Budget,
Backpackers,
Surfers,
Beach Lovers,
Naturalist,
Hippie,
Sun and Sand worshipers,
Off the Beaten Path Paradise! Everyone is welcome at Zipolite!
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A little about Playa Zipolite, The Beach of the Dead . . .
Playa Zipolite, Oaxaca, Southern Mexico, on the Pacific Ocean. A little bit about my favorite little get-away on this small world of ours.
Zipolite, a sweaty 30-minute walk west from Puerto Angel, brings you to Playa Zipolite and another world. The feeling here is 1970's - Led Zep, Marley, and scruffy gringos.
A long, long time ago, Zipolite beach was usually visited by the Zapotecans...who made it a magical place. They came to visit Zipolite to meditate, or just to rest.
Recently, this beach has begun to receive day-trippers from Puerto Angel and Puerto Escondido, giving it a more TOURISTY feel than before.
Most people come here for the novelty of the nude beach, yoga, turtles, seafood, surf, meditation, vegetarians, discos, party, to get burnt by the sun, or to see how long they can stretch their skinny budget.
I post WWW Oaxaca, Mexico, Zipolite and areas nearby information. Also general budget, backpacker, surfer, off the beaten path, Mexico and beyond, information.
The gorgeous beaches of Tulum, Playa del Carmen and Sayulita are deservedly popular with tourists. But that popularity makes it hard to take the perfect Instagram photo when you're dodging everyone else taking their own perfect Instagram photo.
Thankfully, there are still plenty of pieces of Mexican coast that remain off the beaten path. If you want to get a peek at the more authentic side of Mexico's shores, here are a few off-the-radar beaches to visit.
Costa Maya in Quintana Roo has limited accessibility, which makes it more pristine and private for beachgoers. Photo Credit: Meagan Drillinger
Costa Maya, Quintana Roo
While everyone else is pulling off Highway 307 to sunbathe on the bohemian beaches of Tulum, keep driving another solid two and a half hours and you'll find a piece of Mexico that is all your own.
The Costa Maya is a stretch of coast in the very southern part of the state of Quintana Roo, near the border of Belize. It's visually stunning and a paradise for nature lovers. Offshore, snorkel the brilliant coral reefs or kayak among mangroves teeming with dolphins and turtles. Onshore, there is the Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve, home to jaguars and monkeys.
A good homebase to explore the coast is the beach town of Mahahual, which has a small cruise terminal as well as funky boutique hotels and beach bars. Costa Maya is pristine and private for a reason: accessibility is limited. Fly into Cancun and make the nearly four-hour drive south or fly into Chetumal Airport, where the drive will only be an hour and a half.
The beach at Bahia San Agustin in Oaxaca is a tranquil spot with good snorkeling and vendors selling fresh ceviche and cold beer.
Bahia San Agustin, Oaxaca
Arguably the most beautiful of the nine bays of Huatulco, Bahia San Agustin and its beach is one of the more out-of-the-way hideaways along the Oaxaca coast.
About nine miles west of Santa Cruz Huatulco, this fishing village is a stark contrast to Huatulco's other bays. At the end of a dusty road off Highway 200 is a mile-long, crescent-shaped stretch of beach, lined not with resorts but with rustic comedores selling fresh ceviche, grilled fish tacos and cold beer.
Snorkeling is popular in the calm waters of the bay. Travelers can also go around the corner to the east to Playa Riscalillo for more snorkeling.
The beach is visited mostly by locals on the weekends, but taxi drivers will gladly bring tourists from Santa Cruz. The other option is to hop a bus between Huatulco and Pochutla and take a taxi from there.
Playa del Caballo, Jalisco
Frequent travelers to Puerto Vallarta have heard about the string of beaches to the south that are only accessible by boat, many of which are along the Cabo Corrientes, like Yelapa and Las Animas. But in between these touristy stops are beaches that are even more secluded and arguably way more beautiful, and most definitely underdeveloped.
