Escape to Puerto Escondido for Music and Surfing Find yourself a hammock and a view of the ocean in Puerto Escondido.

Escape to Puerto Escondido for Music and Surfing

Find yourself a hammock and a view of the ocean in Puerto Escondido.

Carrizalillo beach, Mexico. Photo courtesy of www.RemaxPuertoEscondido.com

When the 16th-century Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortéz was asked to describe Mexico, he is said to have crumpled up a piece of paper and set it on the table. 

Testimony to that description of the rugged landscape is the serpentine Highway 200 from Huatulco to Puerto Escondido, which runs through the steep Oaxaca coastal hills. 

In Puerto Escondido, a long stretch of beach called Zicatela features an array of hotels in a range of prices. Restaurants offering cuisine from Japanese to Italian and, of course, Mexican line the beach. Puerto Escondido is known as Mexico’s surfing capital, and Zicatela is the reason. If you don’t surf, several small, protected coves — ideal for swimming — lie within a 20-minute walk of the town. 

The city is also home to an emerging international music scene. The tiny, funky Congo bar on the Adoqúin — Puerto Escondido’s main tourist strip and a pedestrian-only zone in the evenings — plays live music. 

At the boutique hotel Villas Carrizalillo, you can easily while away a couple of afternoons, hanging in a hammock under apalapa (a thatched-roof, open-sided structure), drinking coconut water, eating fresh shrimp cocktails and taking frequent dips in the calm turquoise water. 

If you want to explore the coastline, several beach towns to the south of Puerto Escondido are worth visiting. Travel a couple of hours by public bus to San Agustinillo, a charming village comprised of a couple of streets running along the ocean, sprinkled with numerous small hotels and restaurants. The huge waves offshore are great for surfing, but not safe for casual swimming. 

For something completely different, hop in a cab and go the short distance to Zipolite, Mexico’s best-known nude beach and another surfer’s paradise. 

In Zipolite you can stay at Lo Cósmico, a collection of rustic bamboo huts and simple, clean rooms built on a rocky hillside overlooking a small cove. Hammocks hang in every room and there is a common area where you can lounge for hours.  

Settle into your own version of a Corona commercial. 

How to get to Puerto Escondido

Sunwing Airlines flies directly to Huatulco. From Huatulco it takes a couple of hours by road to arrive in Puerto Escondido.