Playa Lerma

Playa Lerma fronts the fishing village of Lerma, about 6 km southwest of San Francisco de Campeche on the Gulf coast of Campeche state. The shore is narrow and made of packed, grey-brown sand rather than a broad recreational beach, and the water close to shore is often stirred by boat traffic and shallow enough for wading rather than swimming laps. This is a working waterfront, not a sunbathing beach: small fishing boats are drawn up directly on the sand, the cooperative's launches come and go through the day, and the catch goes straight from boat to the shorefront kitchens. There is no real surf or open exposure -- the village sits in a sheltered bight -- so the character is calm but utilitarian rather than scenic. Amenities are minimal: a scatter of small shaded seating areas, street parking along the shorefront, and no lifeguards. The draw is culinary and cultural rather than recreational: waterfront seafood kitchens serve the day's catch, and the village's shipyard and the Iglesia de San Antonio give Lerma a lived-in, workaday character quite different from the balneario at nearby Playa Bonita. Access from the capital is easy, with Ko'ox urban buses and colectivos running to Lerma for 12-25 MXN and taxis charging roughly 120-200 MXN for the 12-15 minute trip. Visitors come here primarily to eat fried fish, watch the fishing fleet at work and photograph the boats, rather than to spend a day on the sand.