Playa Colosio (Calle 72)
- Blue Flag certified
- Residential, little visited
- Free public access, no beach club
- Long uninterrupted walking
- Ungroomed, natural shoreline
- No built shade, bring your own
Overview
Playa Colosio is the shoreline of the Colosio district, reached from Calle 72 in the northern half of Playa del Carmen, well beyond the hotel frontage and the beach clubs of the centre. Access is by ordinary residential streets and sandy paths rather than a signposted tourist entrance, and there is no lounger concession, no bar and no commercial grooming.
It is a residential beach in the plainest sense. The people on it are mostly from the neighbourhood behind it, and on weekday mornings you can walk a long way along the sand without passing anyone. What it lacks in facilities it makes up for in space, since the developed frontage stops well short of here and the coast runs on uninterrupted towards Playa 88 and Punta Esmeralda.
There is one reason to take this stretch seriously beyond its quietness, and it concerns sargassum specifically.
Our current condition score for this beach is .
Photo summary of last month
Photographs are published unedited and in date order, and are replaced as newer submissions arrive, so what appears here is the most recent view rather than a promotional image.
Nothing on this beach is raked to a hotel's schedule, so the record here shows the coast in a considerably more natural state than a frame taken in front of a resort. Where the sand is clear, it is clear because nothing came ashore.
Position relative to the Atlantic sargassum belt
Playa del Carmen faces east into the open Caribbean from the mainland side of the Cozumel channel, with no barrier island and no substantial reef immediately offshore to intercept what approaches. Sargassum from the Atlantic belt is carried west by the North Equatorial Current, passes into the Caribbean through the Lesser Antilles and then tracks up the Yucatán coast, so the town receives material directly.
The coast within the town is not uniform, however, and this is where Calle 72 becomes interesting. The state maritime zone authority has publicly identified the beach at Calle 72, along with Xcalacoco and Montecarlo, as one of the three stretches in Playa del Carmen that stay comparatively free of sargassum, in contrast to Punta Esmeralda and El Recodo where the impact has been greatest. The explanation given is the prevailing southerly wind and the way each section of coast sits relative to it: on these stretches the weed does not come ashore in quantity.
That is a durable observation about geography rather than a forecast. It does not mean this beach never receives sargassum, and in a heavy season it certainly does. It means that when the town is being hit unevenly, this is one of the sections that tends to fare better, and it is worth checking here before writing off the whole coast.
The sargassum season
The season on this coast runs broadly from March or April through to September or October, with the heaviest arrivals normally falling between May and August. Outside that window the water is usually clear for long stretches, and in the winter months the beach looks entirely different from its summer self.
Because nothing here is cleaned to a hotel's timetable, the seasonal swing is more visible on this beach than on a groomed frontage a few kilometres south. That cuts both ways: a bad week shows plainly, and a good week is genuinely good rather than the product of a tractor at dawn.
Our guide to sargassum season in the Riviera Maya sets out how the pattern behaves across the region and why it has intensified.
Swimming conditions and safety
The profile here is the standard one for this part of the coast: fine pale sand, a gradual shelf and no significant surf in normal conditions. There are no lifeguards, no flag system and no supervision of any kind, which is the main practical difference from the central beaches. Anyone swimming should treat it as an unsupervised beach and stay within their depth.
There is no built shade on the sand. The thatched shade shelters and loungers of the developed frontage further south do not extend this far, so the only cover comes from the vegetation along the back of the beach. Bring an umbrella if you intend to stay for any length of time.
Choosing a hotel on this stretch
There is very little hotel frontage here, which is precisely why the beach is quiet. Accommodation in Colosio is mostly apartments and small condominium buildings a street or two back from the sand, aimed at long stays rather than resort holidays.
If the appeal of this stretch is its position on the section that the authorities describe as less affected, the practical options are condominium rentals in Colosio itself, or hotels around Calle 88 and Coco Beach a short distance south, which sit on the same northern run of coast while offering more in the way of services.
Access and getting there
From the centre, head north on Avenida 30 or the Avenida Constituyentes route and turn east on Calle 72. The colectivos that run along Avenida 30 will drop you at the corner for a few pesos, and the walk from there to the sand takes a little over ten minutes. There are no Uber services in Playa del Carmen, so a street taxi is the alternative.
Cycling is the easiest way to reach this part of town, and the ride from Fifth Avenue takes roughly twenty minutes on flat ground.
Parking is on the street in the residential grid behind the beach. There is no formal car park and no attendant. Facilities are limited to what a residential neighbourhood provides, so bring water, and expect no public bathroom on the sand itself.
Check live conditions before you go
Colosio is an ungroomed public beach on the section of coast that local authorities count among the least affected in Playa del Carmen. On the live map we track it with dated photographs and a current condition score, so you can compare it against Punta Esmeralda, El Recodo and the central beaches on the same morning and see for yourself whether the pattern is holding.
See live conditions, photos & cams →