The Petén–Veracruz moist forests cover an area of 149,100 square kilometers (57,600 sq mi), extending from central Veracruz state across portions of the Mexican states of Oaxaca, Tabasco, Chiapas, and Campeche, as well as northern Guatemala and most of Belize.

The Petén–Veracruz moist forests mostly occupy a coastal lowland with meandering rivers, including the Blanco, Papaloapan, Coatzacoalcos, Tonalá, Grijalva, Usumacinta, and Hondo.

The western portion of the ecoregion mostly extends to the Gulf of Mexico, although the montane forests of the Sierra de los Tuxtlas and the flooded forests and wetlands of the Pantanos de Centla constitute distinct ecoregions.

The northern Petén–Veracruz moist forests were home to the Olmec culture, which built cities between 1200 and 400 BCE.

Other protected areas include Tikal, El Rosario, Guanacaste, Monkey Bay, Sarstoon-Temash, Sierra del Lacandón, Cañón del Sumidero, Cañón del Río Blanco, and Palenque national parks, Calakmul, Nahá–Metzabok, and Selva El Ocote biosphere reserves, Bladen Nature Reserve, and Cañón del Usumacinta, Cascada de Agua Azul, and Chan-Kin flora and fauna protection areas.