Carnival in Campeche
The bus from Merida to Campeche was super cheap as we checked the ADO website and were able to book one of the times (which so happened to be the perfect time coinciding with check-out and check-ins) for 50% off, so it was only 180 pesos or about £7 each! Unfortunately, it was absolutely FREEZING cold again!
The bus dropped us outside of the centre and so we got a taxi towards our hotel. The place we’d booked in Campeche was a bit of a “splurge” (ish). It was a bit of a nicer boutique hotel with rooftop pool, but I’d managed to get it super discounted on Hotels.com, plus used a cashback site, so it was still only £34 a night! Plus it meant we could stay inside the walls of the old town, where all the cool stuff is in Campeche.
The town was very pretty, with colourful houses, brightly painted churches, the old city walls, narrow cobbled streets and the Malecon, which is the sea front boardwalk, but this time on the gulf side as opposed to the Caribbean side where we’d been before.
Since we only had one full day in Campeche we tried to make the most of the next full day, and started early… with a short walk to the local bus station!! Haha 😂
We were trying to plan our onward journey from Campeche to Bacalar – which would be a big one, a full day of bus travel! To help us decide, we walked over to the second class bus terminal outside the walls to find out the timetables for the buses (second class bus information is literally NO WHERE to be found online!!). This took us through the market and a contrasting side of Campeche. Inside the walls were pristine, clean, fancy restaurants and cocktail bars and lots of tourists. But outside them, here, felt like the “real” Campeche, walking through the markets and busier areas with lots of locals and way more character.
After getting the times from the station, we then headed back to the old town and wandered the streets enjoying the colourful buildings.
We visited the Maya Archaeological museum (but you weren’t allowed to take photos inside) and walked up onto the walls of the city. We also sampled some tasty cakes and vegan food, and ended up exploring most of the old town inside the walls.
Then in the evening we headed out again and Dave had his camera, trying to catch some cool shots. He finally decided to take some of me 🤣🤣 which is your favourite??
Then we headed towards the coast to the boardwalk area of the Malecon to watch the sunset, but as we headed there we could see a huge crowd. There was a parade going on down the road parallel to the Malecon, it was a massive festival. When we first arrived it was all children (with adult supervision) and mini floats being pushed by the adults, each one a different theme with all the kids dressed up and dancing. But as we stayed and watched the parade, and then the sunset, and the day turned into night, the parade turned to adults and had huge floats coming down the road with people dancing and music playing. After we got back to the room we learned it was a festival for LGBTQ+, so that was pretty cool!!
As we headed back for the night we walked past a busker playing Oasis covers. It seems no matter where we are in the world, we can never escape Manchester culture!! 😊
We liked Campeche, the walls were definitely a more unique feature, along with the Malecon and the ocean front. But we didn’t enjoy it here as much as Merida actually. It seemed to lack a bit of atmosphere and grit, although the streets were very pretty…
Next stop Bacalar, and now we know how to get there too 😉
