Bacalar
Pueblo MáGico / Laguna De Los Siete Colores · Bacalar, Quintana Roo
Bacalar is a freshwater lagoon about 42 kilometres long in southern Quintana Roo, set over a pale limestone bed that turns the water through every shade from clear to near black depending on depth, hence its nickname, the Lagoon of Seven Colours. On the shore stands the Fuerte de San Felipe, a small fort built in 1733 against pirates who came up the river from the Caribbean. The lagoon is calmer and far cheaper than the resort coast, and a Pueblo Magico of low houses, hammock hotels and kayak docks sits on its western shore. The quiet importance of the place is alive in the water: Bacalar holds some of the largest freshwater stromatolites on earth, living microbial reefs built by organisms of the kind that first oxygenated the planet. They are killed by being stood on and by sunscreen. The lagoon has also lost its colour in recent years after pollution and development pressure, and the threat is not over, so choose operators who follow the rules.
Laguna de Bacalar, Costera, Bacalar, Quintana Roo, 77930, Mexico
The town and the Costera road are open access. ⚠ MOST OF THE LAGOON SHORELINE IS PRIVATE - hotels, clubs and balnearios control the water access and charge for it; the public balneario is the main paid-but-cheap entry. The Fuerte de San Felipe and its museum keep daytime hours and generally close on Mondays. Cenote Azul charges admission. ⚠ NO SUNSCREEN, REPELLENT OR OILS IN THE WATER - the lagoon is a closed freshwater system. ⚠ THE STROMATOLITES ARE LIVING ORGANISMS: DO NOT TOUCH, STAND ON OR ANCHOR TO THEM, and damage at Los Rápidos has forced rule changes. ⚠ BE ON THE WATER BEFORE NINE - the wind builds around eleven every day. ⚠ THE LAGOON HAS LOST ITS COLOUR FOR EXTENDED PERIODS BEFORE, from rain, sediment and runoff - check recent photographs rather than brochures. ⚠ HOURS AND PRICES NOT VERIFIED FOR THIS FILE.