Playa del Caballo is the beach just before Las Animas. Water taxis run frequently from Boca de Tomatlan and stop in Las Animas. But if you opt for the beach-hike route from Boca, you will surely encounter Playa del Caballo on your way.
Visitors share the beach with the small boutique hotel, Hotelito Mio, but rarely do you see anyone else sharing the sand with you, as most people opt for Las Animas because of its bars and restaurants. Instead, you'll find a virgin beach shaded by elegant palms, a calm surf and emerald-colored water that is atypical of Mexico's west coast.
Celestun in the Yucatan features a wildlife sanctuary harboring flocks of flamingos.
Celestun, Yucatan
Merida has become a destination in its own right, so for travelers who are taking their time in the city, a daytrip to Celestun is worth it. The sleepy fishing village isn't used to throngs of tourists, but when a few trickle in it's all smiles and good service.
The sun-drenched beaches are powder white, but the real draw is the Reserva de la Biosfera Ria Celestun, a wildlife sanctuary that is teeming with flamingos. You can catch this sea of pink year-round in Celestun, but they are usually sporting their best color from November to mid-March.
Frequent buses head for Celestun from Merida. It's about a two-and-a-half-hour bus ride. There are also colectivos, or minivans, on the plaza that will take you to downtown Merida. Uber, which is probably the fastest and most reliable transportation, is also a great way to get to Celestun from Merida, though the return trip will have to be organized ahead of time.
As I checked into my room at the Montecito Village Resort in Huatulco, Mexico, last winter, the friendly clerk showing me the amenities of the room announced that I would have a beautiful view of the sunrise.
“Don’t you mean sunset?” I gently corrected as I looked out at the Pacific Ocean from a gorgeous terra cotta tiled patio bigger than mine at home.
I’m not much of a sunrise person, instead preferring the view of my pillow at that hour. Celebrating the glorious rays of the sunset with a margarita in hand is more my style.
That’s why a winter getaway to Mexico’s Pacific coast sounded so perfect. Warm temperatures, pitchers of margaritas and front row seats to Pacific sunsets.
“No,” she smiled again. “We give you both — sunrises and sunsets.”
What a deal!
Such a destination requires a bit of a geography lesson. Huatulco is in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca where the Central American coastline begins to run east-west rather than north/south.
Nine pristine bays in the Huatulco region draw in the tranquil Pacific with white sand beaches on three sides. One of the nine is Santa Cruz Bay, a popular port of call for cruise ships. Yet about four bays further south and east is Bahia Conejas, the last of the bays. A lush 12-acre peninsula jutting south into the Pacific forms the easterly edge. This is where you find Montecito Village and the reason why ocean sunrises and sunsets are possible.
In reality, the setting sun is partially blocked by the Sierra Madre mountains, yet its colorful rays splash across the ocean in a kaleidoscopic dance made all the more intriguing by an appropriate adult beverage in hand.
In between sunrise and sunset, we found plenty to keep ourselves entertained. First of all, there are the 36 beaches that help create those nine bays. It would have been nice to be able to tell you we tried all 36 — one a day — but unfortunately, our trip didn’t last long enough.
Oaxaca is Mexico’s most biodiverse state so we pulled ourselves away from the beaches long enough to explore the region. One destination encompasses much of that biodiversity in just one stop — the Huatulco National Park, 30,000 acres of protected nature including land and marine surfaces.
After numerous whale watching efforts around the world, I finally saw my first whale breach here in these protected waters. To make it even better, it was a baby whale with mom swimming nearby. Sorry there are no pictures. I was screaming too loud to think of grabbing the camera.
If you like your nature just slightly more sculpted with trails and signs, bathrooms and lunch, head on up into the mountains to Hagia Sofia, a botanical garden that is so much more than a typical garden. It is Armando Canavati’s dream — 300 acres on the banks of the Magdalena River where more than 350 kinds of plants, miles of walking trails, a variety of gardens, forests and waterfalls immerse you into the biodiversity of this region.
