Campeche

After leaving Palenque, we headed north, out of Chiapas and into Campeche. The Yucatan peninsula is probably the flattest area of Mexico, this combined with the fact that it attracts so many tourists, means that the roads begin to improve as soon as you get onto the peninsula. The roads To Campeche were the straightest, flattest, and smoothest that we’d seen for some time, and a journey which might have taken us two days elsewhere in Mexico took us less than one in Campeche.  We drove to the outskirts of Campeche town and spent a night at the most luxurious campsite I’ve ever seen.

Club Nautico outside of Campeche would not seem out of place in the French Riviera; the facilities are amazing and the general quality of the place seems completely incongruous to anywhere else we’ve been in Mexico. The site has its own beach and boat launch, an infinity pool, tennis courts, snooker and pool tables, a number of bars, and everything else you’d expect from a top end members club. A rare treat for us was a 50a power supply, which enabled to get 240v from the two 120v live supplies, allowing us to run our air conditioner; a welcome relied with the temperature staying around 30°C all night. We spent a night in the bar with the manager and his friend, after all of the other guests had left, and were shown great hospitality and generosity. Of course nowhere is perfect and Club Nautico is no exception; it is more expensive than any other site we’ve stayed in Mexico (but is still good value) and has no bus or collectivo passing by, and so it is not a great place from which to visit Campeche town unless you have a tow car or motorbike.

After a day spent using Club Nautico’s great facilities and good wifi, we drove into Campeche and found a place to park near the town centre. The malecon (waterfront road) in Campeche has lots of parking, and there are free car parks near the town centre, so anyone who fancies some free camping will have no problem in Campeche, even in a vehicle a lot bigger than Jim. The centre of Campeche relies heavily on tourism for income and so it has all the tat shops and expensive restaurants that you’d expect. Nevertheless sit is a pretty town and it was lively on Saturday night; we spent a night listening to music in the main square, watching the sunset over the Gulf of Mexico, eating ice cream and drinking beer. The next morning we took a walk along the pretty but beachless seafront, and got back on the road, headed for the ruins at Uxmal.