The climate in the Bacalar region is classified as tropical, which means warm temperatures throughout the year. The best time to visit the Bacalar Lagoon region is during the dry season, from November to April.

During this time, you can expect warm and sunny weather with minimal rainfall. The average temperatures range from 25°C to 30°C, making it ideal for outdoor activities and enjoying the lagoon’s beauty.

This period offers pleasant weather, clear skies, and ideal conditions for swimming, kayaking, paddleboarding, and exploring the lagoon’s cenotes. The water is exceptionally clear, showcasing its stunning shades of blue.

The rainy season spans from May to October when the weather is still warm.

This period experiences more frequent rain showers and the potential for tropical storms. While the lush greenery flourishes during this time, the lagoon’s water may be less crystal-clear due to sediment runoff.

From Cancun

• Renta car to get to Bacalar.
• Hire shuttle services or tour to Bacalar.
• You can take a bus to Bacalar.

From Tulum or Bacalar

• From Tulum – take a bus or arrange for transportation (2-3 hour drive) to Bacalar.
• From Chetumal – take a bus or a short taxi ride to reach the Bacalar Lagoon.

Getting around in Bacalar

• Once in Bacalar, you can easily navigate the town on foot or by renting a bicycle.
• Taxis and local transportation are also available for getting around the area.

Remember to plan your transportation in advance, especially during the high tourist season.

The Laguna Salada has been, on several occasions, the scene of cultural events of various kinds, especially since the beginning of the 21st century.

It was part of an event called “Pavarotti without borders” that took place on October 18, 2003, as part of the celebrations of the centenary of the city of Mexicali. This event was part of one of the last tours of the Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti.

The movie “Resident Evil: Extinction” used the Laguna Salada as a film location for one of its scenes.

During the month of May 2006 and one of the episodes of the “Curiosity” program used the dry vessel of the lagoon to experience and film the fall of a Boeing 727 aircraft. This was the second experiment of its kind conducted in the world and It was made on April 27, 2012, to be screened on television on October 7 of that same year in the United States.

On August 1, 2012, the first launch in the state of Baja California of a rocket, manufactured by students of the aerospace engineering career of the UABC engineering and technology center, took place. The device named “Cimarrón I” reached an altitude of more than three thousand meters and consultants from NASA and the SJSU participated in the project.

There have also been some editions of an ultra-marathon called Ultramarathon in the desert of Laguna Salada, at the beginning of the second decade of the 21st century.

And finally the realization of varied events among which are: collective astronomical observations by fans, off-road races, and exhibitions of aeromodelling among others.

The city of Guadalajara, Jalisco, has relied on Lake Chapala as a principal source of water since the 1950s. Shortly after, a few consecutive years of poor rainfall dramatically decreased the water level of the Lake. The level rebounded until 1979, when Lake Chapala’s water level began rapidly decreasing due to increases in urban water consumption.

Erosion due to deforestation along the Lake as well as the Lerma River has led to increased sedimentation of the Lake, also contributing to loss of lake depth. The shrinking depth has also raised the Lake’s average temperature, resulting in increased evaporation.

Simultaneously, the waters of Lake Chapala are polluted by municipal, industrial and agricultural wastes, coming primarily from the Lerma River. The increased presence of nutrients from the pollution combined with the warmer water has been a boon to an invasive species of water hyacinth.

The increase in water pollution has had devastating effects on the ecology of the lake. Fish stock has decreased dramatically and some endemic species (e.g. a fish colloquially known as ‘white fish’) are on the verge of extinction. Contaminated fish stock has also posed a serious threat to the health and livelihoods of people who depend on the fish for food and their livelihoods.

The drop in the lake’s water level has uncovered political issues that had been hidden for many years. Its fast decay has raised concern in the surrounding areas and in the scientific community. It was the Global Nature Fund’s “Threatened Lake of the Year” in 2004.

