Clear-Beach Index · Mexican Caribbean
Turquoise, seaweed-free sand — Cancún to Tulum, Cozumel and Isla Mujeres. Pick your resort to see if its beach is clear right now. If it isn’t, we’ll point you to a gorgeous one that is.
Free · updated daily · we rate the beach your resort actually sits on.
Your resort
Our estimate: this beach can see heavier sargassum in season. Many resorts rake and clean their beach daily, so confirm current conditions with the resort.
This is an estimate, and many resorts rake their beach every morning— so check with the resort for the latest. If you’d also like to compare beaches our model rates clearer this month:
Expected conditions for August · auto-computed from 15-year seasonal history + beach orientation · live satellite feed being wired in
The map
The good news
Our model rates these among the clearer Caribbean & Mexico beaches this month — a great starting point. These are estimates and conditions change daily, so confirm with the resort. Every one is bookable through a Pixie advisor.
Expected in August · refreshed August 8, 2026
What’s coming
The guide
Reliably clear
The island's north tip and west shore face the sheltered Bahía de Mujeres, away from the open Caribbean — which is why Playa Norte routinely stays clear when the mainland gets hit.
Reliably clear
Cozumel's hotel and dive strip runs down the island's leeward west coast, facing the mainland channel. Sargassum drifts past to the east, so these beaches stay reliably clear even in bad years.
Usually light
Just north of Cancún, the Costa/Playa Mujeres stretch is partly shadowed by Isla Mujeres and sits off the main current path — the strongest clear-beach story on the mainland, and where the big new all-inclusives are.
Mixed — depends where you are
The famous '7' has two faces: a short north-facing top (Playa Caracol, Las Perlas) that stays clearer, and the long east-facing leg where most big resorts sit and take the brunt. The Punta Cancún corner is a middle ground.
Exposed
An east-facing coast where an offshore reef calms the waves but doesn't block the seaweed — expect meaningful sargassum in season.
Exposed
Central Playa faces east-southeast into the open Cozumel channel and takes heavy landfall; the Playacar strip just south behaves the same way.
Exposed
The Playa Paraíso–Kantenah–Xpu-Ha corridor is open, east-facing coast. Playa Maroma's reef pocket is the best of it, but even it spikes in the peak of a bad year.
Most exposed
Southernmost and first in the belt's path — the Tulum corridor sees the heaviest, earliest sargassum arrivals of anywhere on this coast.
Usually clear
A north-coast island, so the Atlantic belt largely passes offshore. Negril's west-facing Seven Mile Beach and the south coast stay clearest; Ocho Rios and Rose Hall see only occasional light influxes May–Oct.
Clear nearly year-round
Grace Bay faces northwest behind a barrier reef, and prevailing winds push sargassum offshore — so it's clear nearly year-round. Only the exposed south and east shores accumulate.
Usually clear
North of the main belt, with shallow banks deflecting the mats. Nassau and Paradise Island see only light, hotel-raked amounts; Exuma's east-facing Emerald Bay is the one spot that gets more.
Depends entirely on the coast
East-facing Punta Cana (Bávaro, Arena Gorda) catches the belt directly and runs heavy in peak season — but the reef-protected Cap Cana coves, the Saona-shielded La Romana/Bayahibe coast, and north-coast Puerto Plata stay far clearer.
Clear year-round
A leeward 'ABC' island south of and outside the Atlantic belt. Palm Beach and Eagle Beach are negligible for sargassum all year — one of the safest clear-water bets in the Caribbean.
Clear year-round
Leeward and outside the belt. The resort beaches on the sheltered south and southwest coast stay clear year-round; only the wild windward north shore ever sees stray amounts.
Pick the leeward coast
The windward east and south coast gets heavy seasonal sargassum, but nearly every resort sits on the sheltered leeward west coast (Rodney Bay, Castries, Soufrière), which is rarely affected.
Pick the leeward coast
Flagged among the earliest-hit islands — but that's the windward east/southeast. The leeward northwest and west resort beaches (Dickenson Bay, Jolly, Five Islands) stay largely clear.
Depends on the coast
The east 'Atlantic' coast gets heavy April–September landings; the west 'Platinum Coast' stays clean; the south coast — where both Sandals sit — is intermediate and can see peak-season influxes.
Pick the south coast
The windward east coast gets heavy inundations, but tourism clusters on the sheltered southwest and south coast (Grand Anse, Point Salines, L'Anse aux Épines), which stays largely clear.
Sources: USF Optical Oceanography Lab (Sargassum Watch System) · NOAA AOML · Quintana Roo Red de Monitoreo del Sargazo.
We combine the Quintana Roo beach-monitoring network's near-daily readings for individual beaches with each resort's beach orientation — the direction a beach faces is what decides how much sargassum it catches. That gives a resort-by-resort read, not a vague regional one.
No. Sargassum shifts with wind, currents and weather and can change within a day, and beach cleanups vary. Our ratings are planning estimates, not guarantees — always confirm current conditions with the resort before you travel. See our full disclaimer.
The leeward and north-facing beaches: Cozumel's west coast, Isla Mujeres' north tip (Playa Norte), and the Costa/Playa Mujeres stretch just north of Cancún. They sit away from the open Caribbean where the sargassum belt arrives.
Geography. The Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt drifts in from the east and southeast, so east-facing open beaches — most of the Cancún Hotel Zone, the Riviera Maya and Tulum — take the brunt, while sheltered north- and west-facing beaches stay clearer.
Yes — a Pixie Vacations advisor can match you to a resort with a reliably clear beach and handle the whole booking, at no extra cost. Request a free quote.