Like any tourist destination, Campeche has a variety of good food, drinks, and places to pass the time. You can find city blocks devoid of cars, rows of Campeche restaurants with any cuisine your heart desires, and plentiful benches in the city parks and plazas.
Knowing exactly where to go will go a long way though. So keep reading the find out where you need to stop while in Campeche, Mexico!
We’re covering Campeche, Mexico with a three-part post. In part one, we explored the fortified walls and Campeche points of interest. Here, part two will give you a great idea of the best Campeche restaurants and plazas. And part three covers the things to do in Campeche outside of the city walls.
Let’s dig into the best Campeche restaurants!
Looking for more things to do in Campeche? Check out these posts:
- The Best Things to do in Campeche
- Exploring Edzna Ruins near Campeche
- See Thousands of Flamingos in Celestun
- Inside the Walled City of Campeche
- Calakmul: Epic Off Path Ruins in Mexico
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Calle 59: The Central Hub for Campeche Restaurants
This list has to start with Calle 59 (Street 59). Here, multiple city blocks have been blocked off to street traffic. Restaurants of all sorts put tables in the roadway and serve a variety of food and drinks. While this is mainly a tourist area, you can still find plenty of excellent food and entertainment options: Mexican, Italian, health-focused, small clubs, and even a steakhouse.
Calle 59 is the hotspot for Campeche restaurants, but don’t set your expectations too high. If you’re looking for a foodie’s paradise, we strongly recommend heading to Oaxaca.
Most of the restaurants here have fairly reasonable prices, but don’t be afraid to walk up and down looking carefully at the menus first. Prices vary dramatically. Our favorite spot was a small taco place at the corner of Calle 59 and Calle 14. It had one of Kristina’s favorite dishes: chicharron de queso, which is a taco with grilled cheese inside (the cheese itself is grilled). And the beers were one of the cheapest around town ($50 pesos for a liter of draft beer).
Plaza De La Independencia & Catedral de Nuestra Señora de la Purísima Concepción
Independence Square is the main plaza in Campeche. It is most lively on Sunday evenings, but even then, it can be relatively quiet compared to most other Mexican cities. That is likely because many of the cities 250,000-300,000 inhabitants live outside of the city walls.
Withstanding the lack of crowds, it is still a great place to come relax and enjoy and a nice evening out. There are plenty of vendors with snacks, ice cream, and even a few mariachi bands wandering the streets. Some Campeche restaurants are all around the plaza. Marganzo Restaurante sits just around the corner on Calle 8 and is one of the most popular restaurants in the entire city.
The large cathedral’s front facade is stunning when the lights shine on it at night.
Nuevo Regis Cantina
We love authentic cantinas. Small bars with loud music and cheap drinks. This one fit the bill perfectly and had a very central location. A lively little place that closes early sometimes (around 7 pm). A good place to go for a quick happy hour drink before heading to a Campeche restaurant.
NATURA 2000 Comida y Productos Vegetarianos
Yep, we’re going straight from a cheap cantina to a health-food store. What can I say, we like it all!
If you’re looking for solid vegetarian and vegan fare in Mexico for a good price, Natura 2000 is a great Campeche restaurant. A small grocery store is at the front and a few tables serving food at a cafe in the back. The veggie burger was excellent and went well with their tasty aqua fresca. Even grabbed a couple of nice pastries para llevar (to go) for later on.
Parque San Martin
This is our official Off Path gem of Campeche. Located just outside the northeast corner of the walled area is a large park with plenty of benches. Our favorite aspect of this park was the affordable restaurants on the northern side of it. Come here to get a better taste of the local cuisine and a real taste of what Campeche restaurants have to offer. Especially if you’re looking to avoid the tourist traps on Calle 59.
Loncheria Conchita Cervera was the spot we went to. It was less than $150 pesos to fill both of our bellies.
Mercado Pedro Saínz de Baranda
If Parque San Martin doesn’t sound far enough away from the tourists, look no further than this market. Mercado Principal (aka Baranda) is just outside of the southern wall at Puerta de Tierra. Like most things in Campeche, it isn’t the biggest market we’ve seen (once again, Oaxaca is the place to go for that). But it has plenty of produce and small stands if you want to stroll around a more traditional Mexican market. Don’t go searching for full-size Campeche restaurants here though.
Avenida Republica
We rarely do this, but I’m going to go ahead and tell you to skip this one. It bummed us out because our rental was near this avenue, which is just south of the Mercando Baranda. This is a street meant to be a tourist destination. However, it never really took off. We walked through here multiple times since our rental was toward this direction, but rarely saw anyone in sight. Just cars flying by at breakneck speed. A few restaurants line the street as do some hardware stores and paint shops. We were warned that it might not be the best place to walk around at night.
Parque & Iglesia de Santa Ana
A park and a church are at the end of Avenida Republica. It is a nice small park with a fitting church. Nothing too crazy going on here, but a quiet area to hang out. If you make your way out here and want to find a good place to eat, Antojitos Doña Thomasa was highly recommended to us. It is one block east and two blocks north from Parque Santa Ana.
And that wraps up our tour of Campeche restaurants, parks, and plazas! Our main recommendations are to check out Calle 59 at least once, go to Natura 2000 for a healthy bite, then wander over toward Parque San Martin for a more authentic Mexican meal.
Want to know more about Campeche? Check out our other two posts of this three-part series:
Part 1: History & Exploring the Defensive Walls & Bastions
Part 3: Venturing Beyond the City: Edzna Ruins, Forts, and Places to Have Fun
Would you rather go to the tourist strip for a steakhouse meal or head to the small plaza for a true Mexican dish? Leave us a comment to share your thoughts!
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Hello this is Leo Harry. Why are a lot of Chinese restaurants closed during the coronavirus pandemic while other restaurants like pizza places are open for takeout?
Hi Leo. I’m sorry I can’t give you a precise answer about why that specific cuisine is closed while others are still operating. I’d imagine it’s a business decision for most though: they can’t stay open if the demand is too low. Maybe the pizza shops have less overhead. I did read this interview with a Chinese restaurant owner in NYC who had to shut down as well.