Central America

Central America groups 4 cities across 3 countries that share enough on logistics, weather pattern and currency exposure to budget as one block. The top-to-bottom ratio inside the region is 1.4× — Cancún runs about 1.4× the daily cost of Mexico City at the same mid-range tier — which is a usefully concrete way to think about where in the region to anchor a multi-stop itinerary.

Central America runs on a small set of currencies (MXN, USD). Two FX events per trip is the realistic baseline; a no-foreign-transaction-fee card and a small float in each currency handles it without surprises.

A typical 10–14 day trip across Central America works well as two or three anchors — e.g., Mexico City for slower, longer days and Cancún for one denser city stop — connected by the cheapest regional links you can find. Daily totals shift between anchors by up to 106 USD, so where you sleep matters more than how many activities you book. The single most common Central America budgeting mistake is averaging the cities together: a 50/50 split between Mexico City and Cancún doesn't cost the average — it costs whatever you actually spend in each, weighted by nights. Build the budget per-anchor, then sum.