By boat
The only navigable port is Balzapote with no facilities
aside from anchorage. Further shallow draft access is
in Laguna Sontecomapan and Laguna del Ostion.

Rio San Juan is navigable by shallow draft, low mast
vessels to within 20 km of San Andrés Tuxtla through the
port of Alvarado. And if you honk long enough, a taxi will
probably show up to take you to Catemaco.

I recently met a crew that had paddled from New Orleans
in a sea kayak who said the coast was unbelievably
beautiful.

By horse
Unfortunately most of the shores and other terrain is now
cattle fenced. Nevertheless you can saddle up in
Veracruz, hopefully on a horse that knows how to swim,
and work your way along the beach with only a few
inland detours and bridges to avoid rocky cliffs and arrive
safely in Catemaco. Or, once here you can rent a horse in
Montepio.

By bus
Mexico and Catemaco has a good, formerly inexpensive
bus system, separated into multiple classes from luxury, to
first class,  to second class, and to very low cost chicken
buses serving local areas. As of now no luxury buses
stop in Catemaco, but first class is sufficiently luxurious.

At present, first class drops you on the Malecon in
Catemaco. Second class buses stop on the carretera, a
mile away.  Frequent inter county buses leave from near
the center of the city.
See the bus schedule on the bottom.

By taxi
Taxis are so inexpensive, that sometimes it pays to take a
taxi from Veracruz airport for maybe 1500 pesos for a
3 1/2  hour ride for 3 or 4 skinny people.
.
As far as I know, there is no scheduled small charter
service to Los Tuxtlas.

By plane
A historic landing field in San Andrés Tuxtla is just that.
History! There is talk of rebuilding it, though. Meanwhile the
governor gets here by helicopter. I wish I could afford that.

The closest airports are Minatitlan/Coatzacoalcos and
Veracruz, app 2 1/2 to 3 1/2  hours drive away. Veracruz
has direct connections to Mexico City, Houston, Cancun
and Monterrey. Coatzacoalcos connects to Mexico City
and is trying to connect to Houston.

By train
The last train pulled out of San Andres Tuxtla in 1992.  At
present passenger rail traffic in Mexico has disappeared
except for some short touristic routes in other states.

By foot, or hitchhiking
It has been done and I have the list of hit and run
pedestrians to prove it. Hitchhiking is not common in
Mexico.

By bike -  pedal or motor
It is being done and it is suicidal! A lot of roads are very
narrow, most have no curbs, and the phrase "road
courtesy" has no Spanish translation. I wish the riders
luck. They need it. Especially that wonderful father who
pedaled through here with a small kid in a bike trailer.

By car
Three paved highways serve Los Tuxtlas:
Federal #180 running from Texas to the Yucatan passes
through Catemaco and connects to the Mexico City
highway at Veracruz.
Federal #179 connects to #180 in Santiago Tuxtla and
connects to the autopista near Isla.
Unnamed Loop Road - leaves 180 at El Tropico, before
Santiago, then passes along the coast via Montepio and
returns to 180 at Catemaco.

The autopista  running from Texas/Veracruz to
Villahermosa/Yucatan can be accessed:
from the north,  via #179 at Isla, (1 1/4 hour away).
from the south, via #180 at Acayucan (1 1/2 hours away).

See Maps
How to get to Catemaco
The road from Veracruz to Catemaco and onward to Villahermosa is in "fair" shape (Jan 09). Because of fiscal restraints and
political allocations, road maintenance is unpredictable.

This is seriously noticeable on secondary paved roads. One month the road is a pleasure to drive. The next month it is a
potholed nightmare. Graded dirt roads are even worse. At all times graded roads are advisable to be driven only in high lift
vehicles, like pickups and SUV's. The key word is "advisable". You´ll be seeing little Nissan pickups with seats in the back,
called "piratas", which are used as minibuses, racing along most roads. A standard passenger vehicle will usually handle
most roads. Just be careful of jutting rocks. Many an oil pan gave up its life here.

If you rented a car - STAY OFF dirt roads! There is fine print on the back of all contracts that voids your insurance coverage
for self inficlicted damage on all but paved roads!

Aside from the regularly graded dirt roads, there are other roads, usually not marked on maps but known to locals and usually
advisable to be travelled only by 4x4's  because of their mostly hilly locations and rutted conditions.

If the gas station pumps more gas into your tank than the tank can hold, that is correct. The Mexican PEMEX liter of gas is
known to be smaller than an international liter of water, which incidentally also, on occasion, can be found in PEMEX gas.

Contrary to popular belief the small walls running across many roads are not Olmec remnants. They are called "topes" and
are so popular that they are being introduced in some mostly Latin areas in the USA. There are several areas on Mex 180
featuring dozens of topes in a row. Even the brand new highway into Montepio (from El Tropico) immediately sprouted 8 little
walls.

Topes  usually are well marked and are an effective tool to decrease automotive speed which is "mostly" unregulated by
Mexican traffic police. They are also ideal places for local inhabitants to provide drive-by refreshment stands and solicit
donations for many deserving charities, especially individual ones.

Unmarked topes are alleged to be the source of much of the income of Mexican auto repair stations and chiropractors
specializing in compacted necks.

CAUTION!
Be extraordinarily careful when traveling after a heavy rain!  Washouts are frequent! That includes the federal carretera. Stay
off unmarked dirt roads completely until at least some dry days have passed!

If you come from one of the US states that only uses a rear license plate, buy a vanity plate to put on front of the vehicle,
otherwise you will meet many interesting federal traffic cops and military road blocks.

Enough negativity!
If you are already here, try some road trips to get to know the area better. There are some wonderful country roads in Los
Tuxtlas.
There are many exciting ways to get to Catemaco and Los Tuxtlas
Nearby San Andrés Tuxtla has more connections
Roads
Bus Service
Catemaco receives first and second class bus service. Direct service is available from Mexico City, Veracruz, Minatitlan and a
few other cities. There are only overnight buses direct from Mexico City. Day travelers need to change in Veracruz.

San Andrés has a little better bus connections than Catemaco  and is only 20 minutes away by bus (6.50 pesos) or private taxi
(60 pesos).

These schedules are from 2008 and have not changed much except prices are up 10%.
See the bus schedules here www.ticketbus.com