Puerto Escondido Oaxaca Mexico
Frequently Asked Questions
They anchor in the main bay: only a few small ships call here occasionally, landing passengers by tender. Calls are rare and sea conditions can change the ship's programme.
Yes for the centre. The landing brings you to Playa Principal, and just behind it Avenida Pérez Gasga packs a few hundred pedestrian metres with cafes, fresh fruit counters and Oaxacan crafts. Taxis are plentiful and cheap for Carrizalillo or Zicatela.
Yes, but only in the sheltered coves. Zicatela is dangerous, its currents unforgiving: you watch there, you do not swim. Carrizalillo, west of town, is the swimming stop of the call.
The long stretch ranked among the best surf spots on the planet, with a Mexican pipeline reserved for experts. The show is best enjoyed from the promenade or a terrace, juice in hand, watching figures vanish inside the barrels.
Down a long stone staircase cut into the cliff to a sheltered crescent of sand. The turquoise water stays gentle even when the open sea is rough, and boards are rented for a soft introduction to surfing. The climb back takes some breath; the coconut water sellers wait at the top, well positioned.
Avenida Pérez Gasga, which everyone calls El Adoquín after its paving: a few hundred pedestrian metres of cafes, fruit counters and craft shops, just behind Playa Principal where the pangas still serve as an open-air fish market every morning.
The Benito Juárez market, up in the higher part of town: stone-ground chocolate, crisp tlayudas topped with black beans, coffee from the nearby mountains and piles of mangoes in season. The juice counters blend papaya, pineapple and lime in giant glasses. An hour covers it.
A mangrove-lined lagoon half an hour's drive west, home to ibis, herons and kingfishers. Half-day boat trips circle it with a guide. The bioluminescent plankton that made it famous only shows at night: on a daytime call you settle for the birds, which is no consolation prize.
The Mexican peso. Puerto Escondido is still a coastal town: bring cash, especially for the market and the counters along the Adoquín.
Spanish, with everyday English along the Adoquín and at Zicatela, where the international surf community is well established. The pace stays that of a coastal town: nobody hurries anybody.
