About the City and State of Veracruz
Travel General Information

Physical Description

Located on Mexico’s east coast, Veracruz is almost due south of Houston and lies low in the Gulf of Mexico. Beaches run for a hundred miles up and down the coast, and the city is surrounded with lush sub-tropical vegetation and fertile farm and pasture lands.  Wide rivers meet the ocean just north and south of the city.

An hour inland is the country’s eastern mountain range, Sierra Madre Oriental and the glacier-covered third-highest mountain peak in North America. On the city’s west and south edges is a series of large, environmentally important lagoons and wetlands.

Hotels and resorts run all along the city’s ocean front. The modern airport, serviced by eight airlines, is seven miles inland and is only a twenty minute ride from downtown.  The city is home to over 500,000 residents.

The large port (located right along the malecon) and the port’s approaches are well protected by the Veracruz Coral Reef System—a system comprised of 15 major, living reef structures. 

The City

Veracruz is Mexico’s safest city.  Founded over 400 years ago, the heart and soul of old, traditional Mexican culture surrounds you and traditional architecture is everywhere.  In the zocalo, the main city square, dining, music, and dancing last until 4:00 in the morning. The malecon, the walkway along the ocean is only minutes from the zocalo and continues uninterrupted for ten miles. Bus service, in town and out, can take you anywhere you want to go. Taxis are inexpensive and plentiful.

The city is a tourist centers for Mexican tourists. Small shops and restaurants line the in-town beaches. Museums, the aquarium (said to be the finest in Latin America), boat rides, and old wooden sightseeing buses, walking out the seawall to the mouth of the harbor--there are more “tourist activities” than one has time. No matter where one goes in the city, close to the shore or back in the old residential areas, the locals invite you to join in their lives and culture.

Incredibly safe, especially friendly, and old, traditional culture—coming to Veracruz is truly coming to Mexico

Restaurants

Great dining is everywhere. From any point in the city you’re within a few blocks of a worthy restaurant.

Gracious dining is available in gourmet seafood, Argentine beef, and typical Veracruz restaurants. These restaurants are all close to the shore. Many have ocean views, and patio seating. 

Families in Veracruz are very close. A popular family outing is dining, and there are many excellent family restaurants. Their menus are ample, and there’s a taste treat for everyone. Family restaurants are full of happy laughter and conversation. 

A special treat is the 3-table restaurant. You can get “antojitos” and “comida corrida.”  Antojitos are the special taste treats that everyone loves. Most commonly you’ll find picadas, empanadas, tostadas, gorditas, and tortas. Many foreigners abandon gourmet dining in favor of the 3-table restaurant treats. 

Services

Veracruz is a major economic center in Mexico and has available the services found in any major city worldwide. Medical care ranks with Europe, Canada and the US.  Banking, although different, is readily accessible, and ATMs are everywhere. The cell phone system is great. There’s a pharmacy every few blocks and most medications are available without a prescription. Some hotspots are available. The city has done an especially good job of offering assistance to tourists.

Beaches

The warm, gentle waters of the Gulf of Mexico are a favorite with Mexico’s vacationers.  Three major runs of beach are found in suburban Veracruz. The in-town beach is the most popular. It’s lined with “Palapas,” thatch-roofed eateries and shops, and is populated by walking venders who’ll bring a wide variety of items to you. They’ve very polite and take no for an answer. 

There are also great beaches on the north and south sides of the city. Although Veracruz doesn’t have the white sand many like to see, the year around warm water and safe surf makes the beaches very popular.

Climate

Veracruz is sub-tropical, and that gives the traveler warm water and beautiful, dense vegetation. In the winter months the city is very comfortable and most days are short-sleeve days. Occasional strong north winds blow down the coast, and it’s fun to watch city crews cutting coconuts if a particularly strong wind is predicted.

Summer mornings and evenings are beautiful, but early and mid afternoon can be hot.  During hot afternoons Mexicans tend to stay inside (home, museums, shopping, the movies, visiting friends). Everybody is back out in the late afternoon and evening enjoying the cool ocean breeze.

