Bahía Petempich
- National reef park offshore
- Almost 3 km of continuous sand
- Gentle entry, shallow for a long way
- Suits families with young children
- Lifeguards in the resort section
- Resorts at the southern end
- Quieter walking north
- No vendors north of the resorts
- Reached from a highway turn-off
Overview
Bahía Petempich is a gently curving bay north of Puerto Morelos village, roughly nine kilometres up the coast from the centre and about fifteen minutes by road from Cancún airport. The sand runs almost three kilometres in a continuous strip, and the entry to the water is unusually gradual: shallow for a long way out, with no need for water shoes.
The southern end of the bay is lined with resorts, and that is where the facilities are, including lifeguards, loungers and the dive and snorkel operators. Walking north the development thins out and the beach becomes quiet, with no restaurants and no vendors, so anything you want on that stretch has to be carried in.
What sits offshore matters more here than anywhere in Playa del Carmen. The bay fronts the Parque Nacional Arrecife de Puerto Morelos, the protected section of the Mesoamerican reef that runs close to this shore, and it is the reason the water inside the bay stays calm and the snorkelling is worth the trip.
Our current condition score for this beach is .
Our photographic record
Each photograph is published unedited and in date order, and is retained so the record builds rather than resets.
No photographs of this beach have been submitted yet. The grid below fills in as contributors send them.
Position relative to the Atlantic sargassum belt
Puerto Morelos differs from the coast to the south in one structural respect: it has a genuine barrier reef lying close inshore, running roughly parallel to the beach a short distance out. Playa del Carmen has no such barrier, which is why weed there arrives at the sand with the swell behind it.
A reef changes the arithmetic in both directions. It breaks the swell and holds much of the drifting material offshore, so the water inside the lagoon is calmer and often clearer than an unprotected beach on the same day. But weed that does cross the reef enters a sheltered lagoon with little energy to carry it back out, so it can sit against the shore rather than washing clear.
Within the bay itself the curve concentrates that effect at the southern end, where the resorts are. The straighter northern stretch is more exposed to alongshore current and tends to clear faster, which means the two ends of the same beach can look different on the same morning.
The sargassum season
The Caribbean sargassum season runs broadly from spring into late summer, at its heaviest between April and August, easing through the autumn. The belt sits far out in the Atlantic and what arrives on a given day depends on the wind and current beforehand rather than on the month alone.
The reef makes the difference between a good and a bad week here more pronounced than the difference between months. In a settled week the lagoon can be clear when the open coast to the south is not; in a week of onshore wind, material that clears the reef stays put. Anyone choosing this bay specifically for calm water should check a recent photograph rather than rely on the reef.
The regional pattern is set out in our guide to sargassum season in the Riviera Maya.
Choosing a hotel on this stretch
The properties along the southern arm of the bay are large all-inclusives and condominium developments, several of them beachfront, and they maintain their own frontages. Two things are worth asking before booking, since they vary considerably along a bay of this length: how far the property is from the resort cluster, and whether its own beach is raked when weed arrives.
The bay suits a certain kind of trip well. It is close to the airport, quiet, and the water is genuinely gentle for small children, which is not true of the Cancún hotel zone. What it lacks is a walkable town: Puerto Morelos village, with its restaurants and shops, is a drive rather than a stroll.
Access and parking
The bay is reached from a turn-off east off Highway 307 near Km 328. There is no formal beach car park, and the resorts control the frontage at the southern end, so a visitor not staying at one of them walks in from the highway along the paved access road, an out-and-back of several kilometres in total.
The colectivos running along Highway 307 between Cancún and Playa del Carmen will drop passengers at the junction. There is no Uber service in the area, so a street taxi arranged in advance is the alternative to driving.
Once on the sand there is nothing to stop you walking, since beaches in Mexico are public to the high-water line. Facilities, though, belong to the resorts: for toilets, food and water on the northern stretch there is nothing, so bring what you need.
Check live conditions before you go
The reef shelters this bay but does not exclude sargassum, and the two ends of the beach can differ. Our live card for Bahía Petempich carries the current condition score and the most recent contributor photographs with their dates.
See live conditions, photos & cams →