Miramar

Miramar is the largest town in the municipality of Altamira and one of the fastest-growing places in Tamaulipas. In the 1980s it was a rural settlement of fewer than 2,000 people; the 2020 census counted 161,820, which makes it the seventh-largest city in the state, ahead of Río Bravo. The reason is geography. Tampico ran out of municipal land to build on, so most newcomers to the metropolitan area end up in Altamira's large territory just to the north, and Miramar is where they settle. It is expected to overtake Tampico as the biggest city of the conurbation within a few decades.

The city covers about 33 km² of flat ground 11 metres above sea level, squeezed between bodies of water: the Miralta lagoon to the west, the Miramar and El Gringo lagoons to the east, and beyond them the Gulf dunes. To the south it runs into Ciudad Madero and Tampico without a visible break, and to the north into the town of Altamira itself. The climate is tropical and subhumid, averaging 24.5 °C a year with about 976 mm of rain.

For visitors Miramar is the northern side of the metro area: new housing estates of brightly painted terraced houses, shopping avenues and quick access to the coast. Fourth Avenue in Colonia Miramar, off the Tampico–Altamira highway, leads down to Dunas Doradas beach, quieter than Madero's crowded Playa Miramar. Beside kilometre 20 of the same highway lies the Miralta lagoon, ringed by a residential development with a golf course, where people fish and do water sports.