Campeche

Campeche is part of the enormous plain comprising the Yucatán peninsula, which it shares with Yucatán and Quintana Roo. It was inhabited by groups from the ancient Mayan culture, traces of which can still be seen in places like Edzná and Calakmul.

On the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, in what was once the Mayan city of Ah Kin Pech ("place of the sun"), Francisco de Montejo el Mozo ordered the construction of Villa de San Francisco de Campeche. Due to its strategic location, it suffered numerous pirate attacks, as a result of which a defence system of walls and forts was built, traces of which still remain, giving it its distinctive appearance.

The state?s surroundings are tropical, and unlike its neighbours on the peninsula, it has several rivers, in addition to beaches, archaeological sites, colonial buildings, nineteenth-century haciendas and nature reserves with an astonishing variety of flora and fauna. 60km southeast of Campeche is Edzna archaeological site, one of the major sites in this State. The site expands for over two square kilometres and it?s made of a main square, stone temples, clay masks, ball game, an amphitheatre and a complex network of channels.