"Progreso -- Life at the Beach" a Progreso Travel Page by Redlats

Progreso, Mexico is a beach town - 1/2 hour north of Mérida. Most of the time it is a sleepy Mexican town (pop. 46,000). This changes during summer holidays (July and August) and over the Easter school break when Meridanos (the inhabitants of Mérida) flock to the sea shore for a break. Of course the best vacation homes are on the beach, so there are hundreds and hundreds of beach homes for many kilometres on both sides of Progreso facing the Gulf of Mexico.

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Map of Progreso

These homes are available for rent during the less-prized months of the year, so many Canadians and some Americans land up renting them during the months from November to March or April.

It is quite a community where you meet the same people over and over again -- walking the beach, at bridge club, at fish and chip night, etc.

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Seaview from our temporary casa

The other big happening is that a Carnival cruise ship stops at Progreso once or twice a week (with between 2000 and 3000 passengers). In response to the cruise, and on cruise ship days only, a market is set up to provide the passengers with local products -- local made embroidery, silver jewelry, local-made hammocks, and the normal junk that gets sold (T-shirts, hats, etc.).

I often see questions in VT on what cruisers can do on their day at Progreso. Besides the obvious of wandering around town and drinking the drinks at Eladio's, you would have time to try a few other activities.

One Mayan ruin is relatively close by -- Dzibilchaltůn. This ruin is approximately 30 minutes drive from Progreso. If you have not arranged the tour with the cruise ship, there is no easy public transportation to the site; you would need to hire a local taxi (which can be arranged in Progreso).

Mérida is close as well. If the cruise-line does not arrange transportation, we used the local bus. The bus depot is three or four blocks from the beach, the cost is 21 pesos (~$2.20 US) round trip; it takes about 40 minutes one way to reach Mérida. Mérida is a busy city with numerous cultural things to do.

By the way, cruises sometimes also offer Uxmal or Chichen Itza ruin daytrips. I would not go on either from Progreso. It is over 2 hours one-way from Progreso to either one, so your 7 hour tour is mostly spent on the bus.