Playa Balandra:
Entry Limits, History and How to Get In

Balandra is the beach most people have seen before they ever reach La Paz: shallow turquoise water, white sand, red desert hills and a rock balanced on a thin stem. It is often called the most beautiful beach in Mexico. It is also a federal protected area with a daily visitor limit, and on busy days the gate closes. Here is how entry works, how to get in when the road is full, and how Balandra came to be protected.

How Entry Works

To protect the mangroves and the bay, CONANP, Mexico's protected-areas commission, limits how many people can be on the beach at once. Entry by road runs in two shifts a day, 8:00 AM to 12:00 PM and 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM, with a cap of 450 people per shift. Every visitor needs a park bracelet, sold online in advance through CONANP and at the entrance while space lasts.

When a shift reaches 450, the entrance closes. At the end of each shift, rangers clear the beach of everyone who came by road, and the next shift starts again from zero.

In December, January and February, on weekends and on Mexican holidays, the limit can fill early in the morning. On some days the line of cars waiting to get in backs up a long way down the road, and people without a bracelet are turned away. If you are driving, get there very early. Once you're parked, it is also a good walk from the parking area to El Hongo.

Getting In by Boat

Boat groups do not count toward the 450-person limit, and they are not cleared from the beach at the end of a shift. So when the road entrance is full, arriving by boat still gets you in.

We leave from the Malecón in La Paz and come into the bay from the water, with the park bracelet already included. We bring the shade, tables, lunch and snorkel gear, so there is nothing to carry from a parking lot. On the way we stop at San Rafaelito to swim with the sea lions, all year round. There are three ways to go with us:

• Balandra by boat, shared. Up to 10 guests per boat, $1,925 MXN per person with the park bracelet included.
• Balandra private charter. The whole boat for your group, up to 12 guests, $15,000 MXN.
• The Grand Slam. Whale sharks, the sea lions at San Rafaelito and Balandra in one day, during whale shark season (mid-November through April), max 10 guests.

Why It's Called the Most Beautiful Beach in Mexico

Balandra shows up on international beach lists year after year. In 2025 it placed 19th on The World's 50 Best Beaches, a ranking voted by more than a thousand travel professionals, and it was the only beach in Mexico on the list. In 2026, readers of Condé Nast Traveller scored it 94.86 in the magazine's Readers' Choice Awards.

What makes it different is the bay itself. The water stays shallow for hundreds of meters, so you can walk far out across sandbars with the water at your knees. Mangroves line the back of the lagoon, dunes and desert hills close it in, and the color of the water changes with the tide and the light.

A Short History

El Hongo

The mushroom-shaped rock, El Hongo, is the symbol of Balandra and of La Paz. It is eroded sandstone, and its stem is thin. In 1989 it fell after visitors climbed it for photos. It was lifted and set back in place in a restoration that ran from July 1993 to January 1994. Climbing it is not allowed.

From local beach to protected area

For years Balandra had no protection and was a target for development. Residents, students and academics campaigned for about seven years to keep it public and undeveloped. In November 2012 the federal government decreed it a Flora and Fauna Protection Area: about 2,512 hectares of land and sea, including the mangroves, dunes and the bay. CONANP manages it today.

Balandra With Kids

• It is one of the most family-friendly beaches around La Paz: the water is shallow and calm, and small children can play far out from the shore.
• If you drive, arrive very early, especially on weekends and from December to February, and bring water, food and something for shade.
• Use reef-safe sunscreen, take your trash home, and don't climb or touch El Hongo.