By 2007 and 2008, the level of Lake Chapala increased drastically, though the levels have yet to surpass the level in 1979, when the levels began a precipitous decline. Although it is still subject to agricultural, domestic, and industrial sources of contamination, the actual levels of hazardous materials has not been officially assessed with regularity.

Although water level and quality improved due to water treatment plants along the Lerma river, in 2017 the water quality of Lake Chapala water was assessed as a risk to public health.

The lake is also a critical habitat for several species of migratory birds, such as the American white pelican, and home to thousands of indigenous plants and animals.

The Audubonistas de Laguna de Chapala holds an annual Audubon Society sponsored Christmas Bird Count. In 2006, some 117 species were identified and, in 2007, the count was 125. By January, 2011, some 173 species were recorded.

There are numerous towns and cities along the coast of Lake Chapala, including Chapala, Jalisco, Ajijic, San Antonio Tlayacapan, Jocotepec, San Juan Cosala, Mezcala de la Asunción, Tizapan El Alto, La Palma, Michoacán and Ocotlán.

In recent years, because of the benign prevailing climate and attractive scenery, a substantial colony of retirees, including many from the United States and Canada, has established itself on the lake’s shore, particularly in the town of Ajijic, Jalisco, located just west of the city of Chapala.

You can dial 078 from any phone, where you can find free information about tourist attractions, airports, travel agencies, car rental companies, embassies and consulates, fairs and exhibitions, hotels, hospitals, financial services, migratory and other issues.

Or dial the toll-free (in Mexico) number 01-800-006-8839.

You can also request information to the email correspondencia@sectur.gob.mx

MORE EMERGENCY NUMBERS:

General Information: 040 (not free)

National Emergency Service: 911

Radio Patrols: 066
Police (Emergency): 060
Civil Protection: +52(55)5683-2222
Anonymous Complaint: 089

Setravi (Transport Mobility): +52(55)5209-9913
Road Emergency: 074

Cruz Roja: 065 o +52(55)5557-5757
Firefighters: 068 o +52(55)5768-3700

• Jaracuaro
• Uranden
• Janitzio
• Pacanda
• Yunuen
• Tecuena

• Pátzcuaro
• Erongarícuaro
• Quiroga
• Tzintzuntzan
• Tocuaro
• Opongio
• Puacuaro
• Arocutin
• Ihuatzio
• Santa Fe La Laguna
• Cucuchuchu
• Uricho
• Napizaro
• Erongarícuaro

The river and its tributaries were important trade routes for the ancient Maya civilization. Yaxchilan and Piedras Negras, two of the most powerful cities of the Maya Classic Period, lie along its banks.

Before roads, such as the Border Highway constructed by the Mexican Government in the early 1990s, penetrated the jungle, the river was the only means of travel in this region. Huge trunks of hardwood trees were floated downriver to the state of Tabasco.

In the 1980s, many Guatemalan refugees fled across the river to relative safety in Mexico.

Other groups of refugees and Guatemalan guerrillas formed the so-called CPR communities in the jungle on the Guatemalan shores, hiding from the government until the peace accords of the nineties.

Frans and Trudi Blom first brought the idea of conservation to the watershed in the 1950s by proposing that a section of the Selva Lacandona be reserved for the Lacandon Maya.

Their idea was as much the preservation of culture as of habitat, and this principle – that indigenous integrity and habitat are inextricably linked in the watershed – should help guide any future conservation planning.

Conservationists working in the region, such as Nacho March, Ron Nigh, Fernando Ochoa, Roan Balas McNab, and others, have all acknowledged and upheld the principle in their work.

The first large hydroelectric project on the Usumacinta in “Boca del Cerro”, Tenosique, Tabasco, was proposed in the 1980s and would have stretched all the way up the Pasion and Lacantun tributaries, flooding Piedras Negras and Yaxchilan, among other known and unknown Maya sites. At that time, the Guatemalan shore was held by rebels, whose presence discouraged illegal logging, poaching, and looting. It also discouraged dam engineers.

