Family-Friendly Beaches on the Oaxaca Coast: Mazunte, San Agustinillo & More

The Oaxaca coastline near Mazunte, Mexico is a surfers paradise known for it’s large waves and sometimes dangerous riptides. The natural beauty of the area, mixed with the powerful ocean is an intoxicating combination, but it also means that it can be a little hard to find family-friendly beaches near Mazunte.

We visited many beaches during our family trip to Mazunte, and are happy to share these beautiful beaches along the Oaxaca coast which are usually safe for kids to swim.

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Kid-Friendly Beaches Near Mazunte

1. Playa San Agustinillo

The one street town of San Agustinillo is immediately west of Mazunte, and is home to one of the most family-friendly beaches in the area.

The gorgeous beach at Playa San Agustinillo is nearly 2km long. We enjoyed walking the length of the golden brown sand beach from our nearby rental apartment. The vibe of Playa Agustinillo is really laid back as there are no big resorts on it.

As with much of the coastline near Mazunte, Mexico, the beach is lined with red flags, indicating it is not safe to swim. But, if you walk to the very eastern end of it, you will find two beach areas with beautiful green flags flying in the breeze, indicating it is safe to swim there.

We spent most of our time in the small, protected bay at the very eastern edge of Playa San Agustinillo. This protected bay has many large rocks jutting out from the water, just offshore, helping to protect the beach from the large waves common to the area. There were a few large rocks underneath the water, but for the most part the bottom was sandy and soft.

There is another family-friendly area along San Agustinillo Beach, which is immediately west of the area we enjoyed. It’s basically the same, but without the stunning offshore rocks that we enjoyed in our area. It’s a popular spot for surfers, so it’s a fun opportunity for kids to sit and watch surfers try to catch an epic wave.

We played here for a while on our second visit to Playa San Agustinillo, but our kids quickly asked to move back to the other one due to the amount of small rocks and shells in the water.

2. Playa Rinconcito

If you are staying in Mazunte, then the easiest family-friendly beach for you to enjoy is Playa Rinconcito. Protected from the open Pacific Ocean by the nearby peninsula of Punta Cometa, Playa Rinconcito is a small, but very popular section of family-friendly beach.

One really fun & unique element of swimming at Playa Rinconcito, is the massive school of 2-inch long silver fish that likes to swim 5-10 feet off the beach. As you stand in the water, a massive school of fish will circle you, and sometimes swim into you, or even jump in the air to escape larger, hungry fish. It’s such a unique experience and is one that our kids really loved.

Although the undertow here is usually considered safe, and a green flag was flying, the waves were pretty massive – sometimes over our kids heads. Our kids are strong swimmers and enjoyed playing in the waves, but if your kids are not strong in the water, I’d recommend sticking close to them while they are in the water.

It’s worth nothing that the popular hike to the sunset viewing area on Punta Cometa begins near Playa Rinconcito. You can get the trail map to the sunset viewing area on AllTrails.

Beaches Near Mazunte That Aren’t Ideal for Kids

Zipolite Beach

We really enjoyed the laid-back town of Zipolite, the furthest of the three beach towns in the Mazunte area. Playa Zipolite was formerly a famous nude beach, but we had read that people rarely sunbathe nude here anymore, so we decided to give it a try.

We were on the sand at Playa Zipolite for less than 1 minute when I saw a man’s penis flapping in the wind…  so we turned around and went elsewhere.

Mazunte Beach

The other popular beach near Rinconcito is Mazunte Beach. It’s a gorgeous stretch of beach, which is really fun to walk along, but sadly the beach is lined with red flags, meaning it’s not safe to enjoy the water here, especially with kids.

On the day we walked along Mazunte Beach with our kids, the waves were massive, some easily exceeding 10 feet tall. We witnessed the waves pummeling large grown men who were brave enough to stand up to these massive waves. This beach is definitely not for kids.

Many boogie boarders run down the sand and ride their boards into the water, meeting waves that are crashing on shore. It’s very exciting to watch!