Sapzurro
Acandí, Chocó, Colombia
Sapzurro sits at the edge of Colombia's Chocó department, tucked into a small bay right up against the Panama border, reachable only by boat. It's a sleepy fishing village with a short stretch of sand out front, and the real draw is Playa La Miel, a walk over a hill from the village where the informal border with Panama runs straight through the beach.
The border walk and the quiet, boat only village give it a genuinely different feel from anywhere else on the Caribbean coast, though getting here takes real effort and there's very little infrastructure once you arrive.
How we score beachesPlaya La Miel sits right over the hill from the village, about a twenty minute walk. Go in the morning, the climb over the ridge gets hot fast once the sun is high.
There's no road here at all. Reach Sapzurro by boat from Necoclí or Turbo to Capurganá, then a short second boat or a coastal hike of about two hours on to Sapzurro.
The village beach is a short, flat walk from the boat dock. Playa La Miel requires a hillier walk over a couple hundred steps, not workable for strollers or wheelchairs.
December through April brings the driest weather and the calmest boat crossings along this stretch of coast. The rest of the year is wetter, with rougher water for the boat trip in.
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