Tampico was destroyed by pirates in 1683, but the town was refounded and is now a major city of Tamaulipas state – and one of Mexico’s principal ports.

The city is located at the southern tip of Tamaulipas and ringed by lakes; the area’s original inhabitants, the Huastecs, chose to settle here in 1532 on the banks of the Río Pánuco.

Be sure to visit Tampico’s cathedral and see its Byzantine mosaics, together with other buildings which attest to the past of the town’s previous inhabitants (the town’s name Tampico is of Huastec origin and means “place of otters”).

The port’s metropolitan area consists of three municipal districts: Tampico, Altamira and Ciudad Madero. Tampico was given the port status in 1824 is now considered the second most important port in the Gulf of Mexico. The population is multicultural; in 1900 the town received hundreds of families from around the world looking for a better life.