Bacalar, Q.R. — The municipality of Bacalar now has use of two new public beaches areas for recreation and leisure. The Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat) granted the municipality use of the areas earlier this week.
The lands are part of the federal maritime-terrestrial zone granted by the Ministry for public beach use as of September 12. The beaches, El Maizal and El Coral, are located on the northern coast of Costa Maya in the towns of El Uvero and La Casona.
The beach areas were granted to the municipality of Bacalar for public recreation use only. The handover of surface rights means no authorization for any projects, construction or installations, according to the agreement published in the Official Gazette of the Federation.
The areas have been granted to the municipality by the Secretaría de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (Semarnat) for public leisure use only. The municipality of Bacalar does not acquire ownership.
The municipality will need to obtain authorization to carry out activities, if necessary, and will be subject to oversight by the General Directorate of the Federal Maritime-Terrestrial Zone and Coastal Environments of Semarnat regarding their use.
El Maizal beach covers an area of 1,991.6 square meters in the federal maritime-terrestrial zone located on Paloma Torcaza Street in the town of El Uvero. El Coral beach covers an area of 2,036.2 square meters in the federal maritime-terrestrial zone on X’Killih Street in the town of La Casona.
The northern part of the Costa Maya, from El Uvero to Pulticub, is part of the municipality of Bacalar. The municipality has been requesting both beach areas for public use since September 2022 as part of a package of 14 requests. Public beach use was finally approved in February of 2025.
