Campeche travel guide
Pirate bastions, pastel streets and pan de cazón on the Gulf
A UNESCO-listed walled port on the Gulf of Mexico, with bastion museums, the Calakmul jade masks at Fuerte San Miguel and the Edzná ruins nearby. November to March avoids the worst heat and rain; allow two days, three with Edzná. Costs are moderate, and many nationalities need no visa.
Campeche is the walled port of the Yucatán peninsula, a Gulf city where the Spanish built bastions and gates against pirates and then painted the houses inside them in shades of ochre, pink and sky blue. Founded in 1540 over the Maya town of Can Pech, it became the peninsula's main colonial harbour. UNESCO added the fortified old centre to its World Heritage list in 1999.
Few North American cities keep so much of their old walls. Seven bastions survive, linked by stretches of rampart. The Puerta de Mar still marks the old way in from the sea, the Puerta de Tierra the road in from the land. Above the city, the forts of San Miguel and San José guard the coast from the hills.
Outside the walls lie the barrios where the Maya lived in colonial times, San Francisco, Guadalupe and San Román, each grouped around its own church. Beyond them the Malecón runs for kilometres along a shallow, muddy-bottomed Gulf shore, better for evening walks than for swimming.
Tourism here is low-key compared with Mérida, and that is the appeal. The Edzná ruins are an hour inland, Tren Maya trains now stop on the edge of town, and the food, built on shrimp and small shark, is some of the best on the peninsula.
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Top things to do in Campeche
Bastions, gates and colonial streets in town, Maya ruins and jade masks within an easy day.
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Best time to visit Campeche
Month by month, so you can pick the weather and the crowds you want.
9 to 40 mm of rain a month and highs of 29 to 33 C; comfortable for walking the ramparts and visiting Edzná.
Highs of 35 to 36 C and very humid afternoons; see the sights early and save the Malecón for evening.
160 to 220 mm a month, mostly in afternoon downpours, with highs around 34 C; the wettest months are June and August.
Carnival in Campeche, one of the oldest in Mexico, fills the Malecón with parades in the days before Lent; hotels inside the walls book up for it.
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Getting there
ADO from Mérida, the Tren Maya station and CPE flights
Most travellers reach Campeche overland, usually by ADO coach from Mérida, about every 30 minutes for a two-and-a-half-hour run. The Tren Maya also stops here, and the small airport (CPE) has flights from Mexico City, a short taxi ride from the walled centre. Ciudad del Carmen is about 2 hours 45 minutes away, Cancún around 6 hours 30 minutes with four daily departures, and Mexico City a long 17 hours, for which first class is worth it. Coaches use the ADO terminal at Avenida Maestros Campechanos and Avenida Casa de Justicia, a small, often crowded station with long ticket queues and no air conditioning; a taxi to the walled centre is a short, fixed-zone fare. The Tren Maya stops at the Estación de San Francisco de Campeche on the Periférico Pablo García, with services north to Mérida and Cancún and south toward Palenque. The station has ticket offices, baggage storage and food, and opens from 7am to 7pm. Alberto Acuña Ongay International (CPE) is small and quiet, with flights from Mexico City on Aeroméxico (from Benito Juárez) and Mexicana de Aviación (from Felipe Ángeles); take a taxi into town.
- ADO from Mérida
- About every 30 minutes, 2 hours 30 minutes
- ADO from Cancún
- Four a day, about 6 hours 30 minutes
- Tren Maya
- Periférico Pablo García station; to Mérida, Cancún and Palenque
- CPE airport
- Aeroméxico and Mexicana from Mexico City; taxi into town
- Buy ADO tickets online or a day early; the counters at the Campeche terminal are understaffed.
- Keep coins for the terminal toilets.
Where to stay
Inside the walls on Calle 59, the Malecón or Barrio de Guadalupe
Stay inside Campeche's walls if you can: small hotels and restored colonial houses around the Parque Principal and pedestrian Calle 59 put the bastions, cathedral and evening light show on your doorstep and cost less than the waterfront, though buildings are older and bars noisy. Hotels on the Malecón (Avenida Ruiz Cortines) are newer, larger and pricier, with sea views and pools, but you will walk ten minutes or take a taxi into the old town. North of the walls, Barrio de Guadalupe and Barrio de San Francisco offer a few guesthouses on quiet streets beside their old churches, good if you want local life. Barrio de San Román, south of the centre, is more residential still.
