I fell in love with Mexico from the back of my now-husband's motorcycle. In our early years, we'd spend weeks on end driving up and down the Pacific coastline around Puerto Vallarta, exploring its many secret beaches, sleepy fishing villages, and quiet coves.
Mexico’s ‘Happy Coast’ Is a Beach Destination Like No Other You’ve Ever Experienced
I fell in love with Mexico from the back of my now-husband's motorcycle. In our early years, we'd spend weeks on end driving up and down the Pacific coastline around Puerto Vallarta, exploring its many secret beaches, sleepy fishing villages, and quiet coves.
My first brush with the Costalegre happened in 2017, on my 30th birthday, when we wobbled on two wheels down an unpaved, sandy road, emerging at one of the largest bays I had ever seen - a gentle arcing curve of sand backed by towering mountains, and not a single hotel or building in sight. It was the closest thing to paradise I had ever experienced. Snacking on freshly grilled fish tacos underneath a thatched palapa, I felt a pang in my heart knowing that finding these places in Mexico is like discovering buried treasure, and that they never stay a secret for long.
The Costalegre is that stretch of coastline that runs south from Puerto Vallarta toward Manzanillo. Costalegre translates to "happy coast," and it's not a far stretch of the imagination to see why. Churning Pacific waves crash onto miles of pristine, golden sand. Mountains creep back from the coastline, carpeted in lush jungle. Groves of palm trees spring up from low-lying creek beds, creating a landscape that looks more akin to the far-reaching corners of Hawaii or Southeast Asia. It's beyond dramatic and completely removed from everything you think you know about Mexico.
It sounds like the perfect recipe for the beginning of the end - a blank canvas for all-inclusive resorts, restaurants, and nightclubs. However, unlike other destinations in Mexico, the Costalegre has remained protected and purposefully low-impact for decades - yes, decades. But with the recent opening of the Four Seasons Resort Tamarindo and a second multimillion-dollar luxury development project called Xala opening in phases, the burning question is will Costalegre remain Mexico's “last coast,” or is it destined for a similar fate of overdevelopment?