Rio Lagartos Yucatan: Your 2024 Insider's Guide (2024)

Rio Lagartos is one of the Yucatan’s best-kept secrets. This quaint fishing village sits on the northern tip of the Yucatan state, close to the Gulf of Mexico.

If you are interested in birdwatching, seeing the famous Yucatan flamingos, or immersing yourself in nature, you will enjoy Rio Lagartos. Life moves at a slower pace here.

As you walk along the Malecon of Rio Lagartos, you will notice a lot of locals offering tours from their fishing boats. You pay for the price of the boat, not per person.

It is worth speaking to a couple of different tour guides to obtain the best price as prices quoted varied from 900 pesos ($45) to 1200 pesos ($60) for the same 3-hour tour. The boat can accommodate up to 6 people.

You probably won’t have your absolute best dining experience in Mexico here but regardless, you can still sample some Yucatan delicacies. The waters of the Rio Lagartos lagoon and the town’s close proximity to the sea mean that this is a great place to eat seafood.

El Perico Marinero (Calle 9) is a nice spot to tuck into fresh fish caught earlier that same day. Nearby, the two-story palapas restaurant Ría Maya Restaurante offers a great viewpoint over the lagoon.

Baño Maya Río Lagartos is a spot where you can indulge in a Mayan clay mud bath on the banks of the lagoon. You will find it marked on the map, and most Rio Lagartos tours make a quick stop here.

The area seems relatively nondescript. You will approach a hole in the ground that is filled with soft, white, clay mud.

The mud contains a high concentration of sulfur, minerals, salts, and algae. It both smooths the skin and acts as a gentle exfoliant, removing all dead skin cells.

There are just a handful of places around the Yucatan where you can find this mud, and Rio Lagartos is one of them. The Ancient Maya would both use the mud as a spa therapy treatment, and to paint their faces for battle/for a celebration.

To try a Mayan bath, slather a generous amount of the mud over your face and body and leave it on until it dries. There is a small beach nearby where you can wash it off.

There are a small handful of bars along the Rio Lagartos Malecon where you can enjoy a chilled cerveza or a spicy michelada drink at the end of a long day. Arguably the best ambiance is found at the rooftop bar on the top of Hotel Rio Lagartos.

Live musical performances are hosted here most nights and the co*cktails here are the best in town. Order yourself a pina colada or a margarita made with fresh fruit.

If you can, bring a pair of binoculars to Rio Lagartos with you so that you can get a better view. If you consider yourself a bird-watching enthusiast, you will be delighted to hear that you can take birdwatching tours in this area.

These are suitable even if you know very little about birds and are only just starting to become interested in birdwatching. Your guide will take you to various places where you can spot different birds and then provide you with information about their characteristics, lifespan, breeding, etc.

If you are into photography, Rio Lagartos provides a great opportunity to get some impressive shots of the various resident birds as they huddle up with their chicks or dive into the water to hunt fish. Other species of birds to look out for besides the infamous flamingos?

Here, you can also spot wood storks, herons, pygmy owls, various species of woodpeckers, pygmy kingfishers, and countless others. Some bird species are indigenous to the Yucatan.

Rio Lagartos’ proximity to the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico means that there are several gorgeous beaches nearby. You will stop at a couple of these Yucatan beaches if you take the Rio Lagartos boat tour.

However, the stops will be relatively brief and sometimes you want to spend more than just an hour at the beach. A 20-minute drive from Rio Lagartos takes you to the serene beach of Cancunito.

Envisage soft white sands and translucent azure waters and you are halfway to imagining what Cancunito beach is like. Cancunito is essentially a virgin beach.

There are no stores, restaurants, or amenities here, but there are no crowds either. If you want to enjoy your own private slice of paradise for the day, Cancunito is the place to do just that.

From Rio Lagartos, you can head out to the Instagram-famous pink lakes of Las Coloradas. You can opt to do so on a tour or you can visit independently.

There are several of these pink lakes in Mexico. (Laguna Rosada is also very beautiful.) However, the lake at Las Coloradas is the most famous.

So are the lakes worth visiting and why are they pink? Unfortunately, the lakes are another example of where social media and over-tourism have had an extremely detrimental impact on a place.

Sure, it is interesting that the water here is bright pink. It certainly isn’t something that you see every day.

However, even if you venture here early in the morning, you will usually be met by a busload of tourists who want to take photos. That is not to say that you should not visit the lakes while in the area. But you should manage your expectations.

