After a few amazing days exploring the jungles and cenotes of Tulum, we boarded a bus to take us further down the Yucatan Peninsula to Bacalar, another small Pueblo Magico (Magic Town) known for its massive freshwater lagoon and its charming small-town vibe about 4 hours by bus from Tulum.
Arriving in Bacalar, we realized our stay was only a 15-minute walk, so we headed off on foot. One thing we’ve been appreciating lately is how much stronger we’ve become, now able to carry our heavy bags for over 30 minutes, while when we started we could barely carry them for 5 minutes without stopping for a break!
The walk to our accommodation was stunning. We saw so many gorgeous plants, cute dogs, and beautifully painted houses. It felt truly magical.
After checking into our nice room at Hotel Vias Maya Bacalar, we immediately headed out to find some food nearby at Restaurante Sazón, and we enjoyed our tacos and “gringas” while being swarmed by the friendly neighborhood dogs who suspiciously wanted nothing to do with us before our food arrived…
We had a little walk down to the Bacalar lagoon at dinner, to check out the stunning waters. We couldn’t believe our eyes.
On travel days we usually keep things pretty chill, so we spent the rest of the evening relaxing at our hotel, calling to catch up with friends and family, and then starting a new cult documentary, Mother God. It’s about a lady who started a cult revolving around the idea that Robin Williams was going to take her body up to heaven before she died. So wild.
On our first full day in Bacalar, we walked into town to rent a scooter for the day to explore. We drove towards Cenote Azul and took in the insane views of the cenotes and lagoon. We’ve never seen freshwater this colour! In awe.
Hungry for lunch, we stopped at a restaurant called Tortuga, and enjoyed delicious wood-fire oven pizzas.
Continuing to explore, we stopped when we drove passed to a stone fortress with a moat around it, which we learned is Fuerte de San Felipe de Bacalar. It was built around 1729 to defend the town of Bacalar against pirates who frequently came to plunder Bacalar for its natural resources! Who knew?!
After exploring the area for a while we went back to the lagoon entry near our place. The free dock was crowded, but there was also an adjacent boardwalk that cost 20 MXN (~1 USD) a person, so we paid up.
The views were just unreal. We hopped in the water, and the white sand was incredibly soft. It was mindblowing to be in this stunning water and feel so fresh and clean, without the stickiness of salt. We’re in love with Bacalar!
Sometimes when we go to a new place, we find a restaurant that just becomes our restaurant for our entire time there, and in Bacalar that was the case. We ended up eating every dinner at Sazón and every lunch at Tortuga Pizza hahah. We are surprisingly creatures of habit for two people who have spent the last year on the road.
Since we didn’t have the scooter the next day, we set off on foot to Tortuga Pizza, an hour away. We’re dedicated and motivated when the food hits! As we were sitting there the sky opened up and poured. We were so cozy on our covered balcony eating our pizza and waiting out the storm (which only lasted a few minutes before returning to beautiful blue skies).
From there we walked a few more minutes to a beach club, Casa China, that Wini found online that offered boat tours of the lagoon. They had a range of different boats and times we could go, and we decided to go on the sailboat tour the next morning at 8am. They said we could enjoy the beach club for the rest of the afternoon — it was definitely worth it to book in person! We had a wonderful day lounging on the dock chairs and jumping in the gorgeous water.
On the walk home, it started to absolutely dump rain again so we quickly ducked into a restaurant, La Cabañita, that just happened to be having a happy hour 2-for-1 margarita deal that we simply couldn’t refuse and THEY WERE THE MOST DELICIOUS MARGARITAS EVER SERIOUSLY THE BEST WE HAVE EVER TASTED! We had been noticing how juicy and sweet the limes had been on our tacos here, and these margs further prove our theory: Bacalar has the yummiest limes in the world!
The next day we woke early for our sailboat tour around the lagoon, walking to Casa China as the sun was rising.
When we got there Wini went to check in and I went to the bathroom but I got stuck inside! The lock was a bit rusty and got jammed. 🙁 Wini had to go get an employee to help rescue me lol.
Crisis averted, down at the dock we met our captain, Fernando, and the other people on the boat tour — a five-person French family.
Normally two people work the sailboats, but today Fernando was on his own. There was no wind at first, so we had to motor out of the dock but as soon as we got out the wind picked up and he set up the sails.
We sailed through the beautiful lagoon, first passing Black Cenote. We got chatting with the French family and it turns out they’re on a world trip as well with their kids (ages 15, 10, and 5)! Only the dad could speak English so we just chatted with him mostly, but it was so cool to hear their stories and which countries they plan to go to next, we were so inspired!
We sailed towards Canal de los Piratas (Pirates Channel) and the water was absolutely unreal. Fernando gave us some history of the area — this channel was man-made by the Mayans to connect Bacalar to the ocean for commerce purposes. They traded a lot of precious stones, food, exotic birds, lumber, etc. to the other Mayans who lived in modern-day Belize and Central America. Because there was so much commerce happening in this channel it became a hotbed for pirates who were trying to loot other ships and homes in the area, which is why they eventually built the fortress.
We arrived at the gorgeous white sand and turquoise water of the Pirates Channel and Fernando dropped anchor. We were able to jump in and have a swim in the perfect waters.
From there we sailed back towards Casa China and pulled up at Emerald Cenote where we had another swimming opportunity before heading back to the nearby dock.
Our boat tour ended up being about 4 hours instead of 3 which was so nice, and we had such a wonderful time getting to know the other people on our tour, and our captain Fernando. He told us that he’s been traveling around Mexico for years now, and gave us recommendations on where else we should go!
We spent the rest of the day relaxing at the beach club, reading our books, and going for dips when we got too hot. And of course, we found a minute to sneak off down the road for more… you guessed it… TORTUGA PIZZA.
The next day, we headed out for another adventure day, walking to the local colectivo (shared van) stop. We found one that was almost full and squeezed in, asking to go down the road to a place called Los Rapidos.
The colectivo ended up blazing right past the exit and I had to get the driver’s attention so he would pull over on the side of the highway. We had to backtrack a little, and then walk down a long dirt path until we arrived at the rapids.
We paid the entrance fee (~12 USD per person) and headed in. The scenery was beautiful!
At Los Rapidos there are these things called stromatolites, which are among the oldest known fossils on Earth, dating back over 3.5 billion years! There are also mangrove trees, and both the mangroves and stromatolites produce a lot of extra oxygen in the area.
We floated down the river and took in the beauty around us.
The river was stunning, but the actual establishment they built around it was kind of scammy vibes, charging for every little thing.
When we were ready to go we realized we didn’t have a way back, as the colectivos don’t do random pickups along the roads (only drop-offs). As we were making our way down the dirt path, debating what to do, we noticed two French girls also leaving. Wini asked them if they wanted to split a cab back to Bacalar with us, but they said they already had a car and offered to drive us back with them. Such a score!
They dropped us off right in town, and we were able to walk home, stopping at our classic dinner spot, Sazón, for the final time.
The next morning we packed up our cute little room at Hotel Vias Maya and walked to the bus station for our ride back to Cancun, and flight to Mexico City. From there, we’re going to explore the Oaxaca (pronounced wah-haw-kah) and Chiapas regions of Mexico. Our first stop: the town of Puebla!