Playa Rosarito
Rosarito, Baja California, Mexico
Playa Rosarito is the long town beach at Rosarito in Baja California, Mexico, about half an hour south of the border, anchored by a very long wooden pier. People walk the pier, ride horses on the sand and fill the beach during spring break. Water quality varies from one section to the next, so check current reports before swimming.
A lively town beach with a famous pier, though crowds, horse droppings and uneven water quality hold it back.
How we score beachesWalk north of the pier for cleaner sand, since the stretch south of it collects horse droppings. Check the latest water quality results before getting in.
Street parking and paid lots run along the main beachfront streets. Spring break and holiday weekends fill them.
The sand is a short walk from the beachfront streets, with the pier as the one firm walking surface. Soft sand slows strollers and wheelchairs.
The Pacific here is cool year round, usually in the mid to high teens Celsius, and morning fog is common in late spring and early summer. Winter brings the larger northwest swells.
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.