Must-Do things in Puerto Escondido!
Heading to Puerto Escondido?
Here is my list of the must-see and must-do things in Puerto Escondido to help make your trip the best it can be!
I hope you have an amazing time and experience the most that you can while you’re in Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca, Mexico! 🙂
Good to Know First!
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Beach Days!
My number 1 beach recommendation is Playa Carrizalillo! ⛱️
There are other beaches in Puerto Escondido.
It has the most amazing sunsets ever and a really chill vibe. 😎
**1 very important note, you must be able to do a lot of stairs if you want to go to this beach.
There are 167 stairs made out of stone and cement to get there, and to leave the beach too. It’s the only way to access this beach.
There are no pets allowed and rustic bathrooms there. There are some restaurants, but they charge for chair rentals.
Although the fees for chairs and food may be a bit more than some other close by beaches, you can’t beat this sunset!!
Plus, the waves were more calm here than other beaches from my experiences.
You can sit back and watch the surfers, 🏄 and the surf lessons and hang out on the sand.
There are no beach vendors there, at least not when I went. I imagine this is due to the over 1 hundred steps to get to the beach.
If you’re looking for a beach without stairs, don’t worry there are others!
With all those stairs, you don’t want to forget anything, so check out my travel blog with recommendations about what to bring to the beach: Top 9 things to bring to the beach!
The other beaches are:
- Playa Coral- Past Rinconada
- Playa Principal- This is the main beach downtown with lots of fishing boats in the area. **Just a heads up there a type of jellyfish here called ‘malaguas’. I actually got stung by one there!
- Bahia Puerto Escondido -this beach has more Mexican tourists and a few restaurants. Lots of fishing boats around.
- Puerto Angelito- Close to Rinconada
- Playa Bacocho- This is a protected beach with a sea turtle release.
- Playa Zicatela- This is a hip fun beach area full of restaurants and bars. Strong waves usually here.
- Playa Manzanillo- close to downtown area
- Playa Marinero- Between the Bahia Principal and Zicatela
*An important note about the beaches!!! Please check the flag colours that tell us about the water safety.
Importantly, if you see a red flag 🚩 don’t go in the water, the waves can be extremely strong and unsafe. Ask if you’re not sure. Stay safe please.
Sea Turtle Release
This seemed like such an amazing experience that I couldn’t pass it by!
I love turtles 🐢 and watching them go free into the ocean… How beautiful! 🥰
They teach you how to hold the shell, and how to release the turtle.🐢
It’s so beautiful to watch the baby turtles go into the ocean freely!!
I can’t recommend this activity enough!
Plus, it’s a very amazing experience!!
Check out the details and how you can do this too at Release a Baby Sea Turtle!
Adoquin
Next up is the Adoquin is a daily street market. It’s on Avenida Alfonso Perez Gasga.
Every day from 5:00 pm until around 11:00pm or later there is a street market.
They street is closed to vehicles and becomes a pedestrian walkway. There are vendors on both sides of the streets.
Some of the products that you can find here are: food, clothing, jewelry, purses, wallets, hats, souvenirs, stones, mezcal, and much more.
What I enjoyed the most was just walking the market and enjoying the local atmosphere, as well as the traditional Oaxacan hand made bags, clothing and other art.
There are a few restaurants along this street that also have tables set up on the sidewalks and road. They become a part of the street festivities with their tunes filling the air.
There are many Mexican tourists that come to this street market, there are also some foreigners that enjoy it too.
During the weekends and late nights some of the restaurant bars will be playing music loudly and it becomes a bit of a party scene.
There are also vendors that sell mojitos and other drinks. Mezcal is the specialty here, so you’ll be able to find drinks with Mezcal rather than tequila here more often.
At the Adoquin you can order those drinks and walk down the street with them.
You can also find corner stores, restaurants, shops, tourist excursions, a pharmacy, and more here.
While you’re in the area, stop by the tourist both and talk to a woman named Gina, who speaks English. She is a wealth of knowledge and has been at the tourist both for decades! She also does walking tours and food tours among others!
Rinconada
La Rinconada is located close to Carizalillo Beach on Benito Juarez Street. It is a long street full of restaurants.
This area caters more to tourists with all different types of cuisines.
You can find vegan, vegetarian, seafood, meats, and even gluten free options here.
I had pizza, sushi, a burger, breakfast and ravioli here, to name a few options that are available.
Majority of these restaurants have outdoor dining areas, or they’re an open air restaurant. They range from funky vegan places with cool paintings on the walls to fancy upscale dining in elegant buildings with beautiful balconies.
They have local Mexican tacos 🌮 and other traditional dishes and Italian, Mediteranian, Japanese…
Zicatela Beach
I wanted to include this beach separately because it’s more than just a beach. It’s like it’s own little beach town! I really enjoyed it!
