time zones and are usually visited by region: the Northeast with New York, the West Coast with Los Angeles and San Francisco, the Southwest with the national parks of Utah and Arizona, the Midwest with Chicago. Two regions have their own pages: Alaska and Hawaii.

Canada, at 9,984,671 km², is the world's second-largest country, but sparsely populated: around 41.4 million people are spread across six time zones, from Ontario's vineyards to Arctic tundra. Toronto, Vancouver and the Rocky Mountain parks around Banff, jointly a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1984, are the classic destinations.

Mexico has 36 UNESCO World Heritage sites, more than any other country in the Americas, from Mexico City through Oaxaca and Guanajuato to its coasts. Two regions have their own pages: the desert peninsula of Baja California and the Caribbean peninsula of Yucatán.

Alaska and Hawaii: the USA's two special cases

Alaska, at around 1.72 million km², is nearly a fifth the size of the other 49 states combined, but so sparsely populated that its capital Juneau has no road connection to the outside world. North America's highest mountain, Denali, measures 6,190 m according to the US Geological Survey.

Hawaii lies around 3,900 km from the nearest mainland and is the only US state on an archipelago. Four islands carry almost all of the tourism: Oahu with Honolulu, Maui, Big Island with the active volcanoes Kīlauea and Mauna Loa (a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1987), and Kauai.

Baja California and Yucatán: Mexico's two peninsulas

Baja California is Mexico's longest peninsula; gray whales pass off La Paz from December to April, and whale sharks from October to May.

Yucatán hosts the Mesoamerican Reef System, the world's second-largest reef system, more than 2,000 registered cenotes, and the Maya site of Chichén Itzá, a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1988 and one of the "New 7 Wonders of the World" since 2007.

Central America: five countries between two continents

Between Mexico and South America lies the Central American hub, with five countries covered by TalkTravel: Costa Rica, Panama, Guatemala, Belize and Nicaragua. Costa Rica protects around 26% of its land area and is home to an estimated 6% of all known species worldwide, from cloud forest in Monteverde to Arenal volcano.

Panama is only around 80 km wide at the canal; behind it lie the colonial old town of Casco Viejo, a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1997, and the coffee mountains around Boquete.

Guatemala, with 18.4 million residents, is Central America's most populous country and combines the colonial town of Antigua, a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1979, Lake Atitlán, and the temples of Tikal, also a World Heritage site since 1979.

Belize is Central America's only English-speaking country and hosts the Belize Barrier Reef, the world's second-largest barrier reef; UNESCO removed it from the List of World Heritage in Danger in 2018.

Nicaragua is Central America's largest country by area: the Maribios mountain range lines up more than 20 volcanoes, and in the middle of Lake Nicaragua rises the twin-volcano island of Ometepe, a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve since 2010.

The North Atlantic: Greenland, Bermuda and Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon

Greenland, the world's largest island, belongs to Denmark but lies outside the EU and the Schengen Area; around 81% of its 2,166,086 km² land area is covered by the ice sheet, with only around 56,831 people living along the ice-free coasts. Bermuda, a British overseas territory around 1,035 km east of North Carolina, combines pink beaches with the town of St. George's, founded in 1612 and UNESCO-protected since 2000.

Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon, the last remnant of former New France, lies only around 25 km off Newfoundland; across 242 km², around 5,819 people live with full EU citizen status but outside Schengen.

Sources: UNESCO World Heritage Centre · UNESCO World Heritage Centre · U.S. Geological Survey · UNESCO World Heritage Centre · UNESCO World Heritage Centre · UNESCO World Heritage Centre · UNESCO World Heritage Centre · UNESCO World Heritage Centre · Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs (BMEIA), Austria · UNESCO World Heritage Centre · Légifrance

What kinds of trips suit North and Central America?

West Coast USA road trip

Highway 1 links San Francisco, Big Sur and Los Angeles; anyone wanting more can add the Southwest's national parks — Death Valley, Grand Canyon, Zion and Bryce Canyon all lie within a day's drive of one another.

Canadian Rocky Mountains

The Icefields Parkway between Banff and Jasper is considered one of the most scenically dense routes in North America, passing glaciers and turquoise lakes such as Lake Louise, within the four national parks that have jointly been a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1984.

The Maya route: Mexico, Belize, Guatemala

The classic route starts in Cancún or Mérida, runs via Chichén Itzá and Tulum along Yucatán's Caribbean coast, crosses the border to the cayes of Belize, and finally reaches Flores and Tikal in the rainforest of Petén; from there, a short flight usually connects to Guatemala City or Antigua.

