| Puerto Morelos | |
| Pushpin Map: | Mexico Quintana Roo#Mexico |
| Pushpin Label Position: | left |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Type1: | State |
| Subdivision Type2: | Municipality |
| Subdivision Name2: | Puerto Morelos |
| Named For: | José María Morelos |
| Leader Title: | Mayor |
| Leader Name: | Francisco Mendoza Reyna |
| Elevation M: | 4 |
| Population Total: | 19202 |
| Population As Of: | 2020[1] |
| Population Demonym: | Puertomorelense |
| Timezone: | Eastern Standard Time |
| Utc Offset: | -5 |
| Postal Code Type: | Postal Code |
| Postal Code: | 77580 |
| Area Code: | 998 |
Puerto Morelos (pronounced as /es/) is a municipality, town, and seaport in Quintana Roo, Mexico's easternmost state, on the Yucatán Peninsula. The town is located in the northeast of the state, about 36km (22miles) south of the resort city of Cancún, and about 30km (20miles) north of the city of Playa del Carmen.
Puerto Morelos merged with the village of Leona Vicario on December 6, 2015, to become the 11th municipality in Quintana Roo, separating from its former municipality of Benito Juarez.
It has historically been the main port between the mainland of Yucatán and the Island of Cozumel, and an automobile ferry used to run from Puerto Morelos to Cozumel. The town is named after Independence leader José María Morelos.
Resorts are abundant in the Puerto Morelos region along the Riviera Maya and attractions, such as the Crococun Crocodile Zoo, the Botanical Garden, and a host of cenotes are also increasing in number. Recently new smaller inns have been built which offers an evening programs of Talks on local history, marine biology, and healthy living practices.
One hundred meters off shore lies the Puerto Morelos portion of the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System, designated as a National Marine Park in 1998 due to local environmental activists.[2]
Puerto Morelos is divided by a highway and a mangrove swamp into three sections. The section west of the highway is known as "Colonia Joaquin Zetina Gazca". The section east of the highway is called "Colonia Pescadores". The section on the coast east of the mangrove swamp is "Puerto" or "Antiguo (old) Puerto Morelos". This original coastal fishing village is now a quiet, mixed-use neighborhood of private homes, hotels, condominiums, restaurants, and tourist shops.
The second part is about 2 km. inland and adjacent to Highway 307, on the western side. The inland portion is mainly single level dwellings for local workers. New residential developments have sprung up in recent years adding to the housing mix. There are now multi-story apartment buildings, and private residential developments between the highway and the mangrove where one can buy lots and build a house of one's own design.
Classified by Köppen-Geiger system as tropical wet and dry climate (Aw), because its driest month has less than of precipitation and also less than 100 − (total annual precipitation [mm]/25), also because each month has a mean average above .[3]
Puerto Morelos has grown rapidly with the development of tourism and as of the 2010 census is the home to 9,188 people.[4]
The marine terminal at Puerto Morelos is equipped to handle containers and is an important seaport in the state of Quintana Roo. The volume of cargo handled in the port of Puerto Morelos amounted to 41.2 thousand metric tons in 2019.[5]
In addition, there is a Tren Maya station that opened to the public on 15 March 2024 just outside Puerto Morelos.[6]