Planning a Trip

Getting There & Departing

By Plane -- Aerovega (tel. 954/582-0151) operates daily morning flights to and from Puerto Escondido on small planes; the fare is about $100 each way to Oaxaca. Click Mexicana (tel. 01-800/112-5425 toll-free in Mexico; www.click.com.mx) flies jets to and from Mexico City daily. The price is about $150 each way.

If flights to Puerto Escondido are booked, you have the (possibly less expensive) option of flying into Huatulco on a scheduled or charter flight. This is especially viable if your destination is Puerto Angel, which lies between Puerto Escondido and Huatulco. An airport taxi costs about $80 to Puerto Angel, and approximately $130 to Puerto Escondido. If you can find a local taxi rather than a government-chartered cab, you can reduce these fares by about 50%, including the payment of a $5 mandatory airport exit tax. There is frequent bus service between the three destinations.

Arriving: The Puerto Escondido airport (airport code: PXM) is about 4km (2 1/2 miles) north of the center of town, near Playa Bacocho. The colectivo (minibus) to hotels costs $3.50 per person. Aerotransportes de Pasajeros Turistas de Oaxaca sells colectivo tickets to the airport via Turismo Dimar Travel Agency (tel./fax 954/582-0737 or -2305), on Avenida Pérez Gasga (the pedestrian-only zone), next to Hotel Casa Blanca. A minibus picks you up at your hotel.

By Car -- From Oaxaca, Hwy. 175 via Pochutla is the least bumpy road. The 240km (149-mile) trip takes 5 to 6 hours. Hwy. 200 from Acapulco is a good road, although stretches of it are dirt only, and numerous speed bumps and army checkpoints may impede progress. It should take about 8 hours to travel. This stretch of road has been the site of numerous car and bus hijackings and robberies at night in recent years -- travel only during the day.

From Salina Cruz to Puerto Escondido is a 5-hour drive, past the Bahías de Huatulco and the turnoff for Puerto Angel. The road is paved but can be rutty during the rainy season. The trip from Huatulco to Puerto Escondido takes just over 2 hours; you can easily hire a taxi for a fixed rate of about $50 an hour.

By Bus -- Buses run frequently to and from Acapulco and Oaxaca, and south along the coast to and from Huatulco and Pochutla, the transit hub for Puerto Angel. The main bus station for Estrella Blanca, Oaxaca Pacífico, and Estrella del Valle is the Central Camionera, just north of the city center. First-class buses run to Huatulco, Oaxaca, and Mexico City. Several buses also leave daily for Pochutla, Salina Cruz (5 hr.), and Oaxaca (7 hr. via second-class bus). Cristóbal Colón buses (tel. 954/582-1073) serve Salina Cruz, Tuxtla Gutiérrez, San Cristóbal de las Casas, and Oaxaca.

Arriving: Minibuses from Pochutla or Huatulco will let you off anywhere, including the spot where Pérez Gasga leads down to the pedestrian-only zone.

If you're arriving from Oaxaca City, the speediest buses to Puerto Escondido -- 6 hours away over a tortuous road -- leave from the terminal de segunda clase (second-class terminal) Armenta y López 721, across from the Red Cross. Two lines serve the route: Pacífico Oaxaca and Estrella del Valle. Many people who go to Puerto Escondido on these buses say that if they had it to do over, they'd fly. Motion sickness is the main reason; there are hundreds of curves through the mountains.

The Viajes Atlántida agency, at Armenta y López 621, intersection with La Noria (tel. 951/514-7077), offers daily service from Oaxaca City to Pochutla in suburbans. The suburbans are faster than the bus. There are 10 runs daily (5-6 hr.; 140 pesos). From Pochutla, you can catch a colectivo (Volkswagen van) to Puerto Escondido, Huatulco, or Puerto Angel (which run 1-1 1/2 hr.). You should buy your tickets in advance. The agency is open daily from 5:30am to 11:30pm.

Orientation

Visitor Information -- The State Tourist Office, SEDETUR (tel. 954/582-0175), which has a very helpful staff, is less than 1km (a half-mile) from the airport, at the corner of Carretera Costera and Bulevar Benito Juárez. It's open Monday through Friday from 8am to 5pm. A tourist kiosk at the west end of the Adoquín (in the town center) is open Monday through Saturday from 9am to 2pm and 4 to 6pm.

City Layout -- Looking out on the Bahía Principal and its beach, to your left you'll see the eastern end of the bay, consisting of a small beach, Playa Marineros, followed by rocks jutting into the sea. Beyond this is Playa Zicatela, unmistakably the main surfing beach. Zicatela Beach has come into its own as the most popular area for visitors, with restaurants, bungalows, surf shops, and hotels, well back from the shoreline. The west side of the bay, to your right, is about 1.5km long (1 mile), with a lighthouse and a long stretch of fine sand. Beaches on this end are not quite as accessible by land, but hotels are overcoming this difficulty by constructing beach clubs reached by steep private roads and jeep shuttles.

The town of Puerto Escondido has roughly an east-west orientation, with the long Zicatela Beach turning sharply southeast. Residential areas behind Zicatela Beach tend to have unpaved streets; the older town, with paved streets, is north of the Carretera Costera (Hwy. 200). The streets are numbered; Avenida Oaxaca divides east (oriente) from west (poniente), and Avenida Hidalgo divides north (norte) from south (sur).

South of this is the original tourist zone, through which Avenida Pérez Gasga makes a loop. Part of this loop is a paved pedestrian-only zone, known locally as the Adoquín, after the hexagonal bricks used in its paving. Hotels, shops, restaurants, bars, travel agencies, and other services are all here. In the morning, taxis, delivery trucks, and private vehicles may drive here, but at noon it closes to all but foot traffic.

Avenida Pérez Gasga angles down from the highway at the east end; on the west, where the Adoquín terminates, it climbs in a wide northward curve to cross the highway, after which it becomes Avenida Oaxaca.

The beaches -- Playa Principal in the center of town and Marineros and Zicatela, southeast of the town center -- are connected. It's easy to walk from one to the other, crossing behind the separating rocks. Puerto Angelito, Carrizalillo, and Bacocho beaches are west of town and accessible by road or water. Playa Bacocho is where you'll find the few more expensive hotels.

Getting Around

Almost everything is within walking distance of the Adoquín. Taxis around town are inexpensive; call tel. 954/582-0990 for service. It's also easy to hire a boat and possible to walk beside the sea from the Playa Principal to the tiny beach of Puerto Angelito, though it's a bit of a hike.