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The beaches of Puerto Escondido

22 beaches

The beaches in town and the day trips along the coast, surf beaches included. Where you can swim, where you can surf and at what level, how to get there and what is open at each one.

Near Puerto 12

Day trips, with the road distance from downtown.

Barra de Navidad (Colotepec) No swimmingSurf: experts The mouth of the Colotepec river, where fresh water meets the sea. Boats run through the estuary among herons and mangroves, and there are fish kitch… 10 km east · 20 min 22 places Playa Plataforma No swimmingSurf: intermediate Open ocean in Santa María Colotepec, half an hour southeast. One of the most consistent beach breaks in the area: on small to medium swell there is a… 24 km east · 30 min Playa Tierra Blanca Swim with careSurf: beginners A small coastal village with a long, empty beach. Its wave is a shore break close to the sand, almost always shoulder-high and very consistent; it cl… 28 km east · 35 min 1 place El Puertecito (Valdeflores) Swim with careSurf: intermediate A hidden beach at the end of three kilometers of dirt road: three stretches of sand, two little bays closed off by big rocks and one open-ocean front… 32 km east · 40 min Playa Agua Blanca Swim with careSurf: beginners A long beach with a right-hand point break over rock at one end and beach break along the rest, softer and peakier than Tierra Blanca. On small swell… 40 km east · 45 min Playa Palmarito No swimmingSurf: experts Wild sand west of Bacocho, with not a single service. It is a turtle nesting area, with conservation camps working on it. 12 km west · 25 min 6 places Laguna de Manialtepec Swim with care Not a beach but a lagoon — and the water trip most asked for in Puerto: mangroves, over two hundred bird species at dawn and bioluminescence at night. 18 km west · 30 min 3 places Lagunas de Chacahua Swim with careSurf: intermediate A national park of mangroves, crocodiles and a sandbar between the lagoon and the open sea. The village of Chacahua is tiny, reached by boat, and tha… 70 km west · 2 h La Ventanilla No swimming A mangrove run by the community itself, ten minutes from Mazunte. The rowboat tour passes crocodiles, iguanas and herons, and the money stays in the … 60 km east · 1 h 10 min 1 place Mazunte Swim with careSurf: beginners A Pueblo Mágico of sandy streets, home to the Mexican Turtle Center and Punta Cometa, the southernmost point of Oaxaca and the best sunset on the who… 65 km east · 1 h 15 min 1 place San Agustinillo Safe to swimSurf: beginners A single street facing a short bay, between Mazunte and Zipolite. It is the beach of that stretch where you can actually swim calmly, and where the b… 67 km east · 1 h 15 min 1 place Zipolite No swimming Mexico’s nude beach: long, bohemian and very beautiful. It also has one of the strongest currents on the coast — there is a reason volunteer lifeguar… 70 km east · 1 h 20 min

Before you get in the water

  • Almost no beach in Puerto has lifeguards. A red flag is not decoration.
  • Rip currents (the ones pulling out to sea) cause nearly every accident. If one catches you, do not swim against it: swim sideways, parallel to the shore, until you are out.
  • Zicatela, Bacocho and La Punta are not swimming beaches, however inviting the water looks.
  • Ask at your hotel or at the palapa about the day’s conditions: they change with the tide.
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