Things to do in Tamaulipas, the surprise of Mexico

When you think of a tourist destination for vacation, invariably you think of the beach, there are very popular and crowded places in Mexico that enjoy the influx of visitors, but there are other states in the country like Tamaulipas that hold many surprises for travelers and are an excellent choice for its variety of climates and enigmatic sites.

Tamaulipas, as its current tourist slogan indicates, is "Mexico's surprise", it has desert, tropical, temperate, continental, and even snowy ecosystems, as in the municipality of Miquihuana. The state offers lagoons such as "El Carpintero" in Tampico, which connects with the Paseo La Cortadura; semi-desert landscapes such as Tula, monumental views of the Sierra Madre Oriental, and of course the sea, which converges with the Pánuco River on its border with Veracruz. Miramar Beach in Altamira, for example, is one of the most popular.

The State of Tamaulipas is close to the center of the country. When thinking about (the State) you have to spend between 10 and 12 hours to go to the border, but if you drive from Mexico City, Tampico, Ciudad Madero, and the southern suburbs of Tamaulipas it is less than five hours to get there and in that radius, you have already reached Guadalajara and it is not so far, it is that close to being able to enjoy Tamaulipas.

The great diversity of the state

It has 400 kilometers of beach, 400 kilometers of beautiful border, but also significant in terms of medical tourism, spaces, and mountains such as the Sierra Madre Oriental that offers a mega diversity in terms of nature, for example, the biosphere reserve 'El Cielo', but also other mountains that offer rafting, caving and hiking activities. Another of the sites with great history and roots in the state is the royal road to Tula in the area of Altas Cumbres, very close to Ciudad Victoria.

In its diversity, it has semi-desert, as in Tula, a magical town, but it is one of the few states that offers hunting and sport fishing tourism, there are all kinds of tourist activities to do in the state.

Excellent food

Gastronomy is also very vast and attractive in Tamaulipas. In Tampico, for example, there are the classic Tortas de La Barda, which have among their ingredients, French bread, beans, chorizo, ham, tomato, onion, pork cheese, yellow cheese, shredded meat, avocado, and white cheese, with the also classic chicharron sauce.

The seafood at Miramar Beach is a delight, especially the seafood prepared at the Arenas del Mar Hotel restaurant, which also offers a beautiful view of the beach. In Tula, for example, the enchiladas tultecas are a must, as well as their gorditas de guisado, the ones with chicharrón in the green sauce are not to be missed, but they do sting and they sting well.

In Ciudad Victoria they eat excellent goat and there the flautas are flour tortillas rolled up with food, similar to a burrito, but beware, do not pronounce that at the table because you can hurt susceptibilities, as it happens in Mexico City and the dilemma of knowing whether or not the quesadillas have cheese. And of course, there is also the very classic carne a la tampiqueña, which is even very popular in the center of the country.

Among the typical sweets in Tula is the ponteduro, which has a texture similar to that of pinole and another sweet that is based on piloncillo and sesame, as well as the typical cactus ice creams with flavors such as pitaya and biznga, to mention a few.

The vision for the South of Tamaulipas

The economic activity of petrochemicals and oil is essential, there is the Madero refinery, but it is an area that has critical port activity, such as the ports of Altamira and Tampico, (the latter) which dates back to the 19th century and is so important in the development of the history of the Gulf. But today, without a doubt, the tourist activity in Tampico and surrounding areas such as the beach of Ciudad Madero and the nature and the great number of lagoons and lakes that Altamira has, make it an exceptional tourist destination.

Tampico, known in the past as the capital of the huastecas, recovers its splendor in infrastructure so that a tourist circuit can be developed in the area. Another point is the restoration of the historic center of Tampico, such as the municipal market as one of the great new works that have been done. The restoration of the old warehouses of the port administration of Tampico is also being sought to create a corridor on the Pánuco River.

Guaranteed sanitary quality

Since May 2020, Tamaulipas realized that biosecurity would be very important to generate confidence. If people have confidence that they are not going to get infected in a destination (by COVID-19) they will visit it, otherwise, they will not, and one of the elements is to give those guarantees of good hygiene and sanitation practices.

On May 15 (2020) a program called 'SaniTam Pro' was launched in Tamaulipas; this program was one of the first in the country that began to address the issue of hygiene and sanitation best practices. A protocol of good practices was created so that people could realize that hotels, restaurants, travel agencies, and transportation companies were doing their job correctly in terms of hygiene and sanitation.

This protocol was adopted so that establishments of all types of commerce would sign a letter of commitment to managing businesses in terms of hygiene and sanitation with proper procedures. More than seven thousand establishments have signed the letter so far.

How to get from Guadalajara to Tampico?

If you are in Guadalajara and you want to visit the southeastern part of Tamaulipas, you can take a flight from Guadalajara to Mexico City, which is about 50 minutes, and then fly from Mexico City to Tampico, which is about 45 minutes. The airlines that you can take are, for example, Viva Aerobus and Aeromexico.