After Mexico City and Day of the Dead in Oaxaca, I was keen to swap the cities for smaller places. My vague plan for the next two weeks was town and beach hopping along Oaxaca’s coast.
Puerto Escondido was a good first stop – sunshine, beaches, turtles and surf (potentially for me!) – and I spent three days there.
Most of the time was spent on the beaches. Playa Coral was lovely and the quietest one we visited.
I also really liked Playa Carrizalillio which was in a beautiful cove. There were 164 steps to walk down! The beach is smaller though than Coral’s though!
The restaurant/cafe strip near Carrizalillio had an amazing Falafel restaurant called El Sultán. It’s closed on a Monday and has 2 for 1 Falafel wraps on a Wednesday! Amazing value! They’re only 55 pesos (£2 approx) full price!
The other two main activities I got up to in Puerto Escondido were releasing baby sea turtles and having a surf lesson. One was definitely more successful than the other! I’ll let you guess which!
Releasing baby sea turtles at Playa Bacocho
I love turtles! On this trip I’ve seen my fair share – Galápagos talking here! And they never cease to amaze me. They’re wonderful!
I’d heard on the backpacker grapevine that Puerto Escondido was a place to release turtles into the sea. I was so so so keen to participate!
After spending most of our first day at Playa Coral, we walked to Playa Bacocho for the turtle release at 5pm.
The sea turtle release is part of a conservation project run by Vive Mar to help save the turtles.
We were given a brief talk about the turtles before the release. There used to be 60 species of turtles and now only 8 remain, 4 of which can be found on the Oaxacan coastline.
We released the Olive Ridley turtle, which is one of the smallest with a shell between 60-75cm. They’re also one of the smartest, or so we were told.
The future of these turtles is significantly shaped by global warming. Higher temperatures produce more females, whilst lower ones produce more males. Currently more females are hatching than males. The conservation project has hatcheries that regulate temperature to help hatch an even split of females and males.
Fun fact: Female turtles return to the same beach (or within a 70km radius) where they were born to lay eggs. Males don’t return to the land.
Turtle survival rate isn’t high, they have a lot of natural predators, both animals and humans (eating turtle eggs is a delicacy in the Oaxaca region even though it’s illegal) and suffer the consequences of plastic pollution and global warming. Only 1 turtle out of 1000 survives – so so low. With the conservation project, this figure has been raised by 10%!
Note: Don’t touch the turtles, it confuses them. You’re given a bowl which the baby turtles are then put in.
I loved loved the whole experience! So much that I did it twice! For such small creatures, their determination is endless! We were all cheering them on as they made their way to the sea.
I was worried about mine – he was a slow starter! He got going eventually and after being buffeted back up the shore several times by the waves, he made it to the sea!
When: Daily at 5pm. I’d arrive a bit before!
Where: Playa Bacocho
Cost: 100 pesos which goes to the conservation project
Surfing
Puerto Escondido is a popular destination for surfers and those wanting to learn. I can say I’m no surfer.
My earliest memory of surfing was when I was a young kid on holiday in Cornwall on England’s south coast. Dressed in too big wetsuits we had a short family surf lesson in the freezing sea. I don’t remember anything from it, aside from us all freezing (it’s England!) with chattering teeth and feet squeaking in the sand.
On this trip I’ve passed through several countries: Peru, Nicaragua and Guatemala with beach towns great for learning to surf. I never stopped at them, nor had a go at surfing, but did wonder what surfing would be like now.
In Puerto Escondido, I decided I’d have a go (no regrets mentality here!). With Rosie and Lucy (two fellow Brits I’d met previously on my trip), we booked a surf lesson for 1pm at La Punta.
Having booked our lesson, we returned to the beach to wait and found everyone out the water. Apparently there was a shark in the water! I was very happy that we had an hour till our lesson, yet was a lot more nervous now about a potential shark as company.
At 1pm we returned to the surf shop where we were given a quick introduction to surf boards and shown how to stand up on a board. It was then time to get in the water and the waves were looking a lot bigger to me!
It quickly became obvious that Carlos, our instructor, wasn’t the most empathetic of instructors.