Las Coloradas means ‘blush red’ in Spanish. The waters are part of a privately owned salt farm and indeed, when you stop by, you will probably see local workers in action, harvesting the salt from the water.

A fifteen-minute drive from Rio Lagartos takes you to the little fishing village of San Felipe. It is situated on the westernmost part of the lagoon and is another great place to enjoy some alternative viewpoints and spot birds and other wildlife.

You will seldom see many tourists in Rio Lagartos as it is, but in charming San Felipe, you will likely be the only one. There are a couple of restaurants here that make a nice place to stop for lunch.

Restaurante Danilu and the waterfront Restaurante Vaselina both serve very good seafood, among other options. You will also find a lot of street food vendors selling tacos and other light bites, as well as locals selling homemade empanadas and pastries from their front gardens.

Early in the mornings and late at night, you will see local fishermen casting their nets into the water to fish for shrimps. Several local tour companies also offer the opportunity to enjoy a day of fly fishing.

Giant Tarpon, Snook, ladyfish, baby tarpon, and Jacks are just a few of the fish that you can find here. Permits are required to fish here (which the tour operators have). All fish caught are then released back into the water.

It is possible to take a Rio Lagartos tour from Cancun, Tulum, Playa del Carmen, or Merida. These tours include pick up and drop off at your hotel and take a lot of stress out of the logistics of getting to the area.

Some Rio Lagartos day tours also include stops at several other notable attractions en route. For instance, Mayan ruins or cenotes.

Driving in Mexico is not as intimidating as it may sound, especially not in the Yucatan. Having access to a vehicle gives you a lot more freedom and flexibility with your schedule.

Not to mention, public transport in the Yucatan region often leaves a lot to be desired. Buses and colectivos here run on an infrequent schedule and sometimes, getting to attractions and points of interest means having to take multiple forms of transport.

It will take you a couple of hours to drive to Rio Lagartos, whether you are driving in from Merida, Cancun, Playa del Carmen, or Valladolid. If you are further afield in Quintana Roo, you may want to spend a night in Valladolid en route to break up the journey.

Then, you can spend a little time enjoying the pueblo magico of Valladolid, go swimming in the cenotes nearby, and visit Chichen Itza. From there, you can continue on to Rio Lagartos.

The roads to Rio Lagartos are well-built and maintained. You will be driving along an asphalt freeway that is in good condition, with no dirt trails or gravel roads.

Whether you are driving from Merida or Quintana Roo, you will have to pass by the town of Tizimin. However, it is not necessary to drive through the busy center.

The nearby village of Kikil is a tiny yet adorable place where you can stop to check out an abandoned convent and a cenote. As with driving anywhere in Mexico, it is advisable not to drive to Rio Lagartos at night.

The Yucatan is a very safe region. However, many roads are poorly lit or they are not illuminated by street lights at all. This can make it very difficult to spot topes (speed bumps) and hazards like stray cats, dogs, and wildlife.

If you happen to be traveling to Mexico in January or February, you may want to consider Celestun as an alternative to Rio Lagartos. This may be a preferable and more convenient choice, depending on where you are basing yourself during your trip.

Air-conditioned ADO buses run between Merida and Celestun. The boat tours offered at Ría Celestún reserve are comparable to those at Ría Lagartos.

The main differences? You will likely see more flamingos in Celestun, however, you will also see more tourists. Celestun is easier to get to from Merida, however, it can also be more expensive.

A one-hour boat tour of Ría Celestún reserve and its mangroves is typically 1800 pesos for a boat that can accommodate up to 8 people. Generally, it all comes down to personal preference but it is worth being aware of the two options.

The best hotel choice in Rio Lagartos is the Hotel Rio Lagartos, right on the waterfront. The property offers luxury without the luxury price tag, with rooms starting from just $60 a night.

You are greeted with a complimentary welcome drink upon check-in and the property boasts all the amenities that you will need to have a pleasant stay. Rooms are clean and spacious, with many boasting views across the lagoon.

There is an outdoor swimming pool, an on-site spa, an excellent restaurant serving international fare, and a rooftop bar. Click here to check the latest availability and room rates at Hotel Rio Lagartos.

Melissa Douglas

Melissa Douglas is a British Travel Writer based in Merida, Mexico and the Editor-in-Chief of Mexico Travel Secrets. She has over seven years worth of experience in working in travel media and has travelled to 57 countries, mostly solo. Throughout her career, Melissa has produced written content for several high-profile publications across the globe - including Forbes Travel Guide, the Huffington Post, Rough Guides, and Matador Network.