Geography
Campeche covers 57,507 km² of the south-western Yucatán Peninsula, the seventeenth-largest state by area but the third-least populous, with 928,363 people and a density of about 16 per km². It is a limestone platform with almost no relief: the Puuc hills along the Yucatán border and the low ridges near Zoh-Laguna are the only high ground, and Cerro Champerico, at about 390 m, is the state's highest point. Rainfall rises from about 900 mm in the dry north-west to more than 1,500 mm in the southern forest.
Like the rest of the peninsula, the north drains underground rather than in rivers, through cenotes and cave systems in the karst. The south is different: the Candelaria, Champotón and Palizada rivers run on the surface, and the Palizada is a distributary of the Usumacinta, so the state shares the delta with Tabasco. The Laguna de Términos, about 1,500 km² behind the barrier island that carries Ciudad del Carmen, is the largest coastal lagoon in Mexico and a protected flora and fauna area, fed by those rivers and fringed with mangrove.
The south of the state is forest. The Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, declared in 1989, protects about 723,000 ha of tropical forest continuous with the Petén in Guatemala and the Maya Biosphere Reserve, the largest such block in Mexico and the second-largest in the Americas. Inside it is Calakmul, one of the two great Classic Maya capitals along with Tikal, with more than 6,000 recorded structures; UNESCO listed it as a mixed cultural and natural site. Edzná, Becán, Chicanná and Xpujil, the last three in the Río Bec architectural style, lie along the same southern corridor.
Two industries dominate the economy. Offshore oil in the Sonda de Campeche, the shallow Gulf shelf worked from Ciudad del Carmen since the late 1970s, has long supplied most of Mexico's crude, and the fields there — Cantarell and Ku-Maloob-Zaap among them — made Campeche the state with the highest measured output in the country. Fishing, especially shrimp and grouper out of Carmen and Champotón, is the older trade. Along the coast the beaches are shallow and grey-sand rather than Caribbean, and tourism concentrates on the walled capital, Edzná and Calakmul.
Main cities
| Municipality | Population (2020) | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Campeche | 294,077 | Capital; walled UNESCO centre, CPE airport |
| Carmen (Ciudad del Carmen) | 248,845 | Offshore oil base on Isla del Carmen |
| Champotón | 83,000 | Fishing port and river mouth, Highway 180 |
| Escárcega | 60,000 | Road and rail junction for the south |
| Calkiní | 55,000 | Northern town on the Yucatán border |
| Candelaria | 43,000 | River town in the south-west |
| Hopelchén | 41,000 | Mennonite farming district in the Puuc |
| Hecelchakán | 32,000 | On the inland road to Mérida |
| Calakmul (Xpujil) | 30,000 | Municipality of the biosphere reserve |
Figures are 2020 municipal populations from the INEGI census, rounded for the smaller places. Campeche was reorganised into 13 municipalities in 2019, when Seybaplaya and Dzitbalché were separated from Champotón and Calkiní.
Neighbouring states
Yucatán lies to the north-east and Quintana Roo to the east, the three of them making up the Yucatán Peninsula. Tabasco adjoins the west across the Palizada lowlands. To the south the state has a long land border with Guatemala, mostly through uninhabited forest, and only a short section of the Gulf of Mexico coast is developed.
Getting there
Two airports serve the state: Ingeniero Alberto Acuña Ongay (CPE) at the capital, with flights to Mexico City, and Ciudad del Carmen (CME), busier than its size suggests because of the oil industry, with services to Mexico City and Villahermosa. Many visitors instead fly into Mérida (MID) or Cancún (CUN) and drive.
Federal Highway 180 follows the coast from Villahermosa through Ciudad del Carmen and Champotón to the capital, then north to Mérida, about 175 km and 2 hours away. Highway 261 is the inland alternative to Mérida through Hopelchén and the Puuc sites. Highway 186 runs east from Escárcega to Xpujil, Calakmul and Chetumal. The Tren Maya crosses the state with stops including Escárcega, Campeche and Calkiní. Mexico City to Campeche is about 1,180 km, roughly 14 hours by road. See the road map and the airports map.
Questions about Campeche
Where is Campeche on the map of Mexico?
On the western side of the Yucatán Peninsula, facing the Gulf of Mexico. It fills the south-west of the peninsula between Tabasco, Yucatán, Quintana Roo and Guatemala.
What is Calakmul?
A Maya city in the far south of the state, near the Guatemalan border, that rivalled Tikal in the Classic period. It sits inside the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, about 723,000 ha of tropical forest, and is a UNESCO mixed World Heritage site for both its ruins and its ecology.
How far is Campeche from Mérida?
About 175 km by Federal Highway 180, roughly 2 hours by car or bus. The inland route by Highway 261 through Hopelchén and Uxmal is longer but passes the Puuc Maya sites.
Why is the city of Campeche walled?
Pirates raided the port repeatedly in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, so a 2.5 km hexagonal wall with eight bastions was built around it between 1686 and 1704. Much of it survives, and the historic centre has been a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1999.
What is the best time to visit Campeche?
November to March, when it is drier and cooler. The rains run from June to October and the Atlantic hurricane season overlaps them; May is usually the hottest month.