- Centro Histórico, Calle 59
- Walk to everything; older rooms, bar noise
- Malecón
- Sea views and pools; taxi or walk into the walls
- Guadalupe and San Francisco
- Quiet barrios with colonial churches; fewer places to eat
- San Román
- Local neighbourhood south of the walls; far from the bars
- Ask for a room with air conditioning that faces the courtyard, not the street.
Getting around
Walking the ramparts, zone-fare taxis and the Lorencillo tram
Campeche's walled city is small and flat, best walked in the early morning or after 5pm because of the heat, including stretches of the old rampart between bastions. For the hilltop forts, the stadium or the Tren Maya station, take a zone-fare taxi or the Lorencillo tram. Fares are set by zone, not by meter, so ask the price before getting in; the run from the ADO terminal to the centre is in the cheapest zone. Public buses run all over the city for a very low fare, but they are small, hot and crowded, and drivers will not change large notes. The open-sided tourist tram, styled as a pirate vehicle and named Lorencillo after a notorious buccaneer, leaves from the Parque Principal on loops through the old town and up to Fuerte San Miguel. The Malecón has a long cycle and walking path along the sea.
- On foot
- The walled centre, Calle 59 and the ramparts
- Taxi
- Zone fares; agree the price first
- City buses
- Cheap but small and hot; small change only
- Tourist tram
- From the Parque Principal, loops to Fuerte San Miguel
- Fuerte San Miguel sits on a hill south-west of town; take a taxi or the tram up and walk back down toward the sea.
Know before you go
What makes Campeche worth the trip, and what catches visitors out.
Why travelers love it
- The Calakmul jade masks at Fuerte San Miguel, mosaic funeral masks from the jungle city of Calakmul, shown in a fort built to fire on pirate ships.
- Calle 59 after dark, when the pedestrian stretch fills with tables under the lamps and the painted facades glow.
- Edzná's five-storey temple, rising from a quiet valley an hour inland, often with hardly anyone else on site.
Good to know
- Fuerte San Miguel closes on Mondays, as do many museums; plan your fort day for Tuesday to Sunday.
- The city's Gulf shore is shallow and murky; head south to the beaches around Champotón or Isla Aguada for swimming.
Trip fit
BookingMentor editorial ratings out of 5, based on a first-time visitor's experience.
Weather in Campeche, month by month
Campeche is hot and humid all year, driest from February to April and wettest from June to October. Tap a month for averages.
Climate figures are approximate long-term averages for Campeche (Servicio Meteorológico National, via Wikipedia).
Ramparts, jade masks and the Puerta de Tierra after dark
Start Campeche at the cathedral on the Parque Principal, then climb to the roof of the Baluarte de San Francisco for a view along the walls. Next comes the Baluarte de la Soledad, whose museum holds Maya stelae and carved stones, then the Puerta de Mar, the old sea gate with a galleon carved above its arch.
Midday. Escape the heat inside the Baluarte de Santiago, which holds a small botanical garden named X'much Haltún, then eat lunch on Calle 59.
Afternoon. Take a taxi or the Lorencillo tram up to Fuerte San Miguel, an 18th-century fort on the hill. Its Maya archaeology museum, with good English labels, is the best on the peninsula outside Mérida, and the jade burial masks from Calakmul are the treasure. Walk the ramparts around the moat for the view over the Gulf.
Evening. Go back down to the Puerta de Tierra, the land gate, for the light-and-sound show that tells the city's history of sieges and pirate raids, then stroll the Malecón as the sea breeze picks up.
Day two. Leave early for Edzná, about an hour south-east. The Edificio de los Cinco Pisos, a five-storey pyramid-palace, rises over a broad grassy plaza. Back in town, spend the afternoon in the barrios of Guadalupe and San Francisco, with their centuries-old churches, and end with a drink on the balcony of Casa Vieja del Río over the main square.
Pan de cazón, coconut shrimp and the malecón coctelerías
Campeche's kitchen leans on the Gulf, above all on shrimp and cazón, a small shark of these shallow waters. The dish to try is pan de cazón, corn tortillas layered with black beans and shredded cazón and drenched in tomato and chile sauce like a lasagne, and the malecón coctelerías serve coconut shrimp and cocktails.
