Barra de Navidad is a small town located on the western coastline of the Mexican state of Jalisco. It belongs to the municipality of

Cihuatlán Cihuatlán is a coastal municipality in the Mexican state of Jalisco. Its main city is also named Cihuatlán. Etymology The word Cihuatlán is compounded of two words of Nahuatl origin, a language spoken in central Mexico since the seventh c ...

. The town of Barra de Navidad (Christmas Sandbar) with a population of 7000+ is a small farming and fishing community located on the east end of the Bahía de Navidad, 60 km north of Manzanillo. In recent years, the Jalisco state government has promoted Barra as a tourist attraction of the

Costalegre Costalegre ("Coast of Joy" in Spanish) is a series of different beaches, capes and bays of various sizes distributed alongside the Pacific Ocean on the western coastline of the Mexican state of Jalisco, between Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco and Man ...

. The beachfront fronting the sandbar arks toward

San Patricio, Jalisco San Patricio - Melaque in the Mexican state of Jalisco is a busy community located 4+ kilometers northwest of Barra de Navidad Barra de Navidad is a small town located on the western coastline of the Mexican state of Jalisco. It belongs to t ...

4.5 kilometers to the west. The history of "modern" Barra de Navidad dates back to the mid-16th century when the Spanish used it for ship building, repairs and a jumping off point to the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. A monument has been erected as a memory to these journeys at the end of the jetty.

Ruy López de Villalobos Ruy López de Villalobos (; ca. 1500 – April 4, 1546) was a Spanish explorer who sailed the Pacific from Mexico to establish a permanent foothold for Spain in the East Indies, which was near the Line of Demarcation between Spain and Portugal a ...

(1500–1544) fleet of six galleon ships, the Santiago, Jorge, San Antonio, San Cristobal, San Martin, and San Juan, left Barra de Navidad, Jalisco, Mexico with 370 to 400 men on November 1, 1542. On the early morning of November 21, 1564, armed with five ships and 500 soldiers, Miguel López de Legazpi,

Lope Martín Lope Martín was an Afro-Portuguese seafarer who served as the pilot of the patache ''San Lucas'', commanded by Alonso de Arellano, in the Legazpi- Urdaneta voyage to the Philippines. They were the first European explorers to complete a round tr ...

and sail-captain

Andrés de Urdaneta Andrés de Urdaneta (1508 – June 3, 1568) was a maritime explorer for the Spanish Empire of Basque heritage, who became an Augustinian friar. At the age of seventeen, he accompanied the Loaísa expedition to the Spice Islands where he sp ...

sailed from the port of Barra de Navidad, New Spain, in what is now Jalisco state, Mexico. The large lagoon behind Barra de Navidad is criss-crossed by small fishing boats gathering scallops and transporting visitors and locals from Barra to Isla Navidad and the Grand Bay Hotel, recently voted the Number One hotel/resort in Mexico by the Travel Channel. These boats (panga taxies) also carry passengers to and from the small Colima community of Colimilla where restaurants line the shore. In 2012 many of Barra de Navidad's seaside businesses were left in ruins after Hurricane Jova. The businesses recovered despite the damage and high tide. However, the number of visiting tourists has decreased substantially ever since.

External links

Barra de Navidad (official site) Cruiser's Guide to Barra de Navidad (for visitors by sailboat)
Populated places in Jalisco {{Jalisco-geo-stub