Busy Puerto Morelos beach on the first Sunday of 2022
The season is in full swing in Puerto Morelos. We are just finishing a very busy Christmas season and now we are welcoming our snowbird guests back to Puerto Morelos.
The highlight of the season so far, in my point of view, is that we have had a number of key re-openings in Puerto Morelos.
Chef Marco of I Wanna Pizza
The most recent one is the grand re-opening of our favourite, I Wanna Pizza. We love this place, not only for its quirky name, its outstanding pizza, the fact that it is pretty much the closest restaurant to our house but mostly for the affable owner, Chef Marco. He had a good career going in the Big City (Mexico City), but fell in love with our little town, and started making pizzas soon after. I Wanna was our favourite, but he closed down when a lot of other places closed in Puerto Morelos. For about a year and a half, we have been cajoling Marco to get back to baking!
He decided the downtime was a good opportunity to completely remodel his restaurant. The place looks great, and now has an inside area with air conditioning and new restrooms.
The Don Roberto. Have it my way!
The menu has all the favourites you remember, plus a few new things. We are most impressed and delighted that our favourite pizza has been renamed the Don Roberto! It features mushrooms, ham, pepperoni and olives. Roberto always has green olives, but you can choose black too, or a mix.
The new I Wanna Pizza (photo courtesy I Wanna Pizza)
Fun fact: Marco speaks French as well as Spanish and English. Smart guy! I Wanna Pizza is open daily, except Monday from 4:00 until 11:00. (10:00 on Sundays)
The new Lauro’s rocks on!
Right next door to “I Wanna” is another returning success. Just over a year ago, local guitar god Hector opened a restaurant/bar/music venue called “Lauro’s” on Rojo Gomez, close to the square. It was an instant success. Hector’s close ties with the Riviera Maya music scene meant great music every night and the place was always packed with appreciative fans.
The “old” Lauro’s in February 2021. Nice place, but a bit small for the musicians and audience.
Unfortunately in July, it closed, but they promised to be back. Promise kept! The new and improved Lauro’s Music Hall opened on December 18 without missing a beat. We were lucky enough to be there for their first night, and it was epic!
The new Lauro’s has much more space and a much bigger stage
Their new space is the old Al a Burger location. It is a much larger venue for Lauro’s with a much bigger stage. The place is very popular, and even with more seating, you need to get there early to catch the music.
Lauro’s is open daily from 5:30 to 10:30. The music usually starts around 8:00.
Chef Fernando is the new chef at Caribelos (photo courtesy of Caribelos)
Another re-opening happened at the beginning of the year. On January 1, Caribelos reopened in their old location, just around the corner from the square on Rafael Melgar, behind the lighthouse. Caribelos says they have a new look, a new chef and a new menu. The space now includes a full bar, seating area, and new artwork by local muralist Pinta o Muere.
Fish tacos at Caribelos (photo courtesy of Caribelos)
The new menu features Mexican snacks like guacamole and arrachera cheese fries (sounds delicious) as well as tacos, burgers, shrimp and steak. Something for everybody! Owners Carlos and Liliana look forward to seeing you in their new place. Caribelos is open every day, from 8:00 until 8:00.
This is what mornings look like in Puerto Morelos
So how about that? In addition to all the new places to try, you also have some new old favourites to check out! Be sure to get to know our voluminous Puerto Morelos Restaurant Guide on our website at InPuertoMorelos.com We’ve been keeping track of all the restaurants we can for many years, we know the players! See our site for all sorts of PM info, including taxi rates, services, practical info, webcams, happy hours and more!
If you are thinking about heading down, we may have a place for you. We had a rare cancellation in our one bedroom, one bath suite in February! Casa de los Viajeros. Suite #3is open from February 23 to March 19, 2022. We also have openings in March and April if you are in the mood for a spring fling.
Happy New Year! We wish all of our readers a wonderful 2022!
We know that the last few years have been more than challenging for all of us. As we say goodbye to 2021, and a fresh year dawns, we are optimistic that it will be better than the last.
We are still getting lots of messages asking about the current state of COVID in Puerto Morelos. So here is the latest.
Mexico is one of the most popular travel destinations right now because it is one of the few places in the world that you can travel to with relative ease since Covid started. Puerto Morelos is no exception.
Quintana Roo has been working very hard to stop the spread of the virus including the new omicron variant. Our state has been handling Covid on a stoplight system. Under “red” everything except grocery stores and pharmacies shut down. We then moved to “orange” which loosened a few things. In September we moved to “yellow” which was very good news for us because it meant we could go to the beach again and other restrictions were lifted. In November we moved to “green”, where we have remained since then. The Governor of the state of Quintana Roo, Carlos Joaquin, does an update every Thursday which he live-streams on Twitter.
