Veracruz Things to Do Tips by alza Top 5 Page for this destination

Best way to get to San Juan de Ulua

TAKE A TAXI from Veracruz Centro, for USD5, to San Juan de Ulua Visitors Centre. Entrance fee USD3. Juice and snacks vendors at the entrance, plus cabs that wait there until closing time, 5 p.m.
There used to be a bus to the Fortress but nowadays, the bus leaves you on the highway where the dangerous beach starts, stil an hour away. Veracruz is about the hottest place I know. Take a cab.

In case you wonder where all the water in some pics come from... there was flooding everywhere for a month after Hurricane Stan.

Directions: across the water from the Port in Veracruz

San Juan de Ulua

San Juan de Ulua is a great old Spanish fortress in Veracruz, just across the water facing the Port. This place transports you back in time somewhat. The film Romancing the Stone was shot here. At time of writing, I am in Panama City where everyone raves about the Old Spanish Fortress at Panama Viejo. Okay, let,s be blunt: Panama Viejo has got nothing on San Juan de Ulua!
Ask for directions in Veracruz Centro as San Juan de Ulua is very close but what with the Gulf of Mexico and the huge Port getting in the way, it,s a terribly long walk in an area where you,re not really allowed to walk. I walked... along a beach I never knew existed. Squatters live right on that beach, which is covered in detritus. A sign warns that the beach is not maintained for swimming or anything else and is unsafe to your health. A man caught up with me as I untangled myself from some huge cactus and insisted to get me back on the 2-lane road with no sidewalk to the Fortress. The area by the beach is dangerous and the road after that is along a canal where people live in run-down fishing boats. They launch their nets to catch shrimps and maybe even a few pelicans. None of them were too happy to see me on their turf.

TAKE A TAXI from Veracruz Centro, for USD5, to San Juan de Ulua Visitors Centre. Entrance fee USD3. Juice and snacks vendors at the entrance, plus cabs that wait there until closing time, 5 p.m.

Directions: There used to be a bus to the Fortress but nowadays, the bus leaves you on the highway where the dangerous beach starts, stil an hour away. Veracruz is about the hottest place I know. Take a cab.