Bacalar

Bacalar's swimming is in a lagoon, not the sea. The Laguna de Bacalar is a long, narrow freshwater lake whose white limestone bed turns the shallows every shade from pale aqua to deep blue, which is why it is called the lagoon of seven colours. The water stays around 28°C most of the year and is clear, calm and safe for unconfident swimmers. You get in from wooden docks, hotel jetties and public balnearios along the shore, and Cenote Azul and the channel at Los Rápidos add deeper water and a gentle current to float on.

What Bacalar lacks is beaches as most people picture them. There is little sand, no surf and no beach strip to stroll. The nearest Caribbean shore is at Mahahual, a longer drive than most visitors make for a swim. Sunscreen that is not reef-safe is discouraged, to protect the stromatolites along the shallows.

Food in Bacalar is simple and good rather than a reason to come. The town's taquerías and cocinas económicas serve the regional cooking of the Yucatán Peninsula: cochinita pibil, panuchos and salbutes, sopa de lima. Fruit stalls and juice stands sit around the main square. Along the lakeshore, a modest group of restaurants and hotel kitchens cook fish, ceviche and international dishes with a view of the water. The range is narrow, and serious eating means accepting a few repeat visits to the same handful of places.

Bacalar has one real sight. The Fuerte de San Felipe is an eighteenth-century Spanish fort built to defend the town against the pirates who came up from the coast, and it holds a small museum on that history. Its ramparts look straight over the lagoon. The rest of the town, a quiet grid around the main square with a plain colonial church, takes an hour to see. Visitors with an interest in history spend their time on the Maya sites further out.

Evenings in Bacalar are quiet. A few bars around the main square and on the lakeshore stay open after dinner. The hostels gather backpackers for drinks, and the odd weekend brings some music to the plaza. There are no clubs and nothing runs late. Most visitors are up early for a sunrise paddle, and the town suits them.

The lagoon is the landscape. Over 40km of shifting blue water, edged with mangroves and low jungle, are best seen from a kayak or paddleboard at sunrise, when the surface is glassy. Sailing boats take visitors up to the Pirates' Channel and the Bird Island sanctuary. Along the shallows sit stromatolites, among the oldest forms of life on earth. Cenote Azul and Los Rápidos add deep sinkholes and a fast-flowing mangrove channel.

Beyond the water there is less. The surrounding country is flat, hot forest with few marked trails and no relief. Cycling is easy along the lakeshore road. Birdwatchers will find herons, ospreys and kingfishers, but the region's large wilderness reserves lie well beyond an easy outing.

Day trips here are mainly Maya ruins in the forest. Chacchoben, about 45 minutes away, has temples rising from the jungle and few visitors outside cruise days. Kohunlich, known for its large stucco masks, and the nearby Dzibanché are a longer drive west and pair well in one day. Chetumal, the state capital, is under an hour south, with a good museum of Maya culture and a waterfront promenade. The fishing village of Mahahual on the Caribbean coast makes a longer outing. None of these is a first-rank site, and a car or a tour is needed for most.

Children love the lagoon. The water is warm and very shallow in many spots, with no waves, and a day of floating, paddling and jumping off docks keeps most families happy. The town is calm and small. Beyond the water there is nothing made for children: no parks or attractions to speak of, few pavements away from the centre, and humid heat that makes walking tiring. It works best with a lakeside stay that has its own dock and with older children who can paddle a kayak.

The centre of Bacalar is a few blocks around the main square and the fort, easy to walk. The trouble is that the lagoon shore runs for kilometres, and many stays, balnearios and Cenote Azul lie well outside town along a road with little room for pedestrians. Taxis and bicycles cover the shore. Long-distance buses link the town to Chetumal, Tulum and Cancun. For the ruins and the coast, a hire car gives far more freedom than tours.

Shopping is limited to a few craft shops and stalls near the main square selling hammocks, embroidered cotton, beachwear and souvenirs. Nobody comes here to shop, and anything practical is easier to find in Chetumal.

Bacalar can be cheap or fairly costly, depending on where you sleep. In town, local food, taxis, bicycle hire and shared lagoon boat trips cost little, and simple guesthouses and hostels are good value. The lakeside eco-lodges and boutique hotels with private docks, which many visitors come for, are priced much like the rest of the Caribbean coast. So are the restaurants that cater to their guests. A budget traveller does well here. A comfortable stay on the water costs noticeably more.

There is essentially no performing arts scene. Occasional live music in a bar or on the main square at weekends is as far as it goes.

Bacalar's appeal for rest is mostly its pace. Days run to the light: a paddle at dawn, a hammock through the heat, a swim off the dock at sunset. Many lakeside lodges have no road noise and few distractions. Several places run yoga classes and short retreats, and some offer massage and the temazcal, the traditional Mesoamerican steam ceremony.

It is not a spa town. There are no thermal baths and no large spas, and treatments depend on what your lodging or a few small studios provide. It suits travellers who want quiet water and slow days more than those looking for pampering.