“Green” means that we are at low risk. This also means that the following are open at 100%: the beach, restaurants, gyms, bars, shops, etc. This doesn’t mean that there are not still COVID protocols in place.
Following are the rules in place at this time. It may seem like a lot, but you will find they are very similar to what you are used to at home (except the sticky mat, we are not sure what that is all about).
Here’s what you can expect when you visit Puerto Morelos during Covid:
You must wear a mask that covers your nose and mouth when you are within 1.5 meters (5 feet) of other people.
You must wear a mask when you enter and are standing inside any business.
You can take your mask off only when seated in a resturant or bar
When entering a business you will have your temperature checked, gel your hands, and wipe your feet on a disinfectant floor mat.
You should practice social distancing as much as possible
You must self isolate and get tested should you come down with any of the symptoms of Covid-19.
You must wear a mask inside public transport (ie Taxis, buses, collectivos)
The number one question we get is… “Do I have to wear a mask when I go to the beach?” You should wear a mask when you are walking to the beach if you are near people. Once you are at the beach, most people take their masks off as long as they stay at least 1.5 meters away from other people, outside of your family/group. Our beach is very large making it very easy to social distance.
Do you have to wear a mask when you are walking around the town? You are supposed to wear your mask anytime you are off your property, but most people only wear one when other people are nearby.
You must wear a mask when entering or walking around a restaurant/bar. You must also have a temperature check, gel your hands, and walk through a disinfectant mat when entering an establishment. You can only remove your mask when you are seated. If you stand up for any reason, you must put your mask back on. You may be required to order some food with your drinks, it is a town law that restaurants/bars are following so that they can be open. Please check with each establishment to see what their policy is before you order. Many restaurants and bars have had to pay heavy fines for trying to bend these rules, so please don’t blame the owners. It is not up to them, it is up to the government. Also, restaurants/bars must be closed and dark by 11:00 pm. Now there is an exception to this rule, some places have paid extra fees to the government to stay open later. If you are arriving late to an establishment you may want to check their closing hours before you order.
Now you know what to expect when you arrive in Puerto Morelos. We think you will find that it is probably not much different from your hometown. Being a small town, with lots of wide-open spaces and fresh air, we do believe that you can have a very nice vacation in Puerto Morelos this winter. We and the whole town will be very happy to see you!
And if you would like to join us this winter, we have had a very RARE cancellation at Casa de los Viajeros. Suite #3is now open from February 23 to March 16, 2022. If you are interested, contact us today!
This marks our 19th Christmas in Puerto Morelos. This photo was taken of us during our first holiday season here. We remember it like it was yesterday, we ran down to the beach with some tinsel, our camera, a tripod, (this was pre-selfie days) and did our best to get a photo to send home to our families on a rather windy December day. We look so young! (and Rob had not figured out where to get his hair cut yet).
Though the years we haven’t missed snow for a minute and have always enjoyed the holidays in Puerto Morelos. We look forward to spending many more winters here with palm trees instead of pine trees.
Although we miss our families up north, we enjoy being with the wonderful friends we have made here. We are lucky to have a large group of amigos that treat us like family, an experience visitors get a taste of when they visit our little village. The town is such a warm place to live, and we’re not just talking about the weather. The people of Puerto Morelos have a generosity in them that you don’t find in many places. It makes us proud to be part of this community.
Even the pelicans are friendly!
In return, we try to bring the best of Puerto Morelos to you on our website. Our goal is to let you know what is going on and what to expect when you arrive, making it easy for you to slide into an trouble-free vacation here.
In 2022 we will continue to try to keep you up to date on town news. For such a small village, we have an dizzing number of restaurants and experiences. Things can change quickly and we want you to know what to expect when you arrive. Our most popular pages seem to be:
Our Blog Posts and Town Updates are also very popular. Our most recent December Town Update had a record number of non-hurricane related hits. (We do tend to get an incredible amount of traffic when we report on a storm)
There is a lot to cover, and we will continue to do our best. We run InPuertoMorelos.com on our own time and at our own expense, without compensation from any of the businesses we highlight. Our motive is to help people who are visiting our town enjoy their stay. We do have our own vacation rentals at Casa de los Viajeros which we promote on this website.
