| Mexico, officially the United Mexican States (Estados Unidos Mexicanos or EUM), is the second largest country of Latin America and the largest Spanish-speaking nation in the world. With an east coast on the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea and a long west coast on the Pacific Ocean it has by far the longest coastline in Latin America and, as a result, the largest number of lighthouses. The broad Yucatán Peninsula projects northward from southern Mexico, separating the Gulf of Mexico on the northwest from the Caribbean Sea on the southeast. The peninsula is divided into three Mexican states: Campeche in the west, Yucatán in the north, and Quintana Roo in the east. This page includes lighthouses of the state of Yucatán. Yucatán occupies the northern end of the peninsula and faces the Gulf of Mexico and its southern bight known as as the Bay of Campeche. Progreso is the state's major port. Lighthouses of Campeche state are described on the Tabasco and Campeche page and those of Quintana Roo are on the Caribbean Coast page. In Spanish the word for a lighthouse is faro, baliza is a beacon, isla is an island, cabo is a cape, punta is a promontory or point of land, péñon is a rock, arrecife is a reef, bahía is a bay, ría is an estuary or inlet, estrecho is a strait, río is a river, and puerto is a port or harbor. Mexican lighthouses are managed by the Port Captains and Maritime Affairs Unit (Unidad de Capitanías de Puerto y Asuntos Marítimos, UNICAPAM). Many of the larger light stations are staffed by resident civilian keepers. ARLHS numbers are from the ARLHS World List of Lights. Admiralty numbers are from volume J of the Admiralty List of Lights & Fog Signals. Light List numbers are from NGA Publication 110 for Caribbean lights and Publication 111 for Pacific lights.
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Information available on lost lighthouses
Notable faux lighthouses:
Adjoining pages: Southeast: Caribbean Coast | Southwest: Tabasco and Campeche
Return to the Lighthouse Directory index | Ratings key
Posted December 2004. Checked and revised April 16, 2025. Lighthouses: 21. Site copyright 2025 Russ Rowlett and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.