Pacific Coast map

States in the region

Eight states front the Pacific between the mouth of the Gulf of California and the Guatemalan border, a shoreline of roughly 3,000 km. They cover 458,712 km² and held 31,307,448 people at the 2020 census, about a quarter of the national population. The Baja California Peninsula and Sonora face the same ocean but are treated separately here.

The contrast down the coast is wide. Jalisco is the fourth most populous state in Mexico and Colima the fourth smallest by area; Sinaloa's irrigated plain grows a large share of the country's winter vegetables, while Guerrero, Oaxaca and Chiapas record the lowest incomes in the country.

Geography

The Middle America Trench lies 50 to 100 km offshore and drops past 6,000 m. Along it the Cocos plate is pushed under the North American plate at roughly 6 cm a year, which makes this coast the source of Mexico's largest earthquakes — the 1985 Michoacán event and the magnitude 8.2 shock off Chiapas in September 2017 both began here. The same subduction raised the Sierra Madre del Sur, which runs close behind the beach through Guerrero and Oaxaca and leaves almost no coastal plain; roads climb and drop constantly, and inland towns are reached by mountain passes rather than valleys.

North of that, the pattern changes. Sinaloa and Nayarit have a broad alluvial plain fed by rivers off the Sierra Madre Occidental, backed by the Marismas Nacionales, the largest mangrove system on the Mexican Pacific. In Colima and southern Jalisco the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt reaches the sea: Volcán de Colima, at about 3,850 m and one of the most active in North America, and the higher Nevado de Colima at 4,260 m stand roughly 60 km inland from Manzanillo. Bahía de Banderas at Puerto Vallarta is one of the largest bays in the Americas and deep enough for humpback whales, which arrive from Alaska between December and March. At the far south the Isthmus of Tehuantepec narrows Mexico to 215 km between the oceans and funnels the strong winter Tehuano winds across it.

Main cities and sights

Mazatlán in Sinaloa is the northernmost of the big resorts and a deep-sea fishing and ferry port; Los Mochis further north is the Pacific terminus of the Copper Canyon railway. Puerto Vallarta on Banderas Bay is the largest resort on the central coast, with Sayulita and the Nayarit beaches immediately to the north. Manzanillo handles more container traffic than any other Mexican port. Zihuatanejo and the planned resort of Ixtapa next to it, and Acapulco on its enclosed bay, are the Guerrero pair; Acapulco was the terminus of the Manila galleon trade from 1565 and Mexico's first international resort. In Oaxaca, Puerto Escondido has the Zicatela surf break and Huatulco is a resort of nine bays laid out from 1984. Inland capitals with their own maps are Culiacán, Tepic, Guadalajara, Colima, Morelia, Chilpancingo, Oaxaca City and Tuxtla Gutiérrez. La Escobilla in Oaxaca takes one of the largest olive ridley turtle arrivals in the world, with hundreds of thousands of nests in a good season.

When to go and getting around

The dry season runs from November to April and is the settled travel window on the whole coast; May to October brings the rains, heavy humidity and the eastern Pacific hurricane season, which officially opens on 15 May and closes on 30 November. Sea temperatures stay above 25 °C year round south of Mazatlán. Humpback whales are in Banderas Bay from December to March, and the surf on the Oaxaca coast is largest from May to September.

Every resort has its own airport: Mazatlán (MZT), Puerto Vallarta (PVR), Manzanillo (ZLO), Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo (ZIH), Acapulco (ACA), Puerto Escondido (PXM) and Huatulco (HUX), with Guadalajara (GDL) the regional hub for connections. On the road, Highway 200 links them all but is slow, so long north-south trips usually cut inland: Highway 15D carries traffic from Sinaloa to Guadalajara, and Highway 95D, the Autopista del Sol, covers the 380 km from Mexico City to Acapulco in about three and a half hours. Highway 40D from Mazatlán to Durango crosses the Baluarte Bridge, whose deck stands 403 m above the river and which was the highest cable-stayed bridge in the world when it opened in 2013. The road map, the beaches map and the volcanoes map add detail.

Questions about the Pacific Coast

Which states are on Mexico's Pacific coast?

South of the Baja peninsula and Sonora, eight states front the Pacific: Sinaloa, Nayarit, Jalisco, Colima, Michoacán, Guerrero, Oaxaca, Chiapas.

How long is Highway 200?

Federal Highway 200 runs about 2,200 km from Nayarit to Tapachula on the Guatemalan border, following the shore for almost its whole length. It is two lanes for most of that distance and is the only continuous coastal road.

Which Pacific resort is closest to Mexico City?

Acapulco, 380 km away on the Autopista del Sol (Highway 95D), about 3 h 30 by car. Zihuatanejo is 620 km and Puerto Escondido about 800 km.

When is hurricane season on the Pacific coast?

15 May to 30 November, with August to October the most active period. Patricia, which came ashore in Jalisco in October 2015, was the strongest hurricane ever recorded in the Western Hemisphere, and Otis struck Acapulco as a Category 5 storm in October 2023.

Is the Pacific coast of Mexico safe?

It varies sharply by state. Nayarit, Jalisco, Colima and Oaxaca's resort coast are visited without difficulty by millions each year, while the US State Department advises against travel to Guerrero, Michoacán, Sinaloa and Colima as whole states. Check the current advisory for the specific place.