providing clean drinking water to families around the world.
The Best Beaches In Mexico
See Also:
Update:
Hotels are such a popular question from readers I thought I’d leave some links to the best pages for finding hotels deals in Mexico:
An opinionated list of the best beaches from Cabo to Cancun
My personal favorite: the family friendly beach at Sayulita
Manzanillo on the Pacific Coast of Mexico
A beach at the Westin Cabos Resort in Baja California
The beautiful beach at Zihuatanejo
The fantastic beaches of Tulum in Mexico's Yucatan.
A quiet beach at Zipolite
A beach in Baja California near Cabo San Lucas
Acapulco on the Mexican Pacific coast
One of Cancun's many beautiful beaches
Cozumel in Mexico's Yucatan region.
A short day trip from Isla Mujeres is Parque Nacional Isla Contoy
La Paz on the Baja
The best swimming beach is south of here, but the Old Town beach is great for evening walks
Playa del Carmen on the shores of the Caribbean
Another great beach near Los Cabos
Isla Mujeres might be the most family friendly beach in Mexico.
The beach in Mazatlan with the Old Town in the background
Playa de los Muertos in Puerto Vallarta
A gondola ride up from the beach in Ixtapa
Holbox Island in the Caribbean Sea
Playa Entrega in Huatalco in southwest Mexico
Playa Mazunte near Oaxaca
Puerto Escondido is known for its great surfing
Just a short boat ride from Puerto Vallarta is the fantastic Yelapa beach.
Pictures: Zaskoda, Lizard10979, kretyen, dustin.askins, lightmatter, georgia.kral, DieselDemon, JSF306,
adpowers, SergeMelki, AlaskanDude, Tanenhaus, Wonderlane, yentonces, ŠarūnasBurdulis, ~!,
HSanchez, rhobinn, jarito, KevinHutchinson, elfidomx, JoSimon, o¬.
Further Reading:
- The Best of the Yucatan
- Tulum – Caribbean Paradise
- The Mayan ruins of Tulum
- Oaxaca – a photo essay
- 10 Reasons to visit Mexico
- Mayan ruins in Mexico (Pt. 1 of a great series)
- Puerto Escondido – surfing the Mexican Pipeline (video)
- La Paz, Mexico is water wonderland
- Itinerary of a 4 day trip to Cabo San Lucas
- Travel in Mexico – safe or not?
- A traveler’s impressions of Mexico
My Favorite Websites
HotelsCombined.com – The absolute best for finding hotel deals and discounts.
Booking.com – A great resource for hotels in North America and Europe. Features authentic reviews from verified guests.
World Nomads – Travel insurance from a trusted and well-respected resource.
Can you get to Sayulita from Puerto Vallarta by boat? Is it worth it for a day trip? Thx.
There aren’t any regular schedule boats that I know of. Though you could always hire a private one if you were really committed to getting there by boat. The bus will get you there in about 2 hours. A taxi takes about an hour and costs around $40 if you know how to bargain. ($70 if you don’t.) Is it worth it for a day trip? Maybe. I’d try to get up there for at least a night. The beach has a couple of really low key restaurants where it’s great to hang out as the sun falls. It’s perfect. Mornings are lively around the town square and there are some great breakfast places.
What beach on Isla Mujeres is that? The main one?
Playa Norte, which is the best one for kids and is part of the main town where most of the restaurants and hotels are.
We are San Pancho fans — Sayulita is good tho! We have place at Garza Blanca beach about an hour south of Sayulita, and always make the drive north at least once each visit to check on San Pancho and let our boys do some surfing!
Thanks for all the great articles! We are huge travelers and find your posts really helpful! Especially the ones about taking kids to SE Asia! Gracias!
Love the beaches around Cabo. La Paz has more culture and a mexican feel, so it’s great to do a week up there and then come down to Cabo for a more typical beach holiday. The surfing is great up the Pacific Coast. There are ferries from Cabo across to Mazatlan which go daily (I think)j.
Isla Holbox is a great place but haven’t visited the rest of the Yucatan. Belize is fantastic too – though I guess a different article.
Love the concept of showing all the beaches through a great photo. Thanks for the link to our Reasons to Visit Mexico post
Las Gatas and Madera beaches in Zihu. Good beach vibe. If you get out far enough then you can do some bodysurfing at Madera but other than that it’s pretty calm. Zihuatanejo is a jewel and shouldn’t be missed. Zipolite very nice too.
Hi David,
I am a Cali -girl who has moved to the little town of Mexicali, Mexico ( too hot then too cold… and too far from the beach) My hubby, my 7 mo old boy and I are moving to Cabo this April.
I cannot find any info about how many people with children actually live in Cabo…. do you think Mommy and me type things will be a problem- or what would be the best way for me to make new friends for me and my lil one in a place where most are just visiting?
Thanks for the advice
Kelly
Hi Kelly. I did a 10 minute look around for you trying to find some good local websites but couldn’t come up with anything. I suspect once you’re there you’ll find a lot of locals that have good advice. For now, I’d go on tripadvisor and ask a question, as many of its forums have an engaged expat community that comments regularly. I hope that helps.
This is a great summary of Mexico’s beaches and you’ve nailed almost all of my favorites. I’ve made 11 trips to Mexico over the last 8 years and have been to most of these. It really depends what you’re looking for in a beach to recommend one. My top 3 beach towns are Puerto Vallarta, Cancun, and Tulum. Isla Mujeres is right up there too. I’m not much of a surfer, but my good buddy is and he’s dragged me along to Puerto Escondido which is top notch for surfer types. For the best stretch of beach I’d have to say for Cancun though it can be terribly busy during December and January. P.V. is the best for a collection of great beach nooks and towns. I have never been to the Baja so can’t comment on it.
HI, I’m just wondering what you’d recommend or what to consider for a 5 day visit in April where we go in and out of Cancun airport? We are a couple traveling with our 16 year old son and high on our list is snorkeling, maybe an intro course in scuba, and some fishing for the guys. We like good basic Mexican food, but have no interest in night clubs. Next time I’ll consider Sayulita, but since we route through Miami to visit family, the Caribbean was it this trip. So, Tulum or Isla Mujeres? That is the question. Any insight and input would be most appreciated. Recommendation for accommodations in either Tulum or Isla de Mujeres, if any, would be welcome as well.
Thanks so much.
I would pick Isla Mujeres for lazy beach time and swimming. Tulum to see some historical sites and visit the cenotes, so there’s a bit more to do there. The food should be better in Tulum too.
For hotels, these 2 links should find you some great deals: Isla Mujeres and Tulum.
Good luck.