As we walked, the jungle filled with the call of black-billed magpie and other song birds, accompanied by the click-click of the white-tailed hummingbird and giant hummingbird. Armando told us that more than a dozen species of hummingbirds have been documented at Hagia Sofia and as many as 400 kinds of butterflies.
Don’t be in any rush to leave Hagia Sofia. An outdoor café offers breakfast and lunch. Bring a towel and your swimsuit to splash around in the river and under waterfalls.
Hagia Sofia could be an entire day trip, but we combined it with a visit to a place a little higher in the mountains nicknamed Coffee Town. The actual name is Pluma Hidalgo, a typical Oaxacan village surrounded by at least 10 coffee plantations.
A dozen or more coffee shops and cafes surround the town square, each providing fresh ground coffee so good that a timid coffee drinker like me ended up purchasing several pounds to take home.
We talked for a while with Filadefo Ramirez Ordaz, a third-generation coffee grower who was born on a coffee plantation. His shop is lined with pictures of his family working in the coffee bushes. Obviously very proud of his heritage, Filadefo showed us the various stages of a coffee bean roasting and then ground a fresh cup for us.
His English was about a strong as our Spanish, which is limited, but we enjoyed his smile, his coffee and his community.
Another day we devoted to the Copalita Ruins, an ecological park that protects and interprets the Zapotec community that lived here more than 2,000 years ago. The site was discovered in 1988 and has just been open to the public for a few years.
If you’ve been to Cancun and the Yucatan Peninsula, you’ve surely visited the Mayan ruins at Tulum and Chichen Itza. Copalita is not as dramatic visually, but archeologists have literally just scratched the surface of this ancient village. Bring a bottle of water with you and climb all of the way to the top of the hill for a spectacular view of the Copalita River where it enters the Pacific Ocean.
The Copalita River is popular for white water rafting in places, but it’s also the source of some great mud. As it flows through the Sierra Madre mountains, the river picks up all sorts of minerals from the run-off in the jungle. The same soil that makes Oaxaca such a biodiverse landscape makes a good mud bath.
So we did that one afternoon. After the mud dried and we washed it off with a dip in the ocean, followed by multiple showers (the mud got into a lot of crevices) wow, did my skin feel great! A package of mud went into my luggage along with the coffee.
On our last night at Montecito Village, we participated in a Oaxacan cooking class with chef Alfredo Patiño. A native of Oaxaca, Alfredo operates a restaurant by the same name in nearby La Crucesita and a cooking school called Wahaca Cooking in La Bocana.
Anyone who loves a nice mole sauce with their Mexican dishes should know that it originated in Oaxaca and that the best moles are made with lard as a key ingredient.
Or so says Alfredo.
Oaxaca is the largest producer of peppers in Mexico, which means you’ll enjoy them in abundance in just about any dish. Green onions are also typical of Oaxacan cuisine and no legitimate Oaxacan cook ever removes skin from tomatoes.
We learned all of this while smooshing up avocados for guacamole and chopping up cilantro and onions for ceviche. Alfredo also taught us the proper way to drink mezcal, another Oaxacan gift to the culinary world.
“You don’t chug mezcal or shoot it,” Alfredo told us. “You kiss it.”
First, you make a powder ground from the roasted worms in the agave plant used to make the mezcal. You mix the worm powder in with a little bit of red chili pepper.
Next you fill your mouth with saliva then pucker your lips up to the edge of the glass, allowing just a few drops mezcal into your mouth. Then you grab an orange wedge dipped in the roasted worm/red pepper powder and suck on that as you swallow the mezcal.
We got a little hung up on the roasted worms, but hey, earlier in the day we had eaten toasted chapulines or grasshoppers, so we figured the worms couldn’t be that bad.
And it wasn’t at all. In fact, it was really quite enjoyable, as was all of our winter getaway to a new-to-us part of Mexico.
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