Playa Eréndira

Playa Eréndira is the town beach of Lázaro Cárdenas, the big Pacific port of Michoacán. It lies just over 4 km from downtown on the open ocean, and it is the easiest way to the sea for people who live or work in the port: a strip of sand lined with enramadas, the palm-roofed eateries that set their tables and umbrellas right on the sand.

It is a calm, family beach that is seldom crowded, and its reputation rests on the sunsets, with the sun dropping straight into the ocean in front of you. The enramadas and restaurants along the shore serve fish and seafood from the coast; names that turn up in guides include Enramada San Marqueña, Enramada El Rescate, Enramada Palmitas and La Langosta.

This is the open Pacific, and the surf can be strong. In October 2015 Hurricane Patricia, together with a heavy ground swell, stripped the sand from the beach and knocked down or badly damaged about twenty enramadas that dozens of local families depended on. Today the enramadas line the shore again.

The Mata de Carrizo estuary is close by, with boat rides to watch birds. Most visitors sleep in Lázaro Cárdenas itself, where hotels of every kind are a few minutes away.