It felt less like a lesson and more like a military style surf boot camp. I spent most of the time being taken out by waves, holding my breath underwater hoping to surface and holding on to my bikini bottoms. I did maybe stand twice for a few seconds (before wipe out) which was a small achievement.
Carlos wasn’t impressed with us. He couldn’t comprehend why we didn’t catch on quicker and I couldn’t comprehend why he thought it would come so naturally to us. I also kept asking for small waves to his slight annoyance.
Feeling pretty battered by the waves, I was very happy to get out the sea two hours later.
I’m definitely no natural nor fearless with the waves, yet I’m really glad I gave surfing a go. It was an experience, one I’m in no rush to repeat – unless we’re talking seriously baby waves!
If you’re in Puerto Escondido, I’d recommend having a go – just maybe choose another instructor. Lessons are 500 pesos (£20 approx) for 2hrs.
Note: Playa Carrizalillo is the beach for beginner surfers. The waves are way calmer than those at La Punta. We had our lesson at La Punta, as for the past few days there were pretty much no waves at Carrizalillio.
How to get to Puerto Escondido
Puerto Escondido is on Mexico’s Pacific Coast in the Oaxaca region. It’s well connected to other places in Mexico, yet bus journeys will be long given the distances and size of the country.
Oaxaca is a popular city to reach Puerto Escondido from. There are ADO buses and minivan/shuttles driving the route.
The journey by ADO bus takes 10hrs and costs 528 pesos. If you book a couple of days in advance online or on the app you’ll likely get a discount and could pay anything from 300 pesos. Departures are for overnight at 9.30pm, 11.05 and 1.05am. The 9.30pm bus is the most popular departure time so it’s worth booking this a few days in advance to get your seat.
We were in Oaxaca for Day of the Dead, and most people had the same idea to move on to Puerto Escondido after. This meant that the ADO buses were full for the day we wanted to leave.
The minivan shuttle was a great option for us. Yes, it’s less comfortable, but it’s cheaper and quicker! A win for us! The journey is quicker as the shuttles take the windier more direct mountain road whereas the buses take the bigger main roads.
By minivan shuttle, the journey takes 7/8hrs and only costs 250 pesos. There are several companies in Oaxaca to choose from. We went with the company Villa Pacifico Transportes. They have departures every hour on the half hour and the last leaves at 11pm. We took the last one at 11pm and arrived to Puerto Escondido at 7.30am. It was good timing!
Tip: The minivans aren’t the most comfortable, the seats don’t recline and leg space is low. Rosie and I lucked out by booking seats 2 and 3 on the first row. We had much more leg room! From hearing other backpackers’ stories, I expected the vans to be a lot less comfortable than they were. I’d repeat the journey!
If you’re looking to swap big city for beach, you can get to Puerto Escondido from Mexico City. By bus you’re in for a very long journey – hrs. I know many backpackers who opted for the 1hr30 flight which cost pretty much the same as the bus with the enormous added bonus of being so much quicker.
Another popular place to reach Puerto Escondido from is San Cristobal in the Chiapas region. This journey will likely be an overnight one, it’s 13hrs approx. On the ADO app, buses cost around 898 pesos full price. You can get cheaper tickets by booking several days in advance.
If you’re going to Puerto Escondido from other towns along the Oaxacan coastline, the cheapest way is by colectivo.
For example, from Mazunte, you need to take a 10/15min colectivo truck to the San Antonio turn off for 10 pesos, and then hop on a passing colectivo or bus to Puerto Escondido which should take around 1.5hrs. We paid 42 pesos for the bus from Puerto Escondido to San Antonio so I imagine prices are similar for the other direction.
Final thoughts…
Puerto Escondido is a lovely spot to chill for a few days or longer! A lot of backpackers get stuck here, especially those into surfing or wanting to learn.
My surf lesson was certainly an experience. I’m glad I had a go but I’m definitely no natural and probably won’t be picking up a board again anytime soon (unless the waves are seriously baby!).
There are some beautiful beaches – Playa Coral and Playa Carazilillo were my favourites along with Playa Bacocho for releasing baby sea turtles. I loved it so much I did it twice!
I’m town hopping on the Oaxacan coast for two weeks. My next two stops are Chacahua and Mazunte, and then maybe Huatulco before I head back inland to San Cristobal in the Chiapas region.