Time Zone

Veracruz is on Central Standard Time and switches to Central Daylight Time at about the same time as does the US.

Drinking Water
Most of the water in Veracruz comes from deep wells, and compared to other parts of Mexico is very good. For drinking, however, use only purified, bottled water—this is a reasonable precaution in all of Latin America. 

Public Safety

The people of Veracruz are proud that this is Mexico safest city. It’s important to them, and they are ready to spend money to assure things stay this way. The citizens want a lot of police on the streets, and the city complies with their wish. It’s an aspect of the culture, highly visible police and security guards keep the bad guys from coming to town. 

Hotel Security

Upscale hotels, here as everywhere, has fine security programs. No program is perfect, and it’s always a good idea to place your valuables in the vault and not leave attractive items sitting out when you’re out of your room.

Mexican middle class hotels have one or several security guards on duty around the clock. You’ll want to take some extra precautions, but as in all of Veracruz crime rates are low. 

What to Wear

In Veracruz even bankers wear slacks and a sport shirt. Dress is informal but modest.  Bermudas are okay but for women capris or slacks are better. Spring, summer, and fall, it’s almost always light-weight short-sleeve weather. 

History of Veracruz
Cortez and the Spanish conquistadors landed about 20 miles up the coast in 1519. The city’s well-protected natural harbor brought the development to the city’s current location. The port became the point of departure for the gold and silver carried back to Spain. Pirate raids led to the building the fort, San Juan de Aula. It sits just across the harbor on a coral reef. 

The city was invaded by foreign forces four times, and today it is know as “four times heroic” for the strength of its resistance. Twice the city served as the temporary capitol of Mexico, under Benito Juarez in 1858 and under Venustiano Carranza in 1914.

The city has always be a major seaport and an important part of Mexico’s economy.

Pre-Columbian Times

Thirty miles to the north is the well preserved archaeological site, Zempoala. With abundant water and fertile land, this Totonac settlement, founded in 1200 A.C. grew into being the center of the  Totonac peoples. In 1519, the Totonac chief allied his warriors with Cortez. This alliance helped carry Cortez’s conquistadores all the way to the Aztec capital and the defeat of the great Aztec empire.

Accommodations and Conventions

Veracruz offers several grand resorts, many fine hotels, an abundance of Mexico business grade hotels, and many low cost facilities (visit our Hotel Directory). Individuals and groups small or large easily find accommodations to their liking. Some vacation rentals are available. Convention and meeting space is abundant and excellent.

Activities, Tours and Sports

• Scuba

The Veracruz Coral Reef system, one of Mexico’s National Parks, is over 20 miles on its long axis, and is a treat for scuba diving, snorkeling, and surface touring.  The city has 5 highly competent dive shops, and diving trips occur daily except during the occasional strong winter winds.  Also available is sunken ship diving.

• Whitewater Rafting

Not far from the city on the lower slopes of the Sierra Madre Oriental several rivers have whitewater rafting passing through beautiful, deep gorges over rapids with ratings up to 3.  Rappel and zip-line are available in the same areas.  Higher up the slopes, but not much farther inland, rapids up to a 7 rating are available.

• Mountain Climbing and Mountain Biking

With the Sierra Madre Oriental so close to the ocean, serious mountaineers are never far from high adventure.  The Pico de Orizaba, Orizaba Peak, is the third highest mountain peak in North America and offers glacier climbing.

• Golf and Tennis

Although not as popular in Veracruz as in other vacation cities, golf and tennis are available at private clubs. 

• Ecotourism

Veracruz, the city and state, is an eco-tourists paradise.  With the Sierra Madre Oriental so close to the ocean, an incredible variety in habitat is available, and all is close at hand.  From sand dune tours on the ocean’s edge to cloud forests high in the mountains, mid-sized and family-sized providers offer nature tours and birding throughout the state.  New to the city, surface eco-tours of the coral reef system are available.  Non-profit conservancy groups, Pronatura being an outstanding example, bring high levels of technical support and expertise to the eco-providers.

