Beach towns near(ish) to Oaxaca

October 1, 2024 6:31 AM

We will be heading to Oaxaca in March - we are thinking of spending a few days in Puerto Escondido or one of the smaller towns up and down the coast. Any recommendations? Other questions inside.

We are thinking of ~4 days in Oaxaca and ~3 on the beach. Questions: (1) is that the right split, iyho, (2) do you recommend P.E. or a different town?, (3) do you recommend any particular hotel/place to stay in the beach towns, (4) do you recommend renting a car to get from Oaxaca to the beach (and up and down the coast) or should we look for a ride/shuttle (we have the idea of maybe staying in P.E. but taking a day trip to a smaller town). Any thoughts appreciated! (P.S. - I read that a new highway was completed between Oaxaca and P.E., so it is like a 3 hour drive now, when it used to be 6 - which may be relevant to the car situation).

posted by Mid to Travel & Transportation (3 answers total)

Best answer: I spent some time in both Puerto Escondido and Oaxaca City last summer. Feel free to DM if you have more questions.

In Puerto Escondido, we stayed near La Punta, which is the south end of Playa Zicatela. Puerto Escondido, and in my understanding, even farther down the coast, is really a place for surfing and not swimming. If you're a surfer, I'd suggest staying a near a beach that is right for your skill level. I'm not a surfer or much of a beach person in general, so I really preferred my time in Oaxaca City. The city of Puerto Escondido is fine, we went there one evening, but I'd suggest skipping it or at least not staying there. The general vibe along the beach was a chill version of 20s backpacker destinations that I've seen in other parts of the world, very much not the Cancun/very built up version of a Mexican resort town. There are tons of options for renting dirt bikes/scooters for local transit, but the roads are quite rough (dirt, hilly) so I would not recommend it unless you have prior experience. We took a handful of taxis, some of which definitely did try to overcharge us for being in a tourist area, and mostly walked. If you want to see more beaches/go surfing in lots of spots, a car probably wouldn't be a bad idea. There are also local tour vendors who will take you to another peach / to paddle amongst the mangroves / etc. if you're just trying to figure out what to do as a day trip.

Oaxaca City has tons of stuff - museums, cool murals, beautiful architecture, amazing food, an archeological destination, and lots of day trip options to nearby villages for handicrafts and hiking - so you could easily spend a week there if you were inclined to do so. Again, we walked, occasionally took taxis, hired a driver for a day (recommended by our AirBnB host) when we wanted to get out of the city, and arranged some transit as part of a hike with a local resident who rescues dogs.

We visited pre-highway so we flew from Oaxaca City to Puerto Escondido on the one tiny airline that has scheduled flights because I get carsick on twisty roads pretty easily. With the highway open, I think we would have either bought bus tickets or hired a driver instead of driving ourselves because the driving culture, even on the highways, is very different in the US and I find driving in those situations stressful. The definition of "highway" is also very different than in the US.
posted by A Blue Moon at 8:53 AM on October 1

Never been but we just saw the episode of Somebody Feed Phil where he visits, you might want to see it for food ideas.
posted by billsaysthis at 10:25 PM on October 1 [1 favorite]

I did this some 20+ years ago, so I can't give any good tips or anything. But I would absolutely do it again any day, both Oaxaca and Puerto Escondido were charming and full of interesting things to see, do and eat.
posted by mumimor at 10:08 AM on October 2 [1 favorite]