How is living in Veracruz?

Travel Info
Are the beaches nice? Is there internet service? Are the locals happy or angry to see Americanos? And anything else that you can add...

Travel Tips

There is not that much in the way of great beaches arround the city of Vera Cruz itself and a lot of the coast is spoiled by oil rigs offshore, but that having been said there are some nice beaches to the north and south. Between Nautla and Tecolutla (the "Costa Esmeralda" or Emerald Coast) you can find some of the nicest unspoiled beaches on the Gulf Coast of Mexico.

Vera Cruz is almost always hot and humid. The seafood is spectacular to say the least! The prices of everything are very reasonable by Mexican tourist standards. The fruit is cheap, fantastic and plentiful. The people are quite wonderful, perhaps some of the freindliest in the whole country. (Selma Hayek is from this state, just FYI) And you can find "internet cafes" almost anywhere in any city or town that will charge you anything from $.70 -$1.50 per hour. Many of these are also juice or coffee bars, so they are very convenient. (Also most hotels will provide internet connection for a fee.)

You should try to remember that in Spanish, we are all "americanos," Canadians, Cubans, Argentinians, Brazillians, Ecuadorians, Mexicans, so the US appropriation of the word "American" is not appreciated down here at all. That is why they have always referred to the people of the US as "norte-americanos." But since Mexicans and Canadians have at long last discovered each other, this now presents a further problem. The least troublesome term would be "estadosunidenses" which would mean roughly "United Staters."

Otherwise, as others have noted, good manners are really important in Mexico and will positively and immediately overcome any negative image locals might have of the "gringo!"

(We live down here and visit Vera Cruz almost once a year. I like to consider it the "undiscovered jewel" of Mexico....)