Campeche is a Gulf-coast state on the western side of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, best known for its walled capital, San Francisco de Campeche, a UNESCO World Heritage city of pastel facades, baroque churches, and Spanish colonial ramparts built to repel Caribbean pirates. Inland, the state holds two-thirds of the Yucatan Peninsula's tropical forest and the vast Maya metropolis of Calakmul, hidden inside a biosphere reserve on the Guatemalan border. Campeche receives a fraction of the visitors that reach Cancun or Merida, which is precisely its appeal.
Accommodation overview
Hotels by budget
Find accommodation that fits your travel budget.
Budget-friendly (under $50/night)
Hotel Lopez Campeche
A 1950s art deco hotel with curved balconies and a green-and-white courtyard, run by the same family for decades and one of the cheapest places to sleep inside the walls. Rooms are plain and air-conditioned, and the location on Calle 12 is two blocks from the main square.
Check rates on Booking.comHostal Boutique Casa Balche
A restored centro house on Calle 57 running as a hybrid hostel and small hotel, with mixed dormitories, private rooms, a plunge pool, and a shared kitchen. It is the main meeting point for independent travellers in the walled city and staff arrange shared transport towards Calakmul.
Check rates on Booking.comHostal La Parroquia
A long-established backpacker hostel above the well-known Parroquia cafe on Calle 55, offering the cheapest dormitory beds inside the walls plus a handful of basic private rooms. Facilities are simple and fan-cooled in the dorms, but the position two blocks from the cathedral is unbeatable at the price.
Check rates on Booking.comMid-range ($50-150/night)
Hotel Castelmar
A colonial building near the Baluarte de San Carlos, Castelmar was a 19th-century boarding house and keeps its patterned pasta tile floors, high ceilings, and a long arcaded courtyard with a small pool. Rooms are simple but generously sized, and the location two blocks from the main square is among the best value inside the walls.
Check rates on Booking.comHotel Plaza Colonial
A comfortable mid-range hotel just north of the wall line, close to the Alameda and the Barrio de Guadalupe, offering air-conditioned rooms around a small rooftop pool terrace. It is a practical choice for travellers arriving by car, since parking is easier here than on the narrow streets inside the walls.
Check rates on Booking.comHotel Socaire
A converted centro house on Calle 55 with a courtyard pool, a rooftop terrace, and a dozen rooms decorated in bright Mexican colours. The hotel is three blocks from the cathedral and is popular with travellers who want boutique styling without hacienda prices.
Check rates on Booking.comH177 Hotel
A small design-led hotel on Calle 14 with 24 air-conditioned rooms, a hot tub, and one of the highest location scores in the walled city, half a block from Calle 59. The style is contemporary rather than colonial, with concrete, glass, and local hardwood.
Check rates on Booking.comHotel Francis Drake
Named for the corsairs who once raided the port, this centro hotel on Calle 12 offers 24 conventional air-conditioned rooms, some with small balconies over the street. It is reliable, central, and a common choice for travellers who arrive late by ADO bus.
Check rates on Booking.comHotel Baluartes
A long-standing seafront hotel on Avenida 16 de Septiembre, directly opposite the malecon and beside the Baluarte de San Carlos, with an outdoor pool and rooms facing either the Gulf or the old wall. It is dated in style but has the widest sunset views of any hotel within walking distance of the plaza.
Check rates on Booking.comGamma Campeche Malecon
A refurbished mid-scale hotel on Avenida Ruiz Cortines facing the seafront promenade, with a pool deck, restaurant, and business facilities. Rooms on the upper floors look straight across the Gulf and catch the sunset that draws locals to the malecon each evening.
Check rates on Booking.comHoliday Inn Campeche by IHG
The most predictable international-standard hotel in the state capital, sitting on Avenida Resurgimiento in Colonia del Prado about three kilometres south of the walls. It offers an outdoor pool, free parking, a fitness room, and a shuttle-friendly location for drivers heading on to Edzna or Champoton.
Check rates on Booking.comOcean View Hotel
A modest waterfront hotel on Avenida Pedro Sainz de Baranda facing the malecon south of the walled city, with a small pool and balconies over the Gulf. Rates are noticeably lower than the colonial boutiques and the promenade outside the door leads straight into the centro in about twenty minutes on foot.
