Mexico's beach game just got a big nod from travellers themselves. In the 2026 Readers' Choice Awards from Condé Nast Traveller, six Mexican beaches made the list of the 20 best in the Americas — and half of them sit in Quintana Roo, the Caribbean-facing state that includes Cancún and the Riviera Maya.
Tulum leads the Mexican pack, ranked second in the Americas with a traveller score of 96.2. Playa del Carmen followed at number 11 (90.5) and Akumal Beach at number 13 (88.2), all along the Riviera Maya. The other three winners come from the Pacific side: Balandra Beach in Baja California Sur took fifth place with 94.8, Puerto Vallarta in Jalisco ranked 15th with 85.7, and Playa del Amor on the Marietas Islands in Nayarit — the famous hidden beach inside a collapsed crater — came in 16th at 84.9.
There was more good news in the islands category. Holbox, the car-free island off the Yucatán coast known for shallow turquoise water and bioluminescence in summer, ranked third among North America's best islands with a score of 94.2. Five Mexican resorts also featured among the best in the country for the Americas region.
Tourism Secretary Josefina Rodríguez Zamora announced the results, framing them as proof that Mexico's sun-and-beach destinations are very much in fashion. Leaving aside the official spin, the spread of the list is the genuinely useful part for travellers: it covers both coasts, from laid-back Holbox and bohemian Tulum to the wilder, less-visited Pacific beaches of Balandra and the Marietas. Balandra, near La Paz, is a shallow bay of pale sand and calm water popular with kayakers; Akumal remains the go-to spot for swimming with sea turtles.
For anyone weighing a Mexico beach trip in 2026, the takeaway is that the usual Riviera Maya names still perform well, but the Pacific coast offers strong alternatives if you want fewer crowds. Islas Marietas trips run from Punta de Mita and Puerto Vallarta, with visitor numbers capped to protect the hidden beach — book ahead. And Holbox rewards travellers who don't mind a ferry and sandy streets in exchange for a slower pace than Cancún.