As we approach another difficult holiday season for many of us, we hope that you can carry the warmth and spirit of Puerto Morelos with you wherever you are. 2021 was an extremely challenging year both business-wise and personally for us, as it has been for lots of folks. May the New Year bring everyone happiness and joy. We hope that you have a safe and wonderful holiday season and that we will see you soon in Puerto Morelos.
December 2021: At long last, an update from your favourite town in the Mexican Caribbean, Puerto Morelos. We have so much news to share with you! It’s too much for one post, so we will spread it out over a few.
Hope you are doing well wherever you are! Puerto Morelos has been quiet, and yet very busy at the same time over the summer. Where to begin? We’ve got SO MANY new restaurants to share with you, and some other news. Our vacation rentals at Casa de los Viajeros are filling up nicely, but we still have some openings for you! Please contact us for more details.
For Puerto Morelos news, let’s start with the obvious.
The new square finally opened to the public on May 19, 2021. The destruction of the old square and the subsequent difficult months dealing with the heart of the town surrounded by two fences while the construction progressed was very tough. It was a great relief to everyone when the fences finally came down and people could stroll through the centre of town again.
New Public Bathrooms!
Because of the way the new square was handled, it will likely remain a controversial topic in town for a while, but it looks like it’s been pretty much embraced by the public. The kids LOVE the new playground, and as events return to the big new amphitheatre it will be embraced more. The public bathrooms being re-opened are also very welcome. We are wondering what happened to the public WiFi though, and why the new clock that was added more recently is stuck permanently at 5:45.
Construction on Ave Rojo Gomez
As we write this, Avenue Rojo Gomez, our “main drag” where all the restaurants are located that we are going to tell you about in this post, is being ripped up and repaved with stamped concrete. So far the work has gone quite quickly and looks very nice, but there is still a lot left to be done and the Christmas break is coming.
The work was required so that our water company could upgrade their pipes. After they finish their work, other crews are pouring concrete and stamping it as a replacement for the potholed asphalt we used to have. It will look similar to the roads around the square when it is finished.
We could type for a long time and never cover all the new restaurants in town. If you have been away from PM for more than a year, some places have opened and then closed in your absence! For this update, we will focus on the main road in town on the beach side, Rojo Gomez. Come walk with us!
Starting at the square and working our way north, first up is yet another T@cos dot com. There are now three T@cos dot com in Puerto Morelos. Yes, we have two gas stations, two Chedrauis, two OXXO’s beach side, and three T@cos dot com. The new one is over the new jewellery store on the northwest side of the square. It shares a menu, and I believe a kitchen with another T@cos dot com location across the street (can we call it #2?). The “original” T@cos dot com, now labelled as such with a funky neon sign remains as well. (We’ll call it #1)
There is also My Little Italy at the top of the street, selling Italian pizza and pasta.
Moving north on the east (beach side) of the street, we had a big taco place called “Taqueria Los Chachalacos”. They are a small chain restaurant with locations in Cancun and Tulum. We mentioned them in our Town Update in the spring. I say “had” because they have since closed. They promise to be back soon, but the rumour mill says they are done in Puerto Morelos.
Across the street is a brand new restaurant called Península. We are hearing very good reviews about this lovely-looking establishment, but have not had a chance to check it out yet. They are serving classic Yucatecan dishes like lime soup, fish tacos, and cochinita pibil but with a contemporary flair.
Photo courtesy of Crepe Street
On the south side of Peninsula is Crepe Street, this is the cafe where diets are broken because they specialize in delicious desserts, crepes and big milkshakes. They have coffee to of course, but you are going to need something sweet too! (You are on vacation after all)
Restaurante Casa Moro is between Peninsula and El Campanario
Beside Península, still heading north, is the new El Moro restaurant. Stay with me now, this gets a bit complex. El Moro’s restaurant used to be right in front of their hotel. Now they have opened it on the property next door to them on the north side.
This building, seen here as Franco’s barbershop in 2019, is no more.
To build it, they knocked down a small building that used to be many things, including a phone repair shop, a barbershop (pictured above), a gift shop, and for long-time visitors to Puerto Morelos, “Goyo’s office”. They also renovated an old house that for a few months was a very cool music venue called “Lauro’s” owned by PM’s own rock star, Hector Romero. We first told you about them in our December update. It was a very busy and fun place for a few months. Unfortunately, it closed. We happen to know that Hector will open again a new location soon (more on that later).
But I digress, it is now Restaurante Casa Moro. El Moro has also changed their name to Casa El Moro (from Hotel El Moro and before that, Posada El Moro). They are serving wood-fired pizza and as a grand opening special, 2 X 1 drinks, which is drawing people in.
