Things To Do in Puerto Escondido

During high season, businesses and shops are generally open all day. During low season, many close between 2 and 4pm.

The Adoquín holds a row of tourist shops selling straw hats, postcards, and T-shirts, plus a few excellent shops featuring Guatemalan, Oaxacan, and Balinese clothing and art. You can also get a tattoo or rent surfboards and boogie boards. Interspersed among the shops, hotels, restaurants, and bars are pharmacies and minimarkets. The largest of these is El Dragon Store on Av. Pérez Gasga. It sells anything you'd need for a day at the beach, plus phone (Ladatel) cards and Cuban cigars.

The first surf shop in Puerto Escondido, Central Surf (tel. 954/582-2285; www.centralsurfshop.com), on Zicatela Beach, Calle del Morro s/n, rents and sells surfboards, offers surf lessons, and sells related gear, including custom-made surf trunks. Board rentals usually go for about $10 to $20 per day, with lessons available for $60 for 2 hours. In front of the Rockaway Resort on Zicatela Beach, there's a 24-hour minisuper (no phone) that sells the necessities: beer, suntan lotion, and basic food.

Also of interest is Bazar Santa Fe, Hotel Santa Fe lobby, Calle del Morro s/n, Zicatela Beach (tel. 954/582-0170), a small shop that sells antiques, vintage Oaxacan embroidered clothing, jewelry, religious artifacts, and gourmet organic coffee grown on the hotel's own farm. Right next to Central Surf, Bikini Brazil, Playa Zicatela, Calle del Morro s/n (tel. 954/582-2555), you'll find the hottest bikinis under the sun imported from Brazil, land of the tanga (string bikini). Another cool beach shop on Playa Zicatela, Calle del Moro s/n, is Trapos y Harapos (tel. 954/582-0759), which sells bathing suits, sandals, and surfboards.

Sunset-watching is a ritual to plan your days around, and good lookout points abound. At Zicatela, you can watch the sun descend behind the surfers, and at La Galería, located on the third floor of the Hotel Arcoiris, you can catch up on local gossip while enjoying a sundowner. It has a nightly happy hour (with live music during high season) from 5:30 to 7:30pm. Other great sunset spots are the Hotel Santa Fe, at the junction of Zicatela and Marineros beaches, and the rooftop bar of Hotel Flor de María. For a more tranquil, romantic setting, take a cab or walk a half-hour or so west to the cliff-top lawn of the Hotel Posada Real.

Puerto's nightlife will satisfy anyone dedicated to late nights and good music. Most nightspots are open until 3am or until customers leave. The Adoquín offers an ample selection of clubs. Favorites include Wipeout (tel. 954/582-2302), a multilevel club that packs in the crowds until 4am, and Blue Station, open from 9pm to 1am.

On Zicatela Beach, Bar Fly (no phone) sits upstairs overlooking the beach and features a DJ spinning Latin, retro, and electronic hits. It's open nightly from 9pm to 3am on Calle de Moro s/n. Casa Babylon (no phone), a few doors down, is a bohemian beach bar with a book exchange and table games. It's open nightly from 7pm until late and has a hip surfer vibe. There's a movie theater on Playa Zicatela called Cinemar (tel. 954/582-2288). It's a pretty simple setup consisting of a small bookstore, a large screen, and some beach chairs. It serves up popcorn and movies nightly, and also rents surfboards during the day.