Volcanoes and rainforest: Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Panama

From Nicaragua's colonial towns of León and Granada, through Costa Rica's Arenal volcano and Monteverde cloud forest, to Panama's coffee mountains around Boquete runs a chain of active volcanoes; all three countries rank among the most species-rich on Earth.

Alaska: wilderness, glaciers and cruising

Cruises through the Inside Passage link Vancouver or Seattle with ports such as Juneau and Ketchikan; anyone heading inland instead combines Denali National Park with Anchorage and Fairbanks, where the chances of seeing the northern lights are greatest in winter.

Hawaii: island-hopping

Combining two to three of the four main islands over ten to fourteen days is common: Oahu for city and history, Maui for beaches, Big Island for active volcanism, and Kauai for rainforest and the Na Pali coast.

Greenland: expedition to the ice sheet

Nuuk and Ilulissat are the only places with regular flight connections; expedition ships link several fjords in a single trip and reach places otherwise accessible only by helicopter or dog sled. The Ilulissat Icefjord has been a UNESCO World Heritage site since 2004.

Cities: from New York to Mexico City

New York, Toronto, Mexico City and Guatemala City each carry their own colonial or skyscraper history; Mexico City alone has more museums than any other city in the Americas, according to the city's tourism office.

Beach and reef: the Caribbean coast of Mexico and Belize

Playa del Carmen, Tulum and the cayes of Belize share the Mesoamerican Reef System, the world's second-largest reef system; the perfectly circular Great Blue Hole off Belize is a world-renowned dive destination.

Sources: UNESCO World Heritage Centre · UNESCO World Heritage Centre · UNESCO World Heritage Centre

What are the classic routes across multiple countries or regions?

USA and Canada: usually an easy border

Between the USA and Canada, Swiss, German and Austrian visitors travel with the same passport but separate entry procedures: ESTA for the USA, eTA for Canada.

Central America: short distances, many borders

The five Central American countries sit close together; Guatemala and Nicaragua belong to the CA-4 area with no border checks between them, while crossings into Belize, Costa Rica and Panama are each processed separately. Anyone combining several countries should build in buffer time for each border.

North Atlantic: ferry instead of flight

Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon is most easily added via Newfoundland: the car ferry from Fortune runs year-round and takes around 1.5 hours. There is no ferry network to Bermuda or Greenland; both are practically reached only by air.

Baja California: linking the peninsula to the mainland

Anyone wanting to connect Baja California to the Mexican mainland uses the Baja Ferries car ferries between Pichilingue near La Paz and Mazatlán, rather than taking the detour via Tijuana.

Sources: Wikipedia · Baja Ferries

Which airports and hubs serve North and Central America?

For Central America, San José (SJO), Guatemala City (GUA), Belize City (BZE) and Managua (MGA) are the usual arrival airports; all four are typically reached from Europe via Miami, Houston or Panama City rather than nonstop. Bermuda (BDA) has nonstop connections from London and several East Coast US cities, while Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon (FSP) is reached by seasonal nonstop flights from Paris or via St. John's in Newfoundland.

Within the region, short-haul flights bridge large distances: Anchorage-Fairbanks takes around an hour by air instead of six hours by car, and a 50-minute flight between Guatemala City and Flores/Tikal saves a full day of driving.

The region's time zones range from UTC-10 in Hawaii and the western Aleutians to UTC±0 in Danmarkshavn in eastern Greenland, which stays on that time year-round without daylight saving. A special case is Newfoundland at UTC-3:30: Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon next to it sits on the full hour UTC-3 (UTC-2 in summer), a time zone of its own, differing from the rest of North America.

Sources: Travel And Tour World · CBS News Atlanta · Skies Mag / GTAA · El Universal · Servicio Nacional de Migración de Panamá · Wikipedia · Wikipedia

What applies for entry and health in North and Central America?

Yellow fever, malaria and mosquitoes

Travel medicine specialists recommend a yellow fever vaccination for eastern Panama outside Panama City, the Canal Zone, the Pearl Islands and San Blas; the remaining 14 destinations are considered yellow-fever-free. Malaria occurs regionally: on Nicaragua's Caribbean coast (RAAN/RAAS, high risk), in eastern Panama, in parts of Alta Verapaz and Petén in Guatemala, and occasionally in Chiapas and Oaxaca. Belize has been WHO-certified malaria-free since 2023; isolated local cases, for example in Cayo District, cannot be ruled out.

