After three days in Puerto Escondido, we headed a few hours up the coast to Chacahua. Bordered by the sea and a lagoon, I’d best describe Chacahua as a lagoon beach village – quite unique really and more remote than other places!
We stayed for three days, basically relaxing on the beach and watching sunsets with crisps and beers – we loved it!
Here’s what else we got up to…
Go to El Faro
For one of our sunsets, we went to the lighthouse, El Faro. The views were fabulous and it was lovely to see the sun go down over the lagoon, village and ocean.
There’s not much space at the top of the lighthouse and it’s standing room only. We watched most of the sunset from the roof of a small concrete building below.
Getting there: Take a boat across the small channel (the lagoon runs into the sea). It’ll take minutes and cost 10 pesos. Then it’s about a 10/15 minute walk up to the lighthouse. Take mosquito spray! On the way down we were using our phones as torches to light the path!
See Bioluminescence
Chacahua’s lagoon has bioluminescence. If you haven’t seen bioluminescent plankton twinkling like stars, you could have a go there.
We didn’t go on a tour as we’ve both seen bioluminescent plankton before (me on the Pacific Coast in Colombia and Rosie in Holbox). We didn’t really see the need to pay for a tour when we’d seen it, plus it was nearly a full moon so not the best time anyway!
When we were there, tours were 150 pesos and, due to it nearly being a full moon, were leaving at 4am. I imagine when it’s not close to a full moon, tours will leave at earlier in the night.
You also don’t need to go with a tour. I went for a walk to the lagoon at around 4am, when the sky had finally gone dark with the moon below the horizon, and I saw twinkles in the shallow water as I paddled. It wasn’t as incredible as my experience in Colombia (which was magic!) but still cool!
On my night time 4am walks I would also just sit on the beach and stargaze for half an hour. The stars were amazing! I could look at them for ages!!
Watch the sunrise
Chacahua’s beach is perfectly placed to watch the sunrise. One morning we got up for the sunrise and it was beautiful! Watching the sky turn orange, dawn arrive and sun appear on the horizon. I did go straight back to bed afterwards – I’d been up at 4am stargazing and looking for bioluminescent plankton!
Suggestions:
- Take a boat tour of the lagoon to see birds, mangroves and nature.
- Surf. Having had one lesson I wasn’t feeling like braving the waves. I did notice a surf hut offering lessons and there were several people surfing.
Where to stay in Chacahua
Chacahua is not the place to book accomodation in advance. You won’t find anything online for Hostelworld or booking.com.
There’s plenty of places to stay – cabanas and tents – and you’ll find somewhere when you arrive.
We stayed in a double bed room for 200 pesos* a night on the beach. It was basic (cockroaches in the bathroom at night!) but exactly what we wanted for our stay there.
*Most cabanas were charging 250 pesos a night, with a discount for staying three nights or more for 200 pesos a night.
Tip: There are two small mini shops there to buy beers, crisps, water, snacks…etc. It’s not the place to cook so you’ll be eating out most of the time. We brought bread, avocados and tomatoes from Puerto Escondido for our lunch supplies!
How to get to Chacahua from Puerto Escondido
Chacahua lies 108km west of Puerto Escondido on Mexico’s Pacific coast. It’s a small village with a long long stretch of beach in the Chacahua Lagoon National Reserve. It’s more remote, wild and beautiful!
Getting to Chacahua from Puerto Escondido involves several changes – four in fact! Colectivo, shared taxi/truck, boat and shared truck. There is no direct route.
Tip: Since you’ll be switching from vehicles to boats back to vehicles, I highly highly recommend that you only take a small rucksack with you. Leave your bigger one at your Puerto Escondido hostel. It makes your life so much easier!
Step 1: Go to the G500 gas station in Puerto Escondido and take a “Rio Grande” colectivo to Zapotalito. They leave pretty frequently, we only had to wait about 5 minutes.
Cost: 50 pesos
Time: 1hr10
Step 2: The “Rio Grande” colectivo will drop you off at the turn off to Zapotalito. At the turn off you will find shared taxi/trucks to drive you the rest of the way to Zapotalito.
Cost: 15 pesos
Time: 15mins
Step 3: Get dropped off by the shore (just say Chacahua to the driver and they’ll know where) and take a colectivo lancha. The lancha leaves every 2hrs between 8am and 6pm. We didn’t know this and got lucky, arriving at 1.30pm and only waiting half an hour to leave.
Cost: 50 pesos
Time: 15mins
Note: You can also do a tour through the lagoon to reach Chacahua. It’s more expensive but if there’s a big group of you, it may be worth it. In our case, we were only two and paying 250 pesos each wasn’t what we were looking for.
Step 4: Hop in the colectivo truck waiting when you get off the lancha and it’ll drive you to Chacahua. You’ll sit in the back and it’s a bit bumpy. The views are great and we were the only tourists! You made it!
Cost: 50 pesos
Time: 40mins
Total cost: 165 pesos per person
Total time: 3hrs approx
So that’s the journey from Puerto Escondido to Chacahua. It’s not hard, all the modes of transports connect up – you get off the colectivo and the shared taxi is waiting etc. Say Chacahua to anyone and they’ll point you in the right direction. Just be patient and be prepared to wait around for colectivos and lanchas to leave.
I was happy I went with Rosie and not alone. It made all the transport swaps more of an experience and also made us both feel better when we were dropped in small places along the way.
Final thoughts…
I’m so so glad we went to Chacahua. We hadn’t even heard about it initially. It was only arriving to our hostel in Puerto Escondido that a fellow backpacker recommended that we go. Thank goodness we did!
It was beautiful, wild, peaceful and more remote. I loved our evening sunsets with a beer and crisps, our homemade avocado and tomato sandwiches for lunch, watching the stars, our beach chills and walks, our outdoor bucket showers which amused us to no end and falling asleep to the sound of crashing waves.
If you’re on the west coast and in the Puerto Escondido area, I’d recommend going to Chacahua for a few days. Really enjoyed our three days there!
Now it’s back to Puerto Escondido to collect our rucksacks and then on too Mazunte. More sun and beach time to come!
