If you’re looking for beautiful beaches in La Paz you’ve come to the right place! Thanks to this city’s location beside the beautiful Sea Of Cortez, La Paz offers miles of white sandy beaches with turquoise colored waters that will rival any Caribbean beach.

The beaches of La Paz offer blissful days by the shore in paradise-like bays where you can swim in crystal clear water and watch an out of this world sunset. And get this, there is a good chance these beaches may be completely deserted too! Yes, if you are wanting to get away from the madness of Cabo San Lucas and after a more peaceful vacation, you may want to consider planning a trip to La Paz.

The capital of Baja California Sur may not be as popular a destination as Cabo or Cancun, but this is because it’s still a secret that La Paz is a heavenly place for beach lovers. Only the locals know this and a few adventure type travelers that choose to road trip the Baja peninsula.

What you should know is that even though La Paz sits in a beautiful bay with calm turquoise waters that are perfect for swimmers of all levels, it is not recommended for swimming. You may be tempted by the white sandy beaches that line the city’s downtown Malecon but you should resist. This is because La Paz is a commercial port and the sea is not particularly too clean here. Yes, it may be more convenient but you are better off hopping on a bus and heading north to some nicer and safer beaches if you want to get wet.

But the minimal effort involved in seeking out the beaches to the north will result in finding some of the prettiest beaches in Mexico with heavenly blue water. Go and find them!

Beautiful Beaches In La Paz

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Playa El Coromuel

Playa El Coromuel is the closest beach to downtown La Paz located only eight minutes drive north on highway 11. This beach is so close to town you could probably walk here but a better option would be to rent a bicycle and ride over or catch a taxi and get dropped off. If you’re driving though this isn’t a problem as there is plenty of parking here.

As this beach is the closest to La Paz, you can expect it to be one of the busiest of the beaches. No doubt it is also one of the prettiest. Playa El Coromuel has a public restroom, palapas, and a few restaurants where you can grab a beer or two to enjoy in the afternoon. You’ll also find a small jetty that offers a good vantage point to take photo’s of the magical colored water.

Playa El Camaincito

Camaincito Beach is only three miles north from La Paz (5km) and is a very popular beach with locals. This scenic stretch of sand and sea is perfect for swimming and snorkeling with lots of fish to see.

Playa El Camaincito is situated adjacent to the La Concha Beach Club Resort which offers a range of water toys for you to rent including snorkels. There is also a great restaurant here that you can wander over to once it is time for lunch.

If you’re looking for a beautiful beach with white sands that you can stroll, relax, watch a sunset, or a nice place to dine with water views, this is the best beach for you.

Playa El Tesoro

The further north you go, the more brilliant the shade of water becomes. This is especially true of Playa El Tesoro, which rivals the turquoise sea’s of the Caribbean. This little beach is inside a small bay and offers calm and clear water. It is the perfect beach for swimmers who are not confident in the water and for young children.

Playa El Tesoro is located right off the highway so it’s pretty easy to find. This beach does not get busy at all, and most people miss it on their way to the more popular Balandra Beach. In fact, if it wasn’t for Balandra being so heavily visited that many people get turned back, many travelers would not even discover this hidden gem.

This beach is a true treasure and it is more than likely you’ll have the shores to yourself during the week or if you get here early in the morning. There is a small restaurant that sells taco’s, beer, and margarita’s. There are also tables and umbrella’s along the beach in front of the restaurant that you can rent.

Playa Pichilingue

Playa Pichilingue is a nice beach with aquamarine water that is good for swimming and kayaking. If you can visit during the week you might be lucky enough to find the stunning beach deserted and all for you!

This beach is at least a thirty minute drive from La Paz but easy enough to get to because the ferry terminal is not far away and buses to it operate daily.

There is a restaurant nearby that can help you out with alcoholic beverages, seafood, and a restroom. If you want to do more than just swim and sunbake, you can rent kayaks from the nearby kiosk and go out for a paddle on crystal clear water.

Balandra Beach

Alright, this next beach will really knock your socks off. It is considered to be one of Baja’s most beautiful beaches if not the whole of Mexico! This beach will rival any tropical beach destination in Thailand or Indonesia too, that’s for sure.

You’ve more than likely already heard about Balandra Beach as it is a popular tourist hot spot with both domestic and international travelers. Many people come from far and wide to see what could possibly be one of the most perfect places in the world.

Balandra offers unbelievable crystal clear, turquoise colored water inside a huge bay surrounded by desert-scaped mountains. The water is shallow and calm so even the non-swimmer will fall in love with this place and feel comfortable wading out very far.

This world famous beach has pristine white sands that are perfect for relaxing on all day. There are palapas available here and a stand where you can purchase snacks and refreshments. If you’re up for a little more adventure, you can hike the trails along the headlands. The higher you get, the better the view gets. The effort will pay off as you’ll be able to leave with some incredible photo’s that not many other visitors will have.

Because Balandra Beach is so popular, it will more than likely be quite busy, especially on the weekends. However this is not a huge problem because the beach is quite long. If you plan to spend the whole day here, come prepared with your own food and plenty of water.

Getting to Balandra shouldn’t be a problem as you can easily organize a tour bus from La Paz or even from Cabo San Lucas too.

El Tecolote

Further north from Balandra is another popular beach, El Tecolote. This beach is a little different though because it is not as protected and therefore the beach can be a little more windier here, which does sometimes result in bigger waves.

Even though this beach does have an even more remote location and feeling than the others, it does get busy due to the wide range of activities on offer and restaurants on the beach.

At El Tecolote, you can swim, rent wave runners, kayak, take boat tours, and walk over two kilometers of shoreline. The sand is bleach-white and slopes gently into the sea getting deeper only very gradually.

The restaurants sell refreshments like cold drinks and popsicles and other food items but if you plan to spend the whole day here you should bring your own food and plenty of water.

This beach is about 18 miles (29km) from La Paz and can be found at the end of a paved road. It is best you rent a car to visit however you can still come by public transport from La Paz. To do this, you’ll need to catch a bus to Pichilingue then take a taxi the remaining way.

How To Get To The Beaches North Of La Paz

The easiest way to get around La Paz and to all of the beautiful beaches mentioned above is by car. You can book a rental car in La Paz or from Cabo San Lucas if you’re coming over on a day trip. National is the car rental agency of choice in Mexico, however there are many other companies to choose from such as Enterprise, Thrifty, and Alamo.

Your other options include catching a bus, taxi, or Uber. Buses operate daily from La Paz malecon and shouldn’t cost more than 100 pesos. Keep in mind these public buses will only go as far as the ferry terminal in Pichilingue and from there you’ll have to get a taxi to Balandra or Tecolote beach. These buses depart between 8am and 5.30pm and will stop at Coromuel, Caimancito, and Tesoro beaches.

If you’re interested in only briefly seeing the beaches instead of spending the whole day at them, it is not too expensive to have a taxi driver take you out and wait for you for a reasonable amount of time and then take you back to town. This should run at about 300-400 pesos roundtrip to Playa El Tesoro for example.

Another way to visit these beaches is on a day trip with a tour company like Baja Desconocida who can organize the transport along with activities like standup paddle boarding, kayaking or snorkeling.

Helpful Tips For Your Trip

• Be sure to bring plenty of water with you
• Pack some snacks just in case you are visiting midweek and there are no restaurants open.
• Bring reef-safe sunscreen and a hat
• Be mindful of mosquito’s in summer, get deet-free insect repellent

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