Dengue, chikungunya and Zika are widespread across large parts of Mexico and Central America; local outbreaks occur, for example around Managua. Thorough mosquito protection is advisable throughout the region.

Altitude in the Central American highlands

Guatemala City sits at around 1,500 m, Antigua at around 1,545 m, and Lake Atitlán at around 1,560 m; altitude sickness is rare at these heights, but mild shortness of breath in the first few days is possible. Mexico City, at around 2,240 m, sits considerably higher.

Hurricanes and insurance

Anyone traveling along either coast between May and November should take out travel insurance with cancellation and repatriation cover and follow National Hurricane Center weather warnings. For most destinations, the foreign ministries also recommend travel health insurance with medical evacuation cover, since there is usually no social security agreement with Switzerland, Germany or Austria.

Sources: U.S. Customs and Border Protection · Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada · Instituto Nacional de Migración (Mexico) · Visit Greenland · Bermuda Tourism Authority · Légifrance · Wikipedia · Belize Immigration Department · Servicio Nacional de Migración de Panamá · National Hurricane Center (NOAA) · Federal Foreign Office, Germany

What does a trip through North and Central America cost?

Currencies: the US dollar dominates

The US dollar shapes the region more than any other currency: Panama officially uses the balboa, pegged 1:1 to the US dollar since 1904 and practically displaced by the US dollar in everyday use; Belize pegs its dollar at a fixed 2:1 rate, Bermuda at 1:1. Canada, Mexico, Costa Rica, Guatemala and Nicaragua each have their own freely traded currencies, Greenland uses Danish kroner, and Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon is the only destination on this page that uses the euro.

Price level: a wide range

The remote North Atlantic destinations Greenland, Bermuda and Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon, where almost everything is imported, are the most expensive, along with Hawaii and Alaska with their high US cost of living. Guatemala, Nicaragua and Belize away from the reef resorts rank among the more affordable destinations.

Tipping: from mandatory to voluntary

Costa Rica legally requires a 10% service charge on restaurant bills, in the USA and Canada 15 to 20% is customary, and in Nicaragua tipping is explicitly voluntary under Law 842.

Sources: U.S. Customs and Border Protection · Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada · Parks Canada · National Park Service · Ministerio de Cultura y Deportes de Guatemala · SINAC Costa Rica · Canal Panama Tours · Belize Tourism Industry Association (BTIA)

What cultures, languages and festivals shape North and Central America?

Official languages: five languages, one continental arc

Spanish is the official language in Mexico, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Panama and Nicaragua; Belize is the only English-speaking country in Central America. Canada runs English and French in parallel, and the USA declared English the federal language by presidential order as of March 1, 2025. Greenland has had Greenlandic (Kalaallisut) as its sole official language since 2009, Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon has French. Add to that indigenous languages: Mexico constitutionally recognizes 68, Guatemala 22 Maya languages plus Xinca and Garífuna; UNESCO declared their language, dance and music an Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2001, and Belize celebrates Garifuna Settlement Day on November 19.

Independence: a shared date

Guatemala, Costa Rica and Nicaragua, together with El Salvador and Honduras, jointly declared independence from Spain on September 15, 1821; to this day, a torch relay runs on that date from Guatemala City to Cartago in Costa Rica. Panama declared independence from Spain on November 28, 1821, and from Colombia only in 1903; Belize was the last of the five countries to become independent from Britain, on September 21, 1981. Canada celebrates Canada Day on July 1, the USA Independence Day on July 4.

Festivals through the year

UNESCO declared Mexico's Día de Muertos an Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2008, and mariachi music in 2011. In Nicaragua, León Cathedral, built between 1747 and 1814 and a UNESCO World Heritage site since 2011, is Central America's largest church, with a footprint of around 5,000 m².

Indigenous cultures and myths

From the Inuit in Greenland and northern Canada, through Guatemala's Maya population, to the Garífuna along Belize's coast, indigenous communities shape everyday life far beyond museums. One persistent legend concerns the "Bermuda Triangle": the US ocean agency NOAA notes that ship and aircraft losses there are not statistically more frequent than elsewhere.

Sources: Wikipedia · UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage · UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage · UNESCO World Heritage Centre · National Ocean Service (NOAA)

Worth combining

• United States
• Canada
• Mexico
• Central America
• Alaska
• Hawaii
• Greenland