Mexico's northern region is made up of the following states: Aguascalientes, Baja California and Baja California Sur, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, Nuevo Leon, San Luis Protosi, Sinaloa, Sonora, Tamaulipas and Zacatecas.

Several of these northern Mexican states border with the United States of America and also with the Gulf of California or Sea of Cortez, as it is also known, and the Pacific Ocean in the west and the Gulf of Mexico in the east.

Mexico is generally a hot country, and in the northern area, there are two deserts to be found. One of them, the larger of the two is called the Chihuahuan desert, covering approximately 453,000 km2 and situated right in between the two mountain ranges (Sierra Madre Occidental and Sierra Madre Oriental) that stretch from north to south on both the eastern and western sides of the plateau that makes up the Mexican mainland. The Sonoran desert is about half the size of the Chihuahuan desert, measuring 221,000 km2 and covering most of the Baja California Peninsula and the western part of the region.

The two north-south mountain ranges border the central plateaus in the middle of the Mexican mainland, which is known as the Altiplano Central, and on the outside of these mountain ranges, the land is made up of coastal plains looking out to sea.

The northern part of Mexico is very dry and arid, particularly towards the west. Summers are hot and in winter the climate can get extremely cool due to north winds. Temperatures can get as low as freezing in the northern inland area during the winter months. In the mountains, the weather is also dry and usually snow caps the highest summits.

While learning Spanish in Mexico, do some sightseeing and discover the natural beauty of Mexico's harsh northern deserts.