Mexico / Jalisco
Playa Esmeralda
Playa Esmeralda is a 226 m-long beach facing west-south-west, 2.2 km north of Puerto Vallarta (Jalisco, Mexico). The sea averages 30.1 °C in August, its warmest month, and 24.0 °C in March; it stays at 21 °C or above all year.
Average sea surface temperature by month. Current month outlined.
Month by month
October at Playa Esmeralda
Beach-day index 8.4/10 · Mexico median 8.4
| Measure | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sea °C | 25.2 °C | 24.4 °C | 24.0 °C | 24.5 °C | 26.3 °C | 28.0 °C | 29.7 °C | 30.1 °C | 29.8 °C | 29.7 °C | 28.1 °C | 26.1 °C |
| High °C | 26° | 27° | 28° | 30° | 32° | 30° | 28° | 28° | 28° | 28° | 27° | 26° |
| Low °C | 16° | 16° | 16° | 18° | 20° | 21° | 22° | 22° | 22° | 21° | 18° | 16° |
| Rain mm | 15 | 24 | 11 | 0 | 9 | 149 | 324 | 348 | 324 | 121 | 26 | 19 |
| Cloud % | 55 | 53 | 50 | 54 | 52 | 70 | 81 | 84 | 86 | 62 | 46 | 55 |
| Wind m/s | 2.4 | 2.5 | 2.6 | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.6 | 2.2 | 2.2 | 2.3 | 2.3 | 2.4 | 2.3 |
| Daylight h | 11.0 | 11.5 | 12.0 | 12.6 | 13.1 | 13.4 | 13.3 | 12.9 | 12.3 | 11.7 | 11.2 | 10.9 |
| Record high/low | 32°/11° | 34°/11° | 35°/10° | 36°/15° | 36°/16° | 37°/19° | 34°/20° | 33°/21° | 33°/20° | 33°/15° | 33°/13° | 32°/11° |
| Beach index | 9.3 | 9.3 | 9.4 | 9.5 | 9.2 | 8.1 | 7.2 | 7.2 | 7.1 | 8.4 | 9.3 | 9.3 |
Long-term monthly averages: air from NASA POWER (2001–2020), sea from NOAA OISST (1991–2020); records are the extremes of 2001–2020. How the index works.
When to go
The beach-day index peaks in November–May; April scores 9.5/10 with highs of 30 °C, sea at 24.5 °C and 0 mm of rain.
In April that is 0.5 points above the median of the 345 beaches in Mexico covered by this atlas.
Across the year the sea averages 27.2 °C, warmer than 82% of the coastal beaches in the atlas.
August is the wettest month (348 mm) and April the driest (0 mm); the yearly total is about 1,370 mm.
Daylight runs from 10.9 hours in December to 13.4 hours in June; in mid-April the sun rises at 06:43 and sets at 19:19 local time.
Orientation, sun and shore
The shore faces west-south-west (250°). Open water fills about 42% of the horizon close by, which makes it an open stretch of shore.
The sun sets over the sea in every month; in mid-June it goes down at 19:42 local time on a bearing of 295°.
Straight out to the west-south-west there is open water for more than 2,000 km, so the beach is exposed to long ocean swell.
About 1 km offshore the sea is roughly 97 m deep and 299 m at 3 km, so deep water starts close to shore. Behind the beach the ground is about 6 m above sea level 500 m inland and 12 m at 1.5 km, a flat coastal plain.
Within 1 km, the land is 79% built-up land, 10% tree cover and 7% grassland (satellite land-cover map, 2021): an urban beach. Water makes up 43% of that circle.
- Built 79%
- Tree 10%
- Grass 7%
- Bare 3%
Land cover: ESA WorldCover 2021 (10 m). Orientation from OpenStreetMap land polygons sampled in 36 directions; depths and heights from the GEBCO 2020 grid (about 450 m cells), indicative only.
Rainfall reaches 348 mm in August and stays above 250 mm in July, August and September.
OpenStreetMap shows no lifeguard station within 1 km. Seasonal lifeguard posts are often unmapped, so check on site.
Facilities within 1 km
- 277Restaurants, cafés & bars
- –Public toilets
- –Showers
- 8Car parks
- –Lifeguard stations
- 22Hotels & guesthouses
- 26Grocery shops
- 83Bus stops (1.5 km)
- 19Pharmacies & clinics
- 1Cash machines
- 1Historic sites
Food and drink mapped within 1 km: 227 restaurants, 26 cafés, 18 bars and 6 fast-food outlets. Accommodation: 22 hotels and guesthouses.
Counted within 1 km of the beach (bus stops 1.5 km) from OpenStreetMap features and Overture Maps places, release of 2026-10. Unmapped does not mean absent.
Around the beach
Historic sites
- Mirador Cerro De La Cruz monument 800 m N
Getting there
| Airport | Code | Distance | Direction |
|---|---|---|---|
| Puerto Vallarta International Airport Puerto Vallarta | PVR | 5.3 km | north-west |
| Amado Nervo National Airport Tepic | TPQ | 96.1 km | north-east |
| Playa de Oro International Airport Manzanillo | ZLO | 180 km | south-east |
Straight-line distances from the beach; road distance is usually 20–40% longer.
Local transport: 83 bus stops within 1.5 km and 8 mapped car parks within 1 km.
6 towns and villages of 1,000+ people lie within 10 km (about 271.1K residents); within 30 km there are 18 (about 376.3K).
Map and nearby beaches
Loading map…
Open in OpenStreetMap · Directions in Google Maps
- Playa de Oro1.6 km NWCompare
Data on this page
- Air temperature, rain, cloud, wind, humidity: NASA POWER climatology 2001–2020, 0.5° grid.
- Sea temperature: NOAA OISST v2.1 monthly normals 1991–2020, nearest ocean cell 14.7 km away.
- Beach outline, surface, rules and public facilities: OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), feature w1322365764; restaurants, cafés, bars and lodging: Overture Maps places (CDLA-Permissive-2.0).
- Towns and time zone: GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Airports: OurAirports (public domain). Sunrise and sunset: NOAA solar equations.
- Satellite view: Copernicus Sentinel-2 (ESA), scene S2C_13QDC_20251217_0_L2A.
- Orientation: OpenStreetMap land polygons (ODbL). Depth and terrain: GEBCO 2020 grid.
- Settlements: GeoNames places with 1,000+ inhabitants.
- Land cover: ESA WorldCover 2021, 10 m (CC BY 4.0).
- Search popularity: about 27.1K Google searches a month for the name (KeywordTool, October 2026).
Data compiled 2026-10-13. Something wrong? Report a data error.