Check rates on Booking.comHotel Tucan Siho-Playa
A rambling coastal hotel built around a 19th-century hacienda at kilometre 35 of the Campeche-Champoton road, with two pools, a pier, and lawns running down to the Gulf. It is the closest thing the state has to a beach resort and is popular with Mexican families at weekends.
Check rates on Booking.comHotel Puerta Calakmul
Sixteen wooden cabanas raised on stilts in the forest at Conhuas, right at the Calakmul access road turnoff on Highway 186, with a pool, restaurant, and no televisions. Howler monkeys and toucans are routine early-morning company and the reserve gate is a 60 km drive south from the door.
Check rates on Booking.comRio Bec Dreams Hotel
A small owner-run jungle lodge at kilometre 142 of Highway 186 with four private jungalows and simpler cabanas set in 12 hectares of forest between Xpujil and Chicanna. The restaurant, serving European, Indian, and Mexican dishes, is the best-known kitchen in southern Campeche and the owners guide trips to the Rio Bec sites.
Check rates on Booking.comEurohotel Ciudad del Carmen
A well-regarded independent hotel in the centre of Ciudad del Carmen, a few blocks from the cathedral and the Laguna de Terminos waterfront, with a pool, restaurant, and secure parking. Weekday rates run higher because of the offshore energy industry, so leisure travellers do better arriving on a Friday or Saturday.
Check rates on Booking.comCity Express by Marriott Ciudad del Carmen
A dependable limited-service chain hotel on Avenida Justo Sierra with air-conditioned rooms, free breakfast, free parking, and a small pool. It is the standard choice for business visitors to the island and for road travellers breaking the drive between Campeche city and Villahermosa.
Check rates on Booking.comLuxury ($150+/night)
Hacienda Puerta Campeche, a Luxury Collection Hotel
A row of 17th-century mansions on Calle 59 was joined into a single 15-room hotel whose central swimming pool runs through the roofless shells of the original houses. The property sits inside the walled city, a five-minute walk from Puerta de Tierra, and is the most expensive address in the state capital.
Check rates on Booking.comHacienda Uayamon, a Luxury Collection Hotel
Twenty minutes inland from the capital, this restored henequen estate dating from the 1700s keeps its ruined chapel and machine house as garden features around 12 villa-style rooms. Several suites have private plunge pools, and the spa and candlelit dining room in the old engine house are the reasons most guests make the drive.
Check rates on Booking.comHotel Boutique Casa Don Gustavo
An 18th-century merchant house on Calle 59 restored with its original tiles, ironwork, and family portraits, holding ten individually decorated rooms around a courtyard with a small pool and whirlpool. A full breakfast is included and the in-house restaurant serves Campechano cooking in the arcaded patio.
Check rates on Booking.comBest neighborhoods to stay
Choose your base based on your interests and travel style.
Centro Historico (walled city)
The grid inside the 17th-century baluartes holds almost every boutique hotel in the state capital, along with the cathedral, the Plaza de la Independencia, and the restored Calle 59 promenade running from the sea gate to Puerta de Tierra. Everything is walkable and the streets are patrolled and well lit after dark.
Best for: First-time visitors, couples, walkers, photographers
Malecon and Avenida Ruiz Cortines
The seafront boulevard north and south of the walls carries the larger chain and business hotels, including Gamma Campeche Malecon and Hotel Baluartes, plus a six-kilometre promenade used for jogging and evening paseo. Rooms here trade colonial character for sea-facing balconies and easy parking.
Best for: Drivers, families, business travellers, sunset watchers
Barrio de San Roman
A short walk south-west of the walled city, San Roman is built around its 16th-century church and the famous black Christ, with neighbourhood taquerias, small guesthouses, and far lower prices than the centro. The barrio is calm at night and still only ten minutes on foot from the main square.
Best for: Budget travellers, longer stays, independent travellers
Barrio de Guadalupe and Santa Ana
These northern and eastern barrios sit immediately outside the old wall line and mix simple posadas with markets, bakeries, and the Alameda promenade. Accommodation is basic but the barrios give a closer look at everyday Campechano life than the tourist streets inside the walls.
Best for: Backpackers, market shoppers, repeat visitors
Champoton and Sihoplaya coast
The stretch of Highway 180 south of the capital passes Playa Bonita, Seybaplaya and Sihoplaya, where a handful of resort-style hotels sit directly on the Gulf of Mexico. It suits travellers who want swimming and shrimp lunches rather than colonial architecture.
