Tlacotalpan
Patrimonio Mundial / Pueblo MáGico · Tlacotalpan, Veracruz
Tlacotalpan is a river port on the Papaloapan in southern Veracruz that grew rich in the nineteenth century and then stopped, which is why it looks like nowhere else in Mexico. The streets are unusually wide for a colonial town, the houses are single-storey with continuous arcaded porches along every block, and the walls are painted in colours that should not work together and do: turquoise beside magenta beside ochre, repainted constantly. UNESCO inscribed it in 1998 for that fusion of Spanish and Caribbean building traditions in an exceptional town plan. It is also a heartland of son jarocho, the harp-and-jarana music of the Gulf coast, played at fandangos where people sing verses at each other around a wooden platform. In early February the Candelaria fiesta carries the Virgin down the river by boat while bulls are run through the streets. It is flat, humid, cheap and almost foreign-free. Come in the evening, stay one night, and check river conditions in the wet season. Veracruz carries a travel advisory, so drive by day.
Plaza Zaragoza, Centro Histórico, Tlacotalpan, Veracruz, 95770, Mexico
An open town - free, no gate, and walking the coloured arcaded streets is the entire attraction. Museums including the Salvador Ferrando and the Casa Museo Agustín Lara keep daytime hours and generally close Mondays. ⚠ THE FIESTA DE LA CANDELARIA RUNS 31 JANUARY TO 2 FEBRUARY - the Virgin is carried down the Papaloapan by boat, there is a running of bulls through the streets that ends in the river, and fandangos run all night. ⚠ EVERY ROOM IN TOWN IS TAKEN AND PRICED ACCORDINGLY for those days. ⚠ SON JAROCHO FANDANGOS ARE PARTICIPATORY GATHERINGS, NOT STAGE SHOWS. ⚠ THE TOWN IS AT RIVER LEVEL AND FLOODED SEVERELY IN 2010, which put it on UNESCO's In Danger list from 2011 to 2014 - check river conditions in the wet season. ⚠ IT IS AN EVENING TOWN: too hot at midday, and the day-trippers leave by five. ⚠ VERACRUZ STATE CARRIES A TRAVEL ADVISORY. ⚠ HOURS AND PRICES NOT VERIFIED FOR THIS FILE.