• Cultural Tourism
mong Veracruz’s many strong suits, cultural tourism might be the crown jewel.  Cultural tourism works well in areas which are very safe and where the locals open their hearts and worlds to foreigners.  Many foreigners say they feel safer in Veracruz than they do “back home.”  And, many foreigners say they’ve never been around friendlier people.

The variety of cultural experience is so far ranging that many cultural tourism programs allow great flexibility in events.  Simply coming to Veracruz is a traveler’s opening to cultural involvement.  Asking a question is all it takes to begin participating. 

Art Galleries

Up the highway an hour from Veracruz is the state capital, Xalapa.  Frequently one hears Xalapa referred to as Mexico’s Santa Fe.  Fine Art and Folk Art are found everywhere, in shops, in parks, and on the wide sidewalks.  The University of Veracruz’s Symphonic Orchestra enjoys international standing.

A lesser level of Fine Art is to be found in the City of Veracruz, but Folk Dance and Folk Music abound.  The arts culture in the city is the people’s culture.  Ballet folklorico is performed for free on the malecon and in the zocalo.  Dancers and musicians walk the restaurants and perform on demand.  Veracruz is a city of music and dance. 

Entertainment & Nightlife

Veracruz awakens at eight, so goes the saying, and it’s eight in the evening.  Restaurants and bars are visited by “traveling musicians and groups” looking for a paying audience.  By ten or eleven, restaurants are large parties attended by a number of small groups. Discos are plentiful and appeal to all tastes.  Salsa clubs and the Caribbean influence don’t slow down until well after three in the morning.  The zocalo has marimba, norteño, mariachi, and ranchero all at once, every night and always lasting close to dawn.

Shopping

Veracruz is a double delight for shoppers.  It has the boutiques, specialty shops, and well know up-scale names one finds in modern cities, and it has the tiny shops with roll-down steel doors, and markets with open stalls, and old style Mexican stores with walled-off cashiers that one finds in the old, traditional way of life.  Please visit our Veracruz Shopping Directory.

Nerbay Towns and Places to Visit

Veracruz and its many colonias (neighborhoods) can fill a tourist days for several weeks, but a balance of in-town, and out-of-town activities and sites make for the vacation of a lifetime.

Close-by to the north is La Antigua. It’s everyday life is the life of a hundred years ago.  Mexicans bring their children here to see how it used to be.  A ride down the river the short distance to the ocean takes you to where Cortez’s conquistadors first rowed ashore.

A little on past La Antigua are the Totonac ruins at Zempoala.  And just a few miles east on the oceans edge is the popular beach town of chachalacos.

On up the coastal highway are the beach-side sand dunes at San Lorenzo. Here is perfect birding spot along the major migratory route of east Mexico.

Sleepy fishing villages (they’re not really sleepy, but fishing on the Gulf often starts late in the morning and thus the appearance) dot the coast as the highway moves northward and soon one is at Naulta and Veracruz’s Emerald Coast.  One up another hour is the impressive, large ruins of El Tajin.

To the south one finds Alvarado, a once successful fishing city but now not so busy.  It’s giant lagoon calls to fishermen everywhere.  Continuing down the coast is the region called Las Tuxtlas.  Three charming towns, the two major being Santiago Tuxtla and San Andres Tuxtla, take one back in time and back to native forest land and river valleys.  The beauty is incomparable.  Half an hour beyond is the lakeside town of Catamaco with it boat tours around the lake and to monkey island, and in town its world famous colony of witches.

To the west on the mountain slope are the charming cities of Xalapa (Mexico’s Santa Fe), Orizaba, and Cordoba.  Each is a trip back to old Mexico.  Higher on the slope, sitting at the base of Orizaba Peak, is Coscomatepec and the entry to fantastic mountain and glacier climbing.

