Cerritos Beach, the surf end.

01The short answer

Playa Los Cerritos sits about 10 mi / 16 km south of Todos Santos and roughly 40 mi / 64 km north of Cabo San Lucas^[1], a sand-bottom bay partially sheltered by a rocky point. On a coast famous for beaches you can't swim at, Cerritos is the one you can^[2], and that single fact explains everything else about it: the surf schools, the beach bars, the visitors, and the construction cranes.

I'm five minutes up the highway and in this water constantly. I'm not neutral about this place, so I'll compensate the way this site always does: by telling you the annoying parts too.

02The beach & the wave

The bay faces southwest with a rock point at the north end taking the edge off the Pacific, which is why swimming works here when it doesn't at La Cachora or Punta Lobos up the coast^[2]. The break is a sand-bottom beach break, mellow on the inside, with an outside that wakes up on winter northwest swell^[3]. Water runs roughly 68°F / 20°C in late spring to about 84°F / 29°C in September^[4]; trunks most of the year, a light suit in winter.

If you're learning, this is the wave the whole region learns on: schools and rentals at the beach, whitewater that pushes you politely, sand when you fall. If you're experienced, the peaks shift with the sandbars and the crowd, and San Pedrito is 5 minutes north when Cerritos feels like a classroom. The break-by-break honesty, including rip current caveats and the no-lifeguard reality, is in our beaches & surf report.

Whales pass close December through April, and some mornings the show is better than the surf.

03The development wave

Twenty years ago Cerritos was a fish camp with a surf break. Today it's the corridor's construction zone: condo projects, view homes on the hillsides, and a beach road that gets busier every season. I wrote a whole report on why the money is moving here (Cerritos: why smart money is moving south), so here I'll just give you the resident's version of what growth feels like.

The honest ledger: more restaurants and better coffee every year, real rental demand if you own here, and neighbors from everywhere. Also: construction noise somewhere on the hill most months, beach crowds on holiday weekends that were unthinkable a decade ago, and an infrastructure story that is developer-built rather than municipal, wells and trucked water and solar rather than city services^[5]. Growth here is a fact, not a forecast. The question is whether the specific parcel you're looking at is ahead of it or behind it.

04Daily life

The rhythm. Surf or swim in the morning, work through the middle (Starlink and fiber-to-some-developments make remote work normal here; details in the infrastructure report), beach bar at sunset. It's the least town-like life in the corridor and the most beach-like.

Errands. There's no town core; that's the tradeoff. Basics come from Pescadero, 5 minutes north. Real errands, banks, and the good dinners are Todos Santos, 15 to 20 minutes. Costco is Cabo, under an hour, which also makes Cerritos the corridor's easiest airport run^[1].

The crowd. Younger and more international than the rest of the corridor: surfers, remote workers, young families, and a rotating cast of visitors. If Todos Santos' social calendar is gallery openings, ours is whoever's grilling.

05Buying here, honestly

Cerritos inventory runs from excellent to overpromised, and the difference rarely shows in the listing photos. The questions that separate them:

Water. Municipal service doesn't reach most of Cerritos. Who supplies the development's water, at what capacity, and what happens in a dry May? A tinaco on the roof is a buffer, not an answer.

Power & internet. CFE reaches some areas; solar carries others. Ask what the development actually runs on, not what the brochure implies.

The HOA. In a place with no municipality to speak of, the HOA is the municipality. Read its budget like it's a utility company's, because here it is one.

Title & structure. Fideicomiso for most foreign buyers, title study always, and patience with presales. The process guide covers the mechanics.

06Who Cerritos fits, and who it doesn't

It fits people whose day starts with the water: surfers, swimmers, families who want sand the kids can actually play in, remote workers who want the beach as a lunch break, and owners who want rental income between visits. It is the corridor's easiest landing for a first-time Baja buyer, because condos are simpler than raw land.

It doesn't fit people allergic to construction, people who want walkable town errands and old-Mexico texture (that's Todos Santos), or land buyers wanting quiet acreage (that's Pescadero, east of the highway). And if the phrase "HOA meeting" raises your blood pressure, buy carefully; you'll be attending them.

07Quick answers

Is the beach public? Beaches in Mexico are federal property below the high-tide line; access points and parking are where practical differences show up. The main entrance road serves everyone.

Can I rent my place out? That's the business model of half the hill. Register with SAT and declare the income; the RFC mechanics are in our relocation report.

Do I need a 4x4? For the beach road, no. For the hillside developments after September rain, clearance helps and 4x4 is occasionally the difference between home and parked.

Is it safe? Corridor-typical: see the safety report. The most dangerous thing in Cerritos is an outside set on a big winter day, and I mean that literally.

Cerritos or Todos Santos? Beach or town. Swim before breakfast or walk to dinner. Rental engine or cultural anchor. Drive both at 8am and at 7pm; the corridor sorts people quickly.

08Sources

[1] Google Maps, Highway 19 distances · [2] TodosSantos.cc, corridor beach conditions · [3] Surfline, Cerritos · [4] Climate-Data.org, Todos Santos area normals · [5] Resident observation, Cerritos Beach, 2023–2026; see also our infrastructure report. Distances and conditions are approximations from the cited sources; verify anything you'd bet a purchase on.