Before the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic hit North America, we were lucky enough to spend two weeks in the Mexican Yucatan. Most of the time was spent at a rental property in Telchac Puerto (“Telchac”). Telchac is a small fishing village with a quiet beach, friendly locals, plenty of restaurants and lots of sunshine in February.
Six of us were looking for a quiet relaxing spot on the beach. The six were Al & I, my brother Neal and his wife Rose, and Al’s sister Lisa and her husband, Pierre. Al had heard about this area from one of his co-workers and we were fortunate to find a fabulous house through VRBO.
Since we were not all that sure of the amenities in Telchac, we did make a stop at Costco in Merida on our way to the house. There we stocked up on alcohol, wine, meat and a few vegetables and staples. Once we got to Telchac, we realized that the Costco stop wasn’t absolutely necessary, but it did help us get set-up in the house quickly.
Telchac does have most things that a traveller will need. If you’re headed there, here are some tips and recommendations for where to get what. For ease of navigation, I will try to list them in the order of places you will run into as you enter Telchac from Merida or Progreso; not the order we visited them.
Marina
We visited the marina one day to check it out. It is definitely higher-end than anyplace else in town. We had a beautiful view of some pricey boats while we sipped on our pricey drinks…. but they were very tasty!

Pemex
This appears to be the only gas station in town. It also has a small convenience store. One that carries ground coffee. We ran out of coffee at one point and could only find instant in the other stores in town. They also have a small selection of fresh bread and buns as well as lots of snack foods and beverages, including beer. Also, fishing tackle.
Convenience Style Stores
There are more stores in town, but these three were able to meet our needs. For the butter lovers among you, we never found butter in any of them. Margarine is sold in sticks like butter so don’t be fooled! If a store doesn’t have what you want, just ask; some stuff is behind the counter or in a back room.
Fatima
This was our favourite. A bit larger than the other two stores and a bit more selection. Fresh bread and buns, tortillas, snacks, beverages, staples and ice. Lisa even bought a pair of flip-flops here when she realized she had left hers at our hotel in Merida.

Six
This one was the only store where we could find Gatorade. They also had the best beer prices.

Downtown
This is a pretty small store but conveniently located near most of the restaurants.

Shrimp and Fish Sales
On the way into town, there is a man with a blue cooler who sells shrimp and fish. We bought jumbo shrimp (5-6 per pound) from him. They were delicious when Lisa cooked them up. We stopped a couple times for fish, but he never had any available.

Fruit & Vegetable Markets
Fruteria Lourdes
This little stand is on the main strip on the way into town. Nice fresh produce. Delicious pineapples.

Downtown Market
The market downtown consisted of two fruit and vegetable sellers and one man selling meat. We bought from both produce sellers and were pleased with our purchases from both. The seller on the right has many items behind his counter so ask if you don’t see what you want. The seller on the left fresh squeezes orange and grapefruit juices. Both are very, very good, but the grapefruit juice was phenomenal. If you’re buying more than one litre, I suggest you place your order and come back for it as it’s a slow process. We tried to place our order the day before.


Liquor Store
This store has beer, wine and liquor. Not a massive selection of anything but likely everything you will want. Prices were only slightly higher than the prices at small stores in Merida.

Pharmacy
We visited the local pharmacy one day to get some anti-diarrhea medication. Product was called Tarmin (equivalent of Imodium in Canada) and inexpensive.

This pictures shows the Tarmin as well as Picosend. The Picosend is good for bug bites. Although I’m mentioning the bugs, we didn’t find them any worse than any other beach location but Rose is particularly sensitive to them.

Restaurants
There are plenty of restaurants in town; however, the menus are very similar for both food options and pricing. As I mentioned, Rose is very sensitive to bug bites so we stuck to the restaurants that had cement floors.
These pictures will give you some idea of what to expect. I can honestly say we didn’t have a bad meal anywhere and we really enjoyed the botanas that most of them served. I missed getting a picture of the botanas, but most of the restaurants brought out three or four small plates of food as soon as we ordered even drinks. Pickled beets seemed to be the most common. Fish and shrimp were the most common main dishes.





When we can travel again and if you are looking for a very laid back vacation spot, we can highly recommend Telchac Puerto.
Happy travels! Stay safe!
Vanessa
Thank you for your informative trip report. Going to Telchac for our first time in February. Have always stayed in chan Chemuyil (Tulum area) but the highway etc was so busy last time, really limited our stay. Looking forward to new adventures. Thanks again, very nicely done!