The dish to try is pan de cazón, layers of corn tortillas spread with black beans and shredded cazón, then drenched in a tomato and chile sauce, almost like a lasagne. Cazón also goes into empanadas, tacos and panuchos, fried tortillas stuffed with beans and topped with meat or fish. Shrimp appear in cocktails, in garlic butter, and as camarones al coco, coated in grated coconut and fried crisp, served with a sweet dipping sauce.
For seafood at lunch, follow the Malecón north to its far end, about 4 km from the walls, where a row of coctelerías competes for customers with shrimp and octopus cocktails, ceviche and fish fillets fresh from the boats. Go at lunchtime, the local hour for seafood, when the morning catch is freshest.
Inside the walls, the pedestrian stretch of Calle 59 between Calles 10 and 12 has bars and restaurants with outdoor tables, a pleasant place for dinner once the heat eases. Many small, inexpensive places fill the historic centre; choose busy ones where you can see the kitchen. Outside the walls, Avenida Gobernadores is lined with local eateries.
As in neighbouring Yucatán, you will also find cochinita pibil, pork slow-cooked in achiote and sour orange, and sopa de lima. Finish with a cold horchata or an agua fresca from a market stall.
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How we research our Campeche travel guide
Campeche's fortifications, transport and festival notes are checked against the official Campeche website, UNESCO's listing for the historic fortified town and the city's Wikipedia record, with entry rules from the Instituto Nacional de Migración.
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Checked against trusted sources:
Official website of CampecheInstituto Nacional de MigraciónUNESCO World Heritage Centre
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Quick answers to the questions travelers ask most before visiting Campeche.
Timing & weather
About 2 hours 30 minutes, with departures roughly every 30 minutes from Mérida's centro histórico terminal.
During the Mexican League season from April to September. The stadium is small and modern, with good sightlines from every seat.
The best time to visit Campeche is Nov to Mar. Dry weather, with highs of 29 to 33 C before the April and May heat.
- Dry season: November - March (9 to 40 mm of rain a month and highs of 29 to 33 C; comfortable for walking the ramparts and visiting Edzná)
- Peak heat: April - May (Highs of 35 to 36 C and very humid afternoons; see the sights early and save the Malecón for evening)
- Rainy season: June - October (160 to 220 mm a month, mostly in afternoon downpours, with highs around 34 C; the wettest months are June and August)
May is the warmest month in Campeche, with average highs of 36°C, and January the coolest, with lows of 18°C. August is the wettest month, at about 219 mm of rain; March is the driest. Campeche is hot and humid all year, driest from February to April and wettest from June to October.
Getting there
Not really. The Tren Maya station is on the Periférico Pablo García, well outside the old centre. Take a taxi, or the city's Tren Ligero light rail, which links the station with the historic centre.
It is about an hour's drive south-east. Rent a car, hire a taxi for the morning or join a tour; go early for cooler temperatures.
General
Mosaic funeral masks of jade made for rulers of Calakmul, one of the greatest Maya cities. They are the highlight of the archaeology museum inside the fort, which is closed on Mondays.
The old land gate becomes the stage for a light-and-sound show about pirates, sieges and the building of the walls. Check the current schedule locally.
Campeche's signature dish: stacked tortillas layered with black beans and shredded cazón, a small shark, covered in tomato sauce.
San Francisco, Guadalupe and San Román, the old Maya neighbourhoods, each built around its own colonial church.
Taxis use zone fares, and the ride to the historic centre falls in the cheapest zone. Agree the price before getting in.
As the peninsula's main colonial port, it was attacked so often by pirates that the Spanish ringed it with walls, bastions and hill forts, much of which survives.
Campeche's walled city is small and flat, best walked in the early morning or after 5pm because of the heat, including stretches of the old rampart between bastions. For the hilltop forts, the stadium or the Tren Maya station, take a zone-fare taxi or the Lorencillo tram. Fares are set by zone, not by meter, so ask the price before getting in; the run from the ADO terminal to the centre is in the cheapest zone.
Visa & documents
Tourist stays in Mexico are visa-free for citizens of the US, Canada, the UK, the EU and many other countries. Immigration officers decide how many days you can stay (up to 180) and stamp your passport or issue a digital record. Holders of valid US, UK, Canadian or Schengen visas may also be exempt.
Health & safety
Most tourist areas are visited without problems, but violent crime linked to organised crime is high in some states. Governments advise against travel to parts of several states. Petty crime and scams occur in tourist areas.
