A honeycomb structure has a plurality of cells formed by a plurality of partition walls. The partition walls are formed of a porous material composed predominantly of cordierite. Each partition wall includes surface layer portions having a porosity of 50% or more and an inside portion having a porosity of 50% or more, the surface layer portions being portions ranging respectively from opposite surfaces to a depth corresponding to 25% of the thickness of the partition wall, and the inside portion being the other portion. The surface layer portions and the inside portion both include pores having axial pore widths of less than 30 μm and pores having axial pore widths of 30 μm or more. A mean axial pore width in the surface layer portions is smaller than a mean axial pore width in the inside portion.