Best for: Beach days, families, road trips
Xpujil, Conhuas and the Calakmul corridor
The southern municipality of Calakmul strings its lodges and cabana hotels along Highway 186 between Escarcega and Chetumal, close to the Rio Bec sites of Becan, Chicanna and Xpujil and the turnoff for the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve. Power can be limited and mobile coverage patchy, which is part of the appeal.
Best for: Archaeology travellers, birdwatchers, wildlife spotters
Ciudad del Carmen
Campeche's second city sits on an island between the Laguna de Terminos and the Gulf, and its hotels are shaped by the offshore energy industry, so weekday rates run higher than weekend ones. Playa Norte and the Zacatal bridge are the main draws for leisure visitors.
Best for: Business trips, birdwatchers on the Laguna de Terminos, road travellers heading to Tabasco
Our top picks
Handpicked recommendations for every type of traveler.
Hacienda Puerta Campeche, a Luxury Collection Hotel
A row of 17th-century mansions on Calle 59 was joined into a single 15-room hotel whose central swimming pool runs through the roofless shells of the original houses. The property sits inside the walled city, a five-minute walk from Puerta de Tierra, and is the most expensive address in the state capital.
Check rates on Booking.comHacienda Uayamon, a Luxury Collection Hotel
Twenty minutes inland from the capital, this restored henequen estate dating from the 1700s keeps its ruined chapel and machine house as garden features around 12 villa-style rooms. Several suites have private plunge pools, and the spa and candlelit dining room in the old engine house are the reasons most guests make the drive.
Check rates on Booking.comHotel Boutique Casa Don Gustavo
An 18th-century merchant house on Calle 59 restored with its original tiles, ironwork, and family portraits, holding ten individually decorated rooms around a courtyard with a small pool and whirlpool. A full breakfast is included and the in-house restaurant serves Campechano cooking in the arcaded patio.
Check rates on Booking.comHotel Castelmar
A colonial building near the Baluarte de San Carlos, Castelmar was a 19th-century boarding house and keeps its patterned pasta tile floors, high ceilings, and a long arcaded courtyard with a small pool. Rooms are simple but generously sized, and the location two blocks from the main square is among the best value inside the walls.
Check rates on Booking.comHotel Plaza Colonial
A comfortable mid-range hotel just north of the wall line, close to the Alameda and the Barrio de Guadalupe, offering air-conditioned rooms around a small rooftop pool terrace. It is a practical choice for travellers arriving by car, since parking is easier here than on the narrow streets inside the walls.
Check rates on Booking.comHotel Socaire
A converted centro house on Calle 55 with a courtyard pool, a rooftop terrace, and a dozen rooms decorated in bright Mexican colours. The hotel is three blocks from the cathedral and is popular with travellers who want boutique styling without hacienda prices.
Check rates on Booking.comBooking tips
Get the best deals and avoid common mistakes.
Rates in the Centro Historico climb sharply during the Carnaval de Campeche in February and the Festival del Centro Historico in December, when the walled city fills for weeks ahead
The two Luxury Collection haciendas, Puerta Campeche and Uayamon, hold only 15 and 12 rooms respectively and sell out for winter weekends months in advance
Colonial mansion hotels inside the walls have thick masonry and small windows, so travellers who want a balcony and sea light should look to the malecon hotels along Avenida Ruiz Cortines instead
Booking.com, Expedia and Hotels.com all list the centro properties, but small family-run hotels such as Hotel Lopez and Hotel Francis Drake often quote a lower direct rate by phone on their +52 981 numbers
Anyone visiting Calakmul should sleep at Conhuas or Xpujil rather than driving the two and a half hours from Campeche city, because the 60 km reserve access road opens early and closes mid-afternoon
Cash in Mexican pesos is useful at hostels and jungle lodges around Xpujil, where card terminals depend on a patchy mobile signal
Alternative accommodations
Beyond traditional hotels, consider these options.
Guesthouses
Family-run guesthouses offer authentic local experiences and often include home-cooked meals. Great for cultural immersion.
Serviced apartments
Ideal for longer stays or families. Kitchen facilities help save money and provide flexibility.
Hostels
Budget-friendly option for solo travelers. Dorms and private rooms available with social common areas.