Otherwise known as the lake of 7 colours Bacalar is a quiet little lake side town in the far south of the Yucatan close to the border with Belize. It can be a bit of a de-tour to visit but is definitely worth it to get the full Mexico experience and the lake is like nothing I’ve seen before! It’s a wonderful destination for a few days of relaxation.
How did we get there?
Leaving Valladolid, we caught the direct Mayab bus to Bacalar which took about 4 hours. The bus drops you off on the highway, not in the town, so you will then need to grab a taxi into the town which only takes about 5 minutes.
Where did we stay and for how long?
Bacalar is a pretty small town centred around a grassy town square overlooking the lake. It’s set in a stunning location with a fortress overlooking the lake. It’s a very sleepy town with not much to do other than the activities on the lake so I would recommend only staying a couple of nights. We had 2 nights and 1 full day here and we felt that was enough, but definitely worth the de-tour as the lake’s pretty cool!
There is a popular restaurant on the square called Pata del Perro with an upstairs open air bar and it also offers a number of rooms to rent. We stayed in one of these which was a great location but very basic and not really worth the money. I would recommend staying at the Yak Lake House which has a number of dorms and a few private rooms. Based right on the lake, it has a fun atmosphere with a beach bar and is also the best place to hire kayaks from to explore the lake. Just a 5 minute walk up to the town square for food, it seemed like it had the most going on in this small town.
What did we do whilst we were there?
Of course the main reason to visit Bacalar is the lake. There are a few places to hire kayaks from, we went to the Yak Lake House and paid about ÂŁ6 a hour for a kayak each. The guy gives you directions on where you can paddle to so we started by going directly across the lake to the Pirate Canal. I’m not going to lie, it’s a long paddle and against the wind it was quite hard work especially as I was in the front of the kayak so wasn’t able to get away with not paddling and no one noticing!! – but still really fun!
When you get to Pirate Canal you can get out and swim as it’s pretty shallow and you can tie your kayak up. We then paddled across to the Cenote Negro and came along the front of the town past all the piers and swings. It was a little confusing as most of the piers seem to be private and have signs saying ‘Private Property’ but there are a few you can stop at to chill out on the hammocks. We then handed our kayaks back and went to the place next door called La Playita – a cool beach cafe/bar with sofas under the most enormous tree which comes right down to the water. They have a pontoon which you can walk right out on and swim off so we spent the afternoon here relaxing and taking in the view.
Restaurant recommendations:
I wouldn’t say there is the biggest choice of places to eat in Bacalar as it is pretty small. There are a number of restaurants around the town square but it was so quiet when we went there and a lot of them had no one eating in them so we chose a busier Mexican restaurant just off the square which was pretty average. However, there is one amazing food place in the town called El Maniti and it does a delicious breakfast – smoothies, granola, pancakes, fruit etc. You walk through a kind of art gallery and into the garden where there are lots of little tables beneath the palm trees and you can even sit in a private hut if you like – would definitely recommend this place!Â
We also wondered down to the road on the lake one evening before dinner where there are a few quite dated hotels but they are right on the water. We went to one called Kai Pez for a drink and we sat at the bar in this big garden right on the lake so that was pretty nice!
Adventures with H 