There are so many vegetarian and vegan friendly places here. This area seems to really cater to the surfer hippie crowd 🏄 that hang out around here.
If you can only go once, I recommend going before sunset, watch the sunset and then walk the beach and Del Marro street with all the restaurants. They are all lit up with fancy lights, hanging baskets and other beautiful decor.
There are many beach restaurants where you can eat on the sand.
You will even see a beach gym here with volleyball nets too!
There are so many places to go for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It’s nice to walk around in the evening and enjoy the beautiful decor and lights.
An interesting thing about Puerto Escondido is the beach is very wide with many meters of sand between the ocean and the restaurants.
Since the restaurants are kind of far from the ocean, some of them have tables they they set up closer to the water, and further away from the actual restaurant.
The waves are very strong here and the tide really comes in a lot, I believe this is why the restaurants are all so far back.
There are times that you definitely can’t swim here, but there is so many cool things to enjoy here otherwise!
Surf Lessons
They offer surf lesson everywhere… It is definitely a surfer’s paradise!
There are places to sign up for surf lessons in Rinconada, Adoquin, all the beaches and on the some of the streets too.
You can rent surf boards too!
So, if you’re daring enough to try, take a lesson.
*Another reminder about the waves. They can be dangerous.
The waves can be very strong, so make sure you only go surfing when it’s safe to do so.
I didn’t try a surf lesson, I experiences some severe weather so, there were some days that I couldn’t even swim near the shore at some beaches, let along surf.
Although, we had gale winds and an earthquake while I was here which contributed towards the strong waves.
This area seems to be prone to having some earthquakes. This one was 4.4, so not too bad. Everyone and everything is ok.
Anyways, if you like surfing, check out 15 Must-Try Unique Experiences in Sayulita! Another surfer town in Mexico!
La Punta
This is a place that I went to at La Punta that I recommend checking out!
It’s called Punta Origen.
It has a really laid-back friendly hippie surfer vibe.
So it’s a collection of places in a square. There is a bar, several restaurants along the sides in small hut type buildings. You go order your food and then sit in the middle.
The middle section is full of tables and chairs and open areas. It’s all on sand.
I recommend going on a Thursday!
They have an open mic night. 🎤
It has such a great vibe!
Anyone can sign up to perform and he shared his guitar 🎸 with the performers that I saw.
The host has a rule that you clap for each person who performs with no judgement and total enthusiasm! He creates a very inclusive and open-minded atmosphere.
I recommend getting there by 8 if you want to get a table or chair.
Later on in the night there will be people sitting all over in the sand.
It gets packed and ends around 11:00pm.
They speak English here and Spanish. The host speaks mostly English throughout the night.
Good Vibes!
The host has a rule that you clap for each person who performs with no judgement and total enthusiasm! He creates a very inclusive and open-minded atmosphere.
I recommend getting there by 8 if you want to get a table or chair.
Later on in the night there will be people sitting all over in the sand.
It gets packed and ends around 11:00pm.
They speak English here and Spanish. The host speaks mostly English throughout the night.
Benito Juarez Municipal Market
This market is called ‘mercado’ in Spanish.
It’s located on 8 North Street- Calle Octava Norte in the downtown area.
The market is inside a very large open concept building. It’s open 7 days a week, and busiest on Saturdays and Sundays.
Even the street outside the market is like an extension of the market- full of vendors selling everything from chickens, belts, hats, balloons and so much more!
There are different sections of the market.
As you will see in the video, some of the sections are:
- bakeries
- butchers
- florist
- ceramics/barro
- restaurants
- purses/clothing
- souvenirs
- produce
- shoes
- leather products
- palm leave products
- and more!
Bioluminescent + more!
Although, I didn’t have time to check this out, it’s definitely on my list for next time!
There are 2 different lagunas that you can go to to see the bioluminesence. You see the phosphorescence in the lagoons in the evening.
There is also skydiving at Zicatela beach. You can daily see the skydivers flying over the ocean and landing on the beach!
There are also fishing tours where you can catch Mahi Mahi, salmon and more! The fish are massive too! Like you see fisherman sling the fish over their shoulders and they drape down their backs!
Book your tours for Puerto Escondido!
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What are you must-do things in Puerto Escondido?
If you’re heading to Puerto Escondid, or anywhere in Mexico 🇲🇽 and you have never been, or it’s been a long time, check out the Best Mexico Travel Tips! (Read Before You Go)
Have you been to Puerto Escondido? What was your favourite part? If you have not been, what do you think you would like to experience the most? Let me know in the comments under this section a bit.
As well as being a travel blogger, I am also a Amazon book publisher, travel writer and an English Teacher! Check it out here!
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