Mexico

O heroic town! Festive, frenetic Veracruz revels in peripatetic mariachis, pleasingly aesthetic colonial buildings and an infectious kinetic fervor. Cruise on a yacht, party with locals or snooze in a shaded plaza. Despite the tourist hordes, this cheeky city somehow retains its small-town charm.

Before the 20th century

In pre-Hispanic times, the coast here was occupied by the Totonacs, with influences from Toltec and Aztec civilizations. After the Spanish conquest, Veracruz was Mexico's main gateway to the outside world for 400 years.

Hernán Cortés made his first landing here at an island 2km (1.3mi) offshore, naming it 'Isla Sacrificios' because of the sacrificed human remains he found there. He then anchored off another island, San Juan de Ulúa, in 1519, making his first contact with Moctezuma's envoys. Cortés founded the first Spanish settlement at Villa Rica, 69km (43mi) north, but this was later moved to La Antigua, and finally to the present site of Veracruz in 1598.

Veracruz became the Spaniards' most important anchorage - until 1760 it was the only port allowed to handle trade with Spain. However, because of seaborne raids and tropical diseases (malaria and yellow fever were rampant), Veracruz never became one of Mexico's biggest cities.

In 1567, nine English ships sailed into Veracruz harbor, with the intention of selling slaves in defiance of the Spanish trade monopoly. They were trapped by a Spanish fleet, and only two of the ships escaped. One of them, however, carried Francis Drake, who went on to harass the Spanish in a long career as a sort of licensed pirate. The most vicious pirate attack of all occurred in 1683, when the Frenchman Laurent de Gaff, with 600 men, held the 5000 inhabitants of Veracruz captive in the town church with little food or water. De Gaff's men killed anyone who tried to escape, piled Plaza de Armas with loot, got drunk and raped many of the women. They left a few days later, much richer.

In 1838, General Antonio López de Santa Anna fled Veracruz in his underwear under bombardment from a French fleet in the 'Pastry War' (the French were pressing various claims against Mexico, including that of a French pastry cook whose restaurant had been wrecked by unruly Mexican officers). But the general responded heroically, expelling the invaders and losing his left leg in the process.

When the army of Winfield Scott attacked Veracruz in 1847 during the Mexican-American War, more than 1000 Mexicans were killed in a week-long bombardment before the city surrendered.

In 1859, during Mexico's internal Reform War, Benito Juárez' Veracruz-based liberal government promulgated the reform laws that nationalized church property, and put education into secular hands. Two years later, Juárez, having won the war, announced that Mexico couldn't pay its foreign debts. A joint French-Spanish-British force subsequently occupied Veracruz. Realizing that Napoleon III intended to conquer Mexico, the Brits and Spaniards went home, while the French marched inland to begin their five-year intervention.

When Napoleon III's reign came to an end, Veracruz again began to flower. Mexico's first railway was built between Veracruz and Mexico City in 1872 and, under the dictatorship of Porfirio Díaz, investment poured into the city.

Modern history

In 1914, during the civil war that followed Díaz' departure in the 1910-11 revolution, US troops occupied Veracruz to prevent a delivery of German arms to the conservative dictator, Victoriano Huerta. The Mexican casualties that resulted from this intervention alienated even Huerta's opponents. Later in the civil war, Veracruz was, for a while, the capital of the reformist Constitutionalist faction led by Venustiano Carranza.

Recent history

Today, Veracruz is Mexico's most important deep-water port - handling around 70% of the nation's exports to the Americas and Europe - and a key center for the manufacturing and petrochemical industries. Tourism, particularly from the domestic sector, is another major source of income - it peaks during Carnaval around February-March.

Top Accommodation

Top Restaurants

Mexico's central Gulf coast region is very hot and and exceedingly rainy. In Veracruz, most of the rain falls between June and September - about 1650mm (65in) annually - with average monthly rainfall sometimes reaching 370mm (14.5in). From April to October, the mercury hovers around 31°C (88°F) during the day, and a mild 23°C (73°F) at night. Between December and February, it's slightly cooler but equally pleasant, with daytime averages of 26°C (79°F) and only a trickle of rain.

Average weather

• Temperature
• Rainfall

Transport

Getting there and away

Frequent flights between Veracruz and Mexico City are offered by Mexicana and Aeroméxico. Mexicana also flies to Tampico and to Cancún via Mérida; Aeroméxico to/from Tampico and Villahermosa. Aerocaribe has direct flights to Minatitlán, with onward connections to Cancún and other destinations. Direct flights from Houston are offered by Continental.

Veracruz is a major hub, with good services up and down the coast and inland along the Córdoba-Puebla-Mexico City corridor. Buses to/from Mexico City can be heavily booked at holiday times. The bus station is about 3km (1.8mi) south of the zócalo (main plaza). The 1st-class area fronts Av Díaz Mirón on the corner with Xalapa. Behind the 1st-class station, the 2nd-class side is entered from Av Lafragua. Buses leaving Veracruz also go to Campeche, Cancún, Chetumal, Matamoros, Mérida, Nuevo Laredo and Salina Cruz.

Many car-rental agencies have desks at the Veracruz airport. There are also some larger agencies scattered around town.

Getting around

Veracruz airport (tel: 934 70 00) is 11km (7mi) southwest of the city center near Hwy 140. It's small, modern and well organized. There's no bus service to or from town; taxis are the only option.

To get into the city center from in front of the 1st-class bus station, take a bus marked 'Díaz Mirón y Madero'. It will head to Parque Zamora then up Madero. For the zócalo (main plaza), get off on the corner of Madero and Lerdo and turn right. Returning to the bus stations, pick up the same bus going south on Av 5 de Mayo.

Buses marked 'Mocambo-Boca del Río' leave every few minutes from the corner of Zaragoza and Serdán; they go via Parque Zamora then down Blvd Camacho to Playa Mocambo (20min) and on to Boca del Río (30min).

AU buses to Antón Lizardo stop at Boca del Río and Mandinga. They leave from the 2nd-class bus station every 20 minutes.

Leaving from the malecón (waterfront boulevard), open-top buses make a 50-minute circuit of the city's attractions, traveling along the coast as far as Boca del Río. You can hop on or off anywhere en route.

Health & Legal Requirements

Dangers and annoyances

Veracruz is a safe place to travel, but travelers should remain wary of petty theft in hotel rooms and pickpocketing in crowded market areas.

Also, mosquitoes here carry dengue fever. Be sure to baste yourself generously with mosquito repellent.