El Campanario serves up great steaks on Rojo Gomez
Next to El Campanario, a completely new restaurant to tell you about. Icaza has two locations in Cancun, and now one in Puerto Morelos. The space they are in was formerly a gift shop/gallery called “Artisolo”. The shop closed many years ago and the building has sat empty. Now Icaza is serving up breakfast and brunch with some interesting variations on traditional breakfast/brunch favourites.
Fajitas at El Pirata. So Good! Photo courtesy El Pirata
Next to them, you have the venerableCantina Habanero, which is hosting live music again. Across the street areLa Pizza Nostra, known for their pizza, steaks and empanadas, and El Pirata which is now offering Saturday Paella classes for just $200 pesos (which includes the class, paella and sangria!) and the “farm to table” experience at Koox Ich Kool.
Next door is a popular cafe,Las Robles. They have breakfast, salads, vegan choices and coffee of course.
Still moving north, we have The Burger Underground, which has more outdoor seating now and Panna e Cioccolato which will tempt you with gelato and other cafe treats. And across from them is the newRuta 40, a small takeaway place that serves empanadas.
Don Mexkal will keep you up late!
A few steps further north lands you at Don Mexkal. They are hosting live music again in their spacious outdoor garden, and they are the local experts on all things mezcal. They stay open a little later than most places, they have cost us a lot of sleep over the years because we stay there too late, but we always, always have a good time.
A few steps away is a newer place called Che-Itza. They have inexpensive Mexican food.
After them, on the west side of the street, you will find Tanino’s. This restaurant often has music, including our favourite local band The Nobodies.
Are you still with me? Hope so, we have not even gone a block yet!
And about half a block north is now a new little restaurant row that is popping up. Across from Salciccium Food Truck Village, which closed in May, and shows no signs of reopening as a restaurant, is I Wanna Pizza. This local favourite has also been closed for the last year and a half, but the owner is working hard to get it reopened and tells us this should happen any day now.
Lauro’s is back in Puerto Morelos at a new, bigger location on Rojo Gomez
Al la Burger used to be on the south side of I Wanna Pizza. It closed a few months ago and the space has been taken over by… are you ready for this?…. the new Lauro’s! Hector and his team converted the old burger space into a rock and roll stage in record time, and they opened past weekend, picking up exactly where they left off, with food, drink and lots and lots of music. Their new location is much bigger than their previous spot, so there is much more room to rock!
Jalisco House serves up Mexican favourites.
To the north of I Wanna Pizza, there is another new Asian restaurant called Yum Yum Wok. They are serving up made-to-order noodle bowls and more. Their location is where the fish restaurant Tony the Tiger used to be. And next to them is a Mexican restaurant called Jalisco House. They serve tamales, tacos, etc.
The town square is finished! It was completed on May 19, 2021.
And the kids are really enjoying the new playground.
There is even a clock, that is right twice a day.
For those of you that have not been here in a few years due to COVID, you are going to return to a new central square on the beach side of the town.
And right now it has been lit for the holiday season.
Slowly, but surely, activities are starting to return to the square, including the Puerto Morelos Stage Band…
And of course, the artists can be found every Friday, Saturday and Sunday evening, selling their local art.
The building of the new square was quite controversial as most people were happy with the old one. And we are not here to debate the issue. We just thought we would give, those of you that haven’t seen it, a look at the new square and some of the Christmas decorations.
Until you can get here, enjoy what you have to look forward to on your next trip to Puerto Morelos.
Salsa lessons going on in the new gazebo that is lit for the holidays
Picture yourself here!
There is even a very popular selfie spot!
For the first time in the almost 20 years we have been here, the lighthouse has been lit for Christmas!
We have updated information that you will need for your Puerto Morelos vacation! These pages are constantly being refreshed, so be sure to bookmark them and check back with them frequently.
We are working on a series of town updates which we will try to have for you soon. There have been lots of changes since many of you were here, so many new restaurants, even we have trouble keeping track of all of them!
We have just checked with the taxi drivers here in Puerto Morelos and these are the latest rates. Keep this on hand and always confirm rates before getting into a cab. MORE INFORMATION HERE
Keeping this guide up to date is a full-time job with all of the changes that take place in Puerto Morelos. There are new places opening every week! Check out our guide for the latest. MORE INFORMATION HERE
It looks like it is going to be a very busy season this year. We look forward to seeing you here. If you haven’t booked your vacation rental for this season, we still have a few vacancies, but they are going fast. MORE INFORMATION HERE
This morning was one of “those mornings” we live for here in Puerto Morelos. As you can see, the Caribbean Sea is as calm as a lake and the beach is empty, clean and sooo inviting!
