What To Do in Progreso, Mexico
- Aug 7, 2017
- 6 min read
Updated: Aug 25, 2025
If you are going to Progreso, Mexico on a cruise or as a destination, here is the essential list of things you are going to want to do.
Dzibilchaltun Ruins- Book your tour for Dzibilchaltun with the ship or a tour guide company and you will not be disappointed. It is a very neat place with so much history. There is quite a bit of walking involved so keep that in mind. When I cruised to Progreso, we booked through the ship for the excursion that was the ruins/lunch/beach excursion and enjoyed it very much. To get to Dzibilchaltun, you will have to go through some parts of town that may have you feeling a little shocked at the living conditions. They will not stop in this area, just pass through, but for people that have not seen this sort of thing before I think it is important to see so that you may realize that not everyone lives like we do and, hopefully, appreciate it more. We are very blessed in the United States.
If you are still questionable about going to the ruins or doing something else, this is my advise: If you have been to Mayan Ruins before, although I think it is neat to see them all, you may want to consider going to Merida. It has recently been rated #5 of the Top Cities to Visit in Latin America. (More on Merida further down.) If you don't want to get into all that and just want to goof around Progreso for a little while, here's where you go:
Crabster- Crabster is going to be the closest thing to a high class American restaurant you are going to find on the beachfront. The service is impeccable (fairly rare for Mexico) and the food is outstanding. This is a nice open-air restaurant right across from the beach with seating also directly on the beach. The last time I was in Progreso, I was there for 10 days and ate at Crabster at least 3 times. I have a serious thing for octopus (if you know, you know) and Crabster has a Mayan version called Pulpo Al Pok Chuc that will knock your socks off! Don't forget to squeeze the orange over it. It could possibly be the best octopus I've ever had, and that's a big statement. They also have wonderful garlic shrimp and the carpaccio is spectacular. I LOVE carpaccio and one day we went in there and ate nothing but probably 6 rounds of it, alternating between beef and tuna. We will probably travel back down to Progreso just to eat there again- seriously. We're foodies like that.
Maya-ka- Also on the strip, with views of the ocean, this is the type of place that you'll want to hang out for a while. They have a multi-level pool going down the center of the restaurant and have semi-private lounging areas with couches and good music. The staff are nice and the drinks flow. You'll want to order the pescado al cilantro (fish with a creamy cilantro sauce), pescado al ajillo (fish with garlic sauce), or the coconut shrimp (although I didn't try it myself because I couldn't get away from the fish.)
We managed to spend $200 here and believe me when I say, we worked for it and it literally took all day. We had nowhere to be and posted up. It's that pleasant of an atmosphere.
Dance at the Simpson's Bar- I'm not sure if that's actually the name of it, but you'll know it when you see it. Located midway down the malecon, they play the best variety of spanish hip hop on the strip. It's not a real big place or crowded, but the drinks are cheap and even if no one else is dancing, this is the sort of place where you can do your thing and no one will bother you. They have plenty of security and even some delicious, authentic snacks. Just be sure to bring pesos, this bar is cash only.
Cruise Tip: If you are going to the malecon (boardwalk/beachfront strip) from the cruise ship terminal, you will walk to the end of the dock then go left and you will find a number of restaurants, bars and street vendors. In this direction you will find, Crabster, Mayaka, and the Simpson's Bar. Whatever you do, don't stop at the very first restaurant that you come to, it's terrible!
Merida- Merida really deserves a whole blog post in itself. It is about 30 minutes away from Progreso and is a very charming place. It is a colonial city with a lot of history, nice plazas, and plenty of delicious food, totally different from Progreso. It is considered by many historians to be the oldest continually-occupied city in the Americas and was founded in 1542! We visited the main plaza and a couple of the surrounding ones. There is a lot to do, see, and eat so do your research if you intend to go there. We only stayed here for a couple days and wish we would have planned for more, we didn't think that we would like somewhere that is not on the beach so very much!
For the non-cruisers:
Gym- I know you cruisers have a gym on the ship but for anyone else, if you are into working out while you are on vacation, there is a pretty decent gym in Progreso called Shangrila. It doesn't have air conditioning so be prepared to sweat your butt off, but that's what you're there for anyway right? According to Google there are actually 3 gyms but I found Shangrila to be in a good location, walking distance from the Malecon (boardwalk/main strip), and has a nice variety of machines including a full range of weights. They also have electricity for cardio machines (which you don't always find) and even had some ab machines I hadn't seen before.
As always, before a trip I do my research on TripAdvisor and on travel blogs. We were spending a month on the Yucatan peninsula for my birthday so we traveled by bus from Playa del Carmen which took about 4 hours. I like to travel by bus when I'm abroad because, well I got used to it in Peru, but also it's cheap, convenient, and I can work on my computer along the way. They have nice charter buses so it is not like the Chicken buses that I referred to in my Lake Atitlan, Guatemala post.
To get to Progreso, you can fly but you will likely have to layover in either Mexico City or Cancun. I like to see as much as I can so when I searched for flights on Skyscanner, I found I could fly to Cancun for much cheaper. I already knew the beaches are lovely in Cancun so we chose to stay there for a little while then take the short bus trip.
If you have read any of my other posts you'll know there is a trend in the way I plan my trips, so as always, I used a combination of hotels that I book through Hotels.com to get my free reward nights and AirBnB for longer stays. We decided to go to Progreso at the last minute when we were popping around so all the good places in actual Progreso were booked so I put us in a house from AirBnB in the town next door called Chicxulub Puerto. Believe me when I say there was nothing in this town and you'll want to have a car to stay here (we used Uber and it worked out surprisingly well.) The house was huge for the 2 of us but it was only $40 a night with a pool on the beach and included the service of a wonderful man by the name of Juan who visited each day to clean the pool, went and bought the groceries we requested, and made us homemade ceviche.. which is where I got the recipe for my homemade ceviche post.
In Merida, we only stayed a couple days so we booked with Hotels.com in the boutique hotel Casa del Balam. I loved this charming little hotel. The location is wonderful, there's a courtyard garden, friendly staff, nice city view of the theater, and they bring the room service on one of those old timey gold carts which you never see anymore. Plus they have a killer eggs benedict and fruit plate for breakfast so I was in my glory.
That's all the details I have so I hope you enjoy your trip to Progreso!
Have you ever been to Progreso or Merida? What do you like to do or eat there? Comment below!
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