North America

Planning a route through North America

This region splits cleanly into three travel patterns. Mexico and Central America, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama, form a continuous overland spine that many travelers drive or bus from north to south in one line. The Caribbean islands, the Bahamas, Cuba, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and the smaller eastern chain running through Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Grenada, Saint Lucia, and Trinidad and Tobago, are not connected by any overland route and need island-hopping by air, usually funneled through one or two regional hub airports. The United States and Canada are vast enough that most itineraries treat them as their own multi-week undertakings, linked to the rest of the region mainly through a handful of international gateway cities.

Storm season organizes this region's southern half: the Caribbean and Central American coasts share a wet, storm-prone stretch from late summer into autumn, with calmer months in winter and early spring. Highland areas of Central America follow a simpler wet and dry pattern shaped by elevation. Farther north, the United States and Canada run a conventional four-season calendar, winter closing off much of the north while opening ski regions, worth weighing against any Caribbean leg on the same trip.

Mexico opens the overland spine, Panama closes it, and Jamaica anchors Caribbean connections, a structure explained in how to plan a multi-country trip.

Page reviewed 5 August 2026 · Routing notes are general guidance from Amit's travels — check current entry rules for each country before you book.