Hope you are planning a trip to Puerto Morelos soon! We still have some space available for fall and winter in our suites at Casa de los Viajeros. Come see us!
This one commemorates the centenary of the death of General Emiliano Zapata Salazar, a leading figure in the Mexican Revolution of 1910–1920.
The coin is slightly larger than a 10 peso coin and is a dodecagon, meaning it has 12 sides, rather than being round. It’s heavier than any other Mexican coin and also heavier than any coin I had on hand, here’s a comparison:
There will be more commemorative coins on the way, honouring among others, Mexican writer & poet, Ocatvio Paz and the namesake of our town, José María Morelos. Of course, the familiar blue 20 peso bill featuring Benito Juárez is still being accepted everywhere in Mexico and will be for many, many years.
Things are great in Puerto Morelos, the town square finally opened and we have so many new restaurants to tell you about! We will have all the details soon in a future post.
Go anywhere in Mexico and you are going to see vehicles on the road that you would never see anywhere else. Beyond the generic white vans and little white cars that seem to make up most of the vehicles in our state, you will find the unique, the unusual and the downright weird. I present to you, some of our favourite cars and trucks we’ve spotted. Most of these are from our town, but a few are from other spots in Mexico. Enjoy!
One of the more unusual vehicles ever to roll in Puerto Morelos, this truck sported a classy palapa roof as a camper. As we recall, the palapa was in good shape, but the truck was not, and its lack of a muffler made it easy to hear it coming. We took this pic back in 2015. I have not spotted it recently.
This truck belonging to Materiales Tauro in the Colonia is a proud survivor of Wilma. Wilma was an especially nasty hurricane that hit us in 2005. It did a lot of damage, but the town sprang back nicely. We took this photo in 2015. Not sure if the truck survived old age as well.
Rob’s first car was a Ford Maverick, so he’s happy to still spot them on occasion in Mexico. Ford only made them for 7 years and stopped making them in 1977, but you can still see one on the streets, or even in car shows. This one was on the cobbled roads of Guanajuato, Mexico.
Whoever loaded this truck deserves an honourary degree in engineering. We assume the boss told him to make one trip, but bring all the produce to town. We took this pic in the Colonia in 2016, but we often see similarly loaded trucks around town.
Volkswagen Beetles are ubiquitous in all parts of Mexico. They are relatively inexpensive, fun and they seem to run forever. We joke that every man, woman and child in Mexico can fix a Beetle. They are also fun to customize, so you will see many versions in Mexico that VW never intended. Volkswagen has a giant factory in Puebla where the last “old” Beetle rolled off the assembly line in 2003. It is still on display there. The “new Beetle” was also built in Puebla. Its last edition was built there in 2019. We spotted this one, with “all-natural” air conditioning on the streets of PM. It looks like a whole lot of fun.
You will also see many Volkswagen Combi vans around Mexico, though most of them don’t smile as big as this one. An actual “clown car”, this one brought a travelling circus to town in 2016.
This vehicle looks perfect for Puerto Morelos! It belongs to a local man who has lived here for many years, so you might just spot it rolling through town.
This pic isn’t so much about the car, but the situation. Back in 2018, the town suddenly moved ahead with its project of redoing all the roads around the square. The road this car drove into town on, no longer existed after it was parked for a few hours. We imagine the driver was just a little bit surprised after having dinner at a nearby restaurant. Not sure how the driver did it, but the car was gone the next day.
We are not sure what was going on at Ojo de Agua Hotel on this day in 2106, but it certainly drew a lot of well-parked police cars!
This truckload of marigolds is for the Day of the Dead celebrations in Michoacán. There were many of these trucks overloaded with the most beautiful cargo ever. We were in Patzcuaro for the Day of the Dead in 2015.
This fantastic “5th Beatle Beetle” was spotted in Puerto Morelos.
We’re sharing some of our favourite vehicles as an attempt to “drive” you into coming to Puerto Morelos! 🙂 We are now taking vacation reservations for next season. With so many people finally able to travel in 2021, 2022 is looking VERY popular. Contact us today to book your place. We have lots of availability right now if you are missing your favourite beach town.
Don’t forget to subscribe to our website so you never miss a post! Also, follow us on Facebook and Instagram for exclusive pictures of Puerto Morelos. Fresh photos most every day! Hope to see you soon in Puerto Morelos. Check out our extensive website InPuertoMorelos.com for all the info on your favourite town. Hasta Pronto!!
