Barra de Navidad: Small Town Beach Life

by Rease Kirchner

It’s not uncommon for people to fly off to Mexico to have a nice beach vacation, but usually they head straight for Cancún. Let’s be honest here- Cancún is not Mexico. If you are looking for a real Mexican beach, I would like to suggest Barra de Navidad.

Barra de Navidad is located on the west coast of Jalisco, Mexico. You certainly will not be able to fly into this town. I started my trip in Guadalajara and took a relatively short bus ride to Barra de Navidad. The bus ride was really cheap and only lasted half the day.

You can walk through this entire town in about 30 minutes, but it will be a very enjoyable half hour. Many hotels advertise being “right on the beach” and charge a significantly higher price. However, every hotel and hostel is within a 15 minute walk of the beach, so I sacrificed the window view and saved a decent amount of cash.

Every day I woke up and walked around until the smells of a local restaurant enticed me enough to buy breakfast. I usually cook for myself in hostels while traveling, but during the week in Barra de Navidad I went out to eat for every meal. The prices varied depending on how fancy you wanted to be. The street vendors or tiny Mexican family run restaurants were cheap and delicious, but I also indulged in some nicer hotel restaurants when I was craving something different.

Most of the food is traditional Mexican, meaning hot sauce on chilaquiles and eggs first thing in the morning and meats, cheeses and tortillas in various forms for all other meals. However, since Barra de Navidad has become increasingly popular for tourists you can now dine at some cafes and hotel restaurants that will serve you the waffles, sandwiches, pastas and other hot-sauce free food items you may be missing.

My favorite local food was definitely the fruit. Each day I would park myself on the beach with a book and occasionally go for a swim. When I was ready for a snack I would wave down one of the men pacing the beach and order myself a plate of fresh fruit or a lovely cocktail served in a pineapple. For a few extra pesos they would even bring me a chair and a table with an umbrella. I felt like I was at a resort, but less uppity and way cheaper.

Taking a break from the beach to enjoy my first Molcajete (lava bowl).

The only thing that can beat the food is the amazing view. Everywhere you walk you see the vast beach. The first night I arrived, I ran to the beach in the dark just to experience it. Keep in mind that I grew up in a completely land locked state, no lakes, no oceans and only a couple of dirty rivers. This was my first real look at beach and it did not disappoint.

My first glimpse of Barra de Navidad

The smell and view of the beach was everywhere but there were also green mountains in the distance for your viewing pleasure. I partook in several margaritas at a rooftop bar and couldn’t get enough of the view.

The view from a rooftop bar.

Barra de Navidad is the perfect mix of local flavor with a touch of tourist friendliness. I spent one week enjoying my time on the beach sipping cocktails, snacking on fresh fruit and buying jewelry from artisans strolling along the beach wearing huge boards full of their crafts. The only English I heard was a few phrases that some of the employees at the bigger hotels had picked up. I have never been to Cancún, I’m sure it’s great in its own way, but for me, the small little beach town of Barra de Navidad was a perfect getaway.

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Rease Kirchner a staff writer/Travel Adviser for Travelated. She is a US citizen currently living the ex-pat life in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She is bilingual and an experienced traveler. She loves gaining and sharing knowledge of local cultures, customs and adventure. Her blog Mi Vida en Buenos Aires documents her life as a foreigner.