Playa Chachalacas

Chachalacas is the beach that Cardel and the towns inland go to: a broad grey-gold strand at the mouth of the Actopan river, lined with palapa restaurants serving whole fried fish, prawns and cold beer, with a boardwalk, hotels and a weekend crowd of Veracruz families. Its distinguishing feature is behind the beach - a field of large coastal dunes, some tens of metres high, which supports the local business in four-wheel buggies and quad tours that roar up and down them, plus sandboarding for the willing and, at quieter hours, simply climbing one for the view over the coast. Boats run across the river mouth and up the estuary. The water is Gulf-typical: warm, brown-green, with a shore break that can be strong, and swimming is a wading-and-splashing affair rather than a snorkelling one. Combined with the ruins at Cempoala and Quiahuiztlan a short drive away, it makes the beach half of a coastal day out from Veracruz.

What you actually see

• The dune field - sand hills behind the beach.
• The buggies - quad and buggy tours over the dunes.
• The palapa row - fried fish and beer along the sand.
• The river mouth - boats and estuary birds.

When to go

November to April for dry, mild days; Holy Week and summer holidays bring the biggest, loudest crowds. Weekdays are quiet and the dunes near-empty.

Honest expectations

Buggy noise is constant at peak times - walk north for calm. The shore break and river-mouth currents deserve caution. Facilities are basic and the beach is not a picture-postcard Caribbean strand.

Nearby

Cempoala's ruins and Quiahuiztlan's tombs are each under half an hour; La Antigua lies south.