Airport Information

Aeropuerto Internacional Gral. Heriberto Jara Corona, also know as Veracruz International Airport and Veracruz-Las Bajadas Airport, lies a few miles west of the city and is only twenty minutes away from the old downtown and fifteen away the primary resort area.  This very modern airport is small but robust with a pleasant restaurant, a bar snack bar combination, several shops and a newsstand.  There is only one exit from the baggage carrousel, and so it’s virtually impossible for an arriving passenger not to meet those waiting.  Safe taxi service is available from the airport, and the cost to get downtown is about fifteen dollars.

Travel by Air

Serving Veracruz with flights from Mexico City are:

Aero California
Aeroliterol
Aeromexico
Aviacsa
American Airlines
Continental Airlines
Interjet
Mexicana Airlines
Service is available from Cancun, Merida, Villahermosa, Monterrey, Tampico, Guadalajara, and Toluca

Driving to Veracruz

Veracruz is about sixteen hours south of the Texas border.  Less direct routes come down the middle of the country from El Paso and Nogales, and the route down the west coast and then over to Veracruz is workable but long.  Most highway is very good quality toll-way.

An increasing but still small number of North Americans drive their cars or recreational vehicles to Veracruz. For driving in Mexico, Mexican automobile insurance is required and proof of ownership of all vehicles must be provided. For information about current requirements, be sure to check with your automobile association or travel agent before starting your trip.

Cruises and Private Boats

Veracruz currently is not a cruise ship stop, but is a secondary stop and is used when Cancun is not navigable.  The local yacht club welcomes ocean-crossing private boats.  The yacht club is situated inside the port itself.

Getting Around Inside the City of Veracruz

• Taxis

Taxis are everywhere and it’s uncommon to wait more than three or four minutes for one to pass.  Taxis can be requested by phone but hailing them at curb side is far more common.  The minimum cost is twenty Pesos (about two dollars), and a ride all the way across town is about six dollars.

• Urban Bus Service

Many visitors to Veracruz ride buses almost exclusively.  On any bus route it’s hard to wait more than ten minutes.  The fare is about fifty cents, and you can get from anywhere to anywhere.  Buses travel the same loop all day long, and so if worst comes to worst, riders can always get back to where they started.  Most north-south routes pass through the old center of town.  East-west routes  connect well with the north-south routes.  Letting the driver and the passengers know where one is going guarantees help in getting off or transferring at the right point.

• The Bus Routes

Veracruz has over forty bus routes.  Along the waterfront, and the route tourists use probably 90% of the time is “Veracruz Mocambo.”  It runs from the small town of Boca del Rio on the south, past the southern beaches, through the resort zone, past the large shopping mall, and along the in-town beaches and the aquarium, along the malecon, past the yacht club, into El Centro and the zocalo. 

The bus routes Playa Via del Mar and Col. Revolución, take you through the heart of old downtown and out through middle class colonias (neighborhoods).  Most other bus routes will take you back into the less affluent neighborhoods where one is always far safer than one might feel)  Finding the correct bus requires nothing more than telling any bus driver the required destination, and the always friendly bus drivers will point out the route needed.

• Out of Town Buses to Near-by or Far-Away Destinations
Veracruz’s very modern bus terminal (la central de autobuses) is five minutes from the heart of downtown.  It’s a regional transportation center and a traveler can get anywhere from there.  On the first class side, ADO, ADO GL, UNO, and Colon lines are available.  On the second class side AU and TRV are the major lines and a dozen or so small lines also are available.

For traveling to any of the close-by, off-the-beaten-train villages, towns, and even small cities, the second class side is the place to go.  For longer trips, first class buses are faster and a little more comfortable.

Events & Tournaments

Carnaval—8 days of round the clock party

The Cattlemen’s show (Ganadera)—a “state fair” as good as it gets

Annual Sabalo fishing tournament—deep sea fishing at its best

Sixteenth of September—Mexico Independence Day celebration

Fiesta de Santa Ana—an old fashioned, traditional Mexican fiesta

Source: The Language Immersion School, Veracruz
Website: www.veracruzspanish.com