This driving map of the Yucatan peninsula is for people driving to Belize, or driving from Palenque to Escarcega, Merida, Cancun or people driving from the Cancun airport down to Chetumal or Belize, or driving from the airport to Chichen Itza and Merida. This Mexico map for drivers has realistic drive times for both toll roads and free roads, warning about what routes to avoid, touristic attractions, including Lagoon Bacalar and Xcalac.
This Mexico map for drivers starts at Escarcega, Campeche, drives on to Campeche City, (and Uxmal if you like), Merida, Yucatan (with a map of the bypass of Merida), the toll road and free road route to Cancun airport. In-between that is Chichen Itza.
At the Cancun airport shortcut from Merida, you can bypass Cancun city and drive to Pto. Morelos and the many high rise hotels on that part of the Quintana Roo coast. Or, you can take an earlier shortcut if going directly to Playa del Car men, though the road occasionally has quite a collection of tarantulas.
From Playa del Carmen, you can drive on to Laguna Bacalar (a little known jewel). Bacalar is also called the Lagoon of 7 colors or Laguna de Siete Colores.' Bacalar is called this because at sunrise or sunset, the lake appears to have seven color graduations. It is quite enjoyable. There is a hotel and RV park in Bacalar.
From Bacalar, drive south to Chetumal or stop at Xcalac (also seen as Xcalak, which technically is the spelling of the Mayan archeological site nearby), Quintana Roo. This used to be unknown, but now is developing like the rest of the Caribbean Coast of Mexico. Xcalac has fly fishing for tarpon among other fish, excellent diving at the Chinchorro Banks. Sandwood Villas (http://www.sandwood.com) are small condo rentals on the beach owned by my old friends Andy and Ruth Sanders. Andy taught me how to dive, though I think I was his last student. Guess I am a tough student. There are also other hotels and condos for rent at Xcalac.
From Chetumal, you can drive on to Belize, or return to Escarcega, Campeche.
If you are driving from Mexico straight to Belize, you won't go the above route. You will drive to Escarcega, Campeche and on to Subteniente Lopez, just outside Chetumal, Quintana Roo. Try to time your trip so you neither spend the night in Escarcega, nor drive the road between Subteniente Lopez (Campeche) and Escarcega after 3 in the afternoon. That has got to be one of the loneliest stretches of highway in Mexico.
The one bright spot on the road between Escarcega and Chetumal or from Chetumal to Escarcega is the Hotel Rio Bec Dreams, a small collection of bungalows (jungalows as they call them) and cabanas 12 KM west of Xpuhil (also seen on maps as Xpujil), at KM 142 on Mexican highway 180. These moderately-priced bungalows are run by a very nice couple who really respect the environment (unlike many who just give lip-service to ecology) and know the area. There are worthwhile, and uncrowded, archeological sites as Xpuhil or (Xpujil), Becan, Calakmul. These nice folks speak English and Diane actually made her first drive to Mexico (from Ontario, Canada) alone after talking to me in 1997, before I left Sanborn's. I either reassured her that it was safe for a single woman to drive to Mexico or she just wanted to get as far away from a lunatic like me as possible. It was years ago and I don't remember which. Come to think of it, she may not have actually talked to me, only read my writings in the Travelogs, but somehow I influenced her. It is hell getting old and senile. Anyway, she and Rick made their home in the area and are fonts of information. They also have 4WD guided tours for reasonable prices. Visit their web site www.riobecdreams.com for more information.
You can buy a better copy of this driving map for a fraction of what it is worth at my shop. The purchased map does not have the yellow background and is bigger and more readable. This driving map prints nicely on 8 1/2 x 11 paper. The purchased map is in PDF format.
