Playa La Manga
San Carlos, Sonora, Mexico
Playa La Manga is a working fishing village with a rustic beach at San Carlos in Sonora, Mexico. Boats leave at dawn and return around midday with the catch, which ends up on plates at the local restaurants. It is known for some of the best seafood in the area.
An authentic fishing beach with the freshest seafood in San Carlos, though the beach itself is simple and rustic.
How we score beachesTime your visit for lunch, when the boats are back and the catch is fresh. Order whatever came in that morning.
Park along the village road near the restaurants and the beach.
The beach is a short walk from the village road, with sand and working boats.
Summers are very hot, with highs of 35 to 38 C from June through September, and the water warms to the high 20s Celsius. The comfortable beach season runs from early December to early March, and hurricane season can bring peripheral storms.
More Mexico & Central America beaches
Soliman Bay
Tulum, Quintana Roo, Mexico · Mexico & Central America
Soliman Bay sits about 20 minutes north of Tulum on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, a quieter alternative to the beach clubs further south, with a coral reef sheltering the mouth of the bay and villas tucked right against the sand. Puffer fish, octopus, and the occasional manta ray turn up in the clear water, and a public access point at the north end of the coast road has kayak rentals and simple seafood.
Playa Xcacel
Xcacel-Xcacelito, Quintana Roo, Mexico · Mexico & Central America
Xcacel Beach sits along Mexico's Riviera Maya coast, protected since 1998 as a sea turtle sanctuary where green and loggerhead turtles nest from April through October, releasing more than 200,000 hatchlings most years. A cenote sits just inland from the sand, and the whole stretch has stayed undeveloped specifically because of its protected status.
Chacala
Chacala, Nayarit, Mexico · Mexico & Central America
Chacala sits in a small cove on Mexico's Riviera Nayarit, about 90 minutes north of Puerto Vallarta, a nearly mile long beach of soft, pale sand lined with palm trees and palapa restaurants. The town holds around 300 full time residents, though visitor numbers climb sharply during Semana Santa and Christmas, and jungle covered hills rise up on either side of the bay.