In 1985 Jefferey Wilkerson’s groundbreaking article in National Geographic brought the river and its glories to widespread public consciousness for the first time.

Additionally, the Guatemalan journalist Victor Perera wrote about the river in The Nation and in his books, The Last Lords of Palenque and Unfinished Conquest, and Jan de Vos chronicled the region in his magisterial series of histories.

Ultimately the hydro project failed under the weight of its own disincentives: siltation, geology, seismic activity, distance from markets, politics, etc., but the outcry from conservationists, archeologists, writers, and the public helped. It also established a pattern.

A thriving seasonal business in wilderness tourism began after the Wilkerson article. The river and its environs became a favorite destination of river travelers, amateur Mayanists and archaeologists, birders and wildlife tourists.

Carlos Salinas de Gortari proposed a smaller but still monumental hydro project in 1990, and completed the periferico surrounding the Montes Azules reserve. Articles in The New York Times and op-ed pieces by Homero Aridjis suggesting a binational reserve for the area, helped defeat this incarnation of the idea.

In the late 1990s, a consortium of scientists, and government and non-governmental organizations met in San Cristóbal de las Casas, to identify the extent and types of habitat remaining in the region, and to draw maps of the watershed.

The conference addressed many of the jurisdictional and administrative questions that still bedevil the idea.

The Zapatista Rebellion in 1994 and 1995, and the Guatemalan peace accords in 1996, reshaped the political lines in the watershed. As a direct consequence, and with the dramatic fall of the peso, bandits began robbing raft trips, ending wilderness travel in the corridor.

One of the most promising tourist activities, with the least potential impact and the most possibility for helping conservation, archaeology, and cultural preservation, ended. Illegal activity of all types took over the corridor.

The Mexican army, which pervaded the Zapatista region, had little effect on river crime, and may have abetted it.

In Guatemala, the absence of the expelled CPR communities, which had helped keep the selva safe and secure, now left it open to invasion, illegal logging, smuggling of immigrants, arms, artifacts, and drugs.

Many members of those communities now work as Defensores, but their numbers are few, and they are poorly paid. The region continued in a state of low-grade terror and occupation for ten years.

Follow the short winding path to the lagoon entrance. Once in the water, you are immediately greeted by hundreds of colorful fish. Wonders can be observed at a depth of no more than 2 m, and there are few or no waves.

Submerged rock formations create a fascinating underwater terrain and the ideal habitat for the exotic marine creatures that you can see perfectly while snorkeling, whether you simply float on the surface or dive underwater.

Several species of tropical fish spend some time in the lagoon before they reach the proper size and maturity, after which, they move out into the immensity of the ocean and start their survival of the fittest.

Damselfish and sergeant majors are small but pugnacious so don’t be surprised if they charge, they do that if they feel threatened. They are normally no longer than seven inches in length so there is nothing to worry about.

Bird watchers will be delighted with the area, which is abundant with various tropical species. Herons are especially prevalent but other water and shore birds are routinely sighted, such as cranes, pelicans, seagulls, and egrets.

In and around the lagoon are several contemporary sculptures by Francisco Zúñiga. They’re not only hidden in the forest and gardens as you walk towards the lagoon, there are also some right out in the middle of the water.

• Open from 9:00 to 17:00 (all days).
• There is a small fee to enter the inlet.
• It is not permitted to use sunblock or to bring any food or drinks.
• Rental equipment is not available, so you’ll have to bring your own.
• If you opt to join a tour group, equipment will be provided for you.

You can go on a tour arranged by a tour desk at your hotel.

Yal-ku inlet is best reached via Akumal, a major development 105 km south of Cancun along the Cancun-Tulum Highway. If you get a good map and rent a car, however, you can go to Yal-Ku Lagoon by yourself.

• From Playa del Carmen by bus and then taxi.
• From Cancun by bus and then taxi.