In Mexico, there are an array of beachfront experiences. Oaxaca has its Pacific coastline of secluded coves and queer destinations. Cancún and Puerto Vallarta have their raucous party-tastic sands on the Caribbean and Pacific coast, respectively.
Just south of Puerto Vallarta, stretching for some hundred-odd miles to the port city Manzanillo, is Costalegre. Its name is a Spanish portmanteau of “coast” and “happy.” It is not that Costalegre is undiscovered, its thousands of residents would beg to differ. Still, Costalegre remains somewhat undeveloped. As Puerto Vallarta resident Meagan Drillinger said in Travel and Leisure, whenever “I need some peace from paradise, I find myself turning to the rugged, rawly beautiful Costalegre.”
Over the last few years, more development has been transpiring. New properties have debuted, and the new Chalacatepec airport is due to open by the end of 2025, “designed to tie in with a host of new projects and act as a detonator for further tourism investment,” said The Guadalajara Reporter. “What makes the Costalegre different is that the developer families who own the land have tremendous heart,” said Drillinger in Travel and Leisure. The focus is on protecting this section of Mexico from overdevelopment. “For all the tens of thousands of acres that each family owns, only a small portion will ever be developed. The rest is protected in preserves, allegedly, forever.”
What to do
Nature plays a vital role here, as you might expect. The luxury travel company Journey Mexico can shape your ideal trip, based on insider intel. “Hike to the petroglyphs and waterfalls of Cajón de Peñas, learn to surf, go deep-sea fishing or relax on a yacht cruise,” said Afar.
If turtles make you squeak with joy, a visit to Campamento Tortuguero Chalacatepec, a sanctuary just off the coast, is worth a wander. This stretch of sand is one of Mexico’s important migratory zones for some of the six species of turtles that migrate and hatch in different parts of the country. “As sunset reddened the horizon, we all rode golf carts to the Chalacatepec turtle sanctuary a few minutes away,” said Ingrid Rojas Contreras in Travel and Leisure Asia. “In Costalegre, nests have to be protected from both animals and humans,” and “hundreds of hatchlings in large crates were climbing all over one another, ready to brave the waves, which I noticed were breaking with force. In the crate, there were loggerhead, green and leatherback hatchlings — all endangered species.”
Where to stay
Careyes staked its presence at Costalegre decades ago, during the 1960s. Its luxury approach features “more than eight miles of private shoreline,” casitas in the style of Positano, guided tours of nearby hiking trails and the “largest polo fields in Mexico,” said Travel and Leisure.
A “hand-built stone road leads” to the Four Seasons Resort Tamarindo, said Contreras in Travel and Leisure Asia. The property opened in 2022 and was built to “exist in harmony with its surroundings.” Mexican architects, including Victor Legorreta and Mauricio Rocha, “created an open, inviting spectacle of nature” with a resort that covers 3,000 acres but “only 2% of the land has been developed.” The remaining acres will be “left as nature intended.” Dine at Coyul, from the celebrated chef Elena Reygadas of Rosetta in Mexico City fame, when a craving for chilmole and octopus tagliolini or plantain enmoladas strikes. Alternatively, eat fresh fish at Sal or pop by Nacho, a taquería that features an array of snacks made with masa, including thin oval tlacoyos and, of course, tacos.