Isla Mujeres beaches

One of the challenges with the beaches on Isla Mujeres is the day trippers, who come across to the Island from the mainland, not just from Cancun but from far and wide, as people are bussed in from other regions. This is a form of tourism Isla Mujeres could really do without; it does little for the island's economy; they bring their beers and food, frequently leaving their empties on the beach when they leave. This is mainly at weekends and public holidays; we recommend that the guests in our Isla Mujeres rental properties use the beach during the week and take advantage of the pool (all our Isla Mujeres rental homes have pools), at the weekends, especially on a Sunday.

If however, someone still wants to go to the beach over the weekend, it is fine and still enjoyable, it is just a matter of knowing where to go. Near to our Isla Mujeres rental homes there is Garrafon de Castilla. It is small but very nice and not expensive, 150 pesos, just over eight USD per person. One website advertising it said, "it's not one of the flashy commercialized beach clubs", it's certainly not that. In fact to call it a beach club, is probably playing a bit fast ad lose with the term beach club; it was built some fifty plus years ago so it's quite old, but it all works, and you can swim amongst the fish that are plentiful, and have a wonderful array of colors, attracted because people feed them there.

There is Indios Beach Club. It is not very well advertised, it is a little further north where you will see a slope which leads to the beach club. Those who rent one of our Isla Mujeres villas and also take advantage of our golf cart offer get free access to the beach club. The offer is a half-price golf cart for up to one week; golf carts are expensive, so the offer is very attractive, it has a high take-up. We are able to offer this because we have other business dealings with Indios, so we arrange it on a quid pro quo basis.

For those who still want to go to Playa Norte over the weekend, the secret is to go far from where the day trippers are, which is near to where the ferry arrives. As you go further north, the number of people starts to thin out, but in any event, there is always room, and there is no need to rent a sunbed, which is seriously expensive; some even rent them by the hour, which we see as exploitative. There are always palm trees that provide shade, so just a towel is all you need to spend a nice day on the beach.