Best Mexico Beach (2016)

Balandra isn’t just the best beach in the vicinity of Baja California Sur’s capital city, La Paz; it’s a serious candidate for the title “best beach in México.” Pearl white sand frames a lagoon bounded by rust colored hills, filled with the sort of turquoise water seldom seen outside of Quintana Roo. It’s an absolutely magical setting, and is also home to El Hongo, a mushroom shaped rock that has come to symbolize La Paz in the same way The Arch does for Cabo San Lucas.
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Sea and sky seem part of the same incredible canvas from the sugar white shores of this spectacular beach, which is at the north end of the “Island of Women,” just off the coast near Cancún. Walk the dock that extends out into the sea, or rent a beach chair and an umbrella, and sip margaritas while pondering a palette of blues.
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Said to be the result of a bomb during the days when the uninhabited offshore Islas Marietas were a military testing area, this Hidden Beach is certainly one of a kind. Now part of a national park easily reachable by boat from Puerto Vallarta, the secluded, crater-like beach with its glittering aquamarine water is perhaps the finest romantic picnic destination in all of México.
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Isla Danzante lies some 20 miles southeast of the first capital of California, Loreto, one of five offshore islands located within the Loreto Bay National Marine Park, in an area designated by UNESCO as a world heritage site. Danzante’s pearl is the small but breathtakingly beautiful beach in Honeymoon Cove, a picture perfect vantage that offers glimpses of cactus topped hills and a dozen shades of dazzling blue water.
Photo courtesy of AP Photo/Terry Prichard, HO

Often called “the jewel of the East Cape” – the 70 miles of belly-shaped coastline that arcs from San José del Cabo to Los Barriles – Cabo Pulmo is a gem, a rustic seaside paradise prized for its world-class snorkeling and diving. The beach itself is a beauty, and the offshore marine sanctuary is magnificent: home to one of the hemisphere’s oldest living coral reefs and the highest concentration of sea life in the Sea of Cortez.
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This beach in Baja California Sur may be its most beautiful. Situated just shy of actual Land’s End in Cabo San Lucas, Lover’s Beach commands magnificent views of the city and the Los Cabos coastline. Accessible only by boat, it also offers superb swimming and snorkeling in the fish-rich bay. Intrepid sorts will find it opens to a larger adjoining beach that overlooks the Pacific Ocean: the less romantically named Playa Divorcio.
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Quimixto lies south of Puerto Vallarta on the Pacific Coast of Jalisco, its palm trees and golden sands framed on one side by verdant hills, and on the other by beautiful Banderas Bay. Sunning and surfing are popular pastimes here, as are hiking and horseback rides to nearby Quimixto Falls, site of a lovely waterfall oasis.
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Home to two miles of golden sand bounded by beachfront luxury resorts and boisterous cantinas, Médano Beach is undeniably king of the Cabo San Lucas beach scene. It’s also undeniably beautiful, with gorgeous views of the Sea of Cortez and the half-mile long headland of evocatively shaped granite monuments that mark Land’s End at the southernmost point of the Baja California peninsula.
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There’s no way to keep a secret this good, thus Playa Maroma has become a notable Riviera Maya resort destination, with luxe accommodations and pampering amenities added to its already considerable natural advantages. Bordered by mangroves and jungle, Punta Maroma pairs a lush tropical backdrop with white sands and exquisitely colored Caribbean waters. It’s a quintessential Yucatán hideaway, yet still conveniently close to Cancún.
Photo courtesy of H. DARR BEISER

Although it can’t compete with nearby Balandra Beach in terms of sheer beauty, El Tecolote is still a stunner, and offers a better overall beach experience. Visitors can enjoy barefoot dining at its finest with local specialties like chocolate clams and marlin en escabeche, digging their toes into fine white sand as they gaze across the multihued and breathtakingly beautiful waters of the Sea of Cortez towards the uninhabited island of Espíritu Santo.
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