Peru · Tumbes · #9 of Peru's ten by fame
Walk half an hour past the resorts and the beach empties out.
How we rated it: nothing lifts it and nothing sinks it. Photo: DIOHER_PAVAL · CC BY 3.0
Punta Sal is 1,533 metres of sand by our measurement, with resorts and holiday homes along it. You come in through a security checkpoint off the Pan-American Highway, and the sand stays open to everyone: one guide notes that it is against the law in Peru to block access to the water. Walk about 30 minutes past the resorts and you reach wide stretches with very few people. Its sea was the warmest of the ten in 2025.
Warmest sea in March. Fewest wet days in June, July, August and September. Pick your fight.
One year of data, 2025, from Open-Meteo at this beach's coordinates. A rain day is 1 mm or more. The red bar is the month to aim for in each row.
Busy at the main entrance, nearly empty half an hour along.
Yes. One guide notes it is against the law in Peru to block access to the water, so the sand in front of the resorts is open to visitors.
By the shuttles between Tumbes and Máncora, which pass the entrance; mototaxis wait at the highway to take you down to the beach for about S/.3.
