Things to do in Puerto Escondido
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Deep Blue Dive
Based in Beach Hotel Inés; the instructor here is also PADI-certified.
reviewed
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Guadua
There’s nothing quite like Guadua on the Oaxaca coast. A solid wooden deck sits about halfway along Zicatela beach, its thick palapa roof supported by bamboo poles. The delicious and attractively presented food is a Pacific-Mediterranean-Asian–Middle Eastern fusion with dishes like shrimp coconut curry, cashew couscous and seared tuna with teriyaki sauce. Guadua is also a hip beach lounge, with a good bar, music from bossa nova to dub to electronica (live Wednesday to Saturday evenings), and quirkily constructed loungers out on the sands in front. And it recycles waste water and trash.
reviewed
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Oasis Surf Academy
Oasis Surf Academy, in the Rinconada area above Playa Carrizalillo, offers classes of 1½ to two hours with experienced and qualified local teachers for M$585, which includes the rental of a board. It’s associated with Oasis Surf Factory, run by local pro surfer and board maker Roger Ramírez.
reviewed
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Restaurante El Jardín
This palapa restaurant serves very good vegetarian dishes, from gado-gado (vegetables in peanut sauce) and many salad varieties to tempeh and tofu offerings. The menu also includes plenty of seafood, pizzas and pasta, and a good, long juice list.
reviewed
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Instituto de Lenguajes Puerto Escondido
Offers good language classes taught by native Spanish speakers, with an emphasis on conversation skills, plus a variety of complementary activities, including surfing, cooking and salsa lessons.
reviewed
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Rutas de Aventura
Rutas de Aventura offers flexible active trips with an emphasis on sustainability and well-informed, English-speaking guides. Possibilities include early-morning kayaking and bird-watching at Laguna Manialtepec and visits to Finca Las Nieves, an organic coffee plantation in the lush inland hills near San Juan Lachao, where you can bike, hike, watch birds, learn about coffee production and the local ecosystem, and sleep in comfortable rooms and bungalows.
reviewed
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Playa Zicatella
Long, straight Zicatela is Puerto's happening beach, with enticing cafés, restaurants and accommodations as well as the waves of the legendary 'Mexican Pipeline,' which test the mettle of experienced surfers from far and wide. Nonsurfers beware: the Zicatela waters have a lethal undertow and are definitely not safe for the boardless. Lifeguards rescue several careless people most months (their base, the Cuartel Salvavidas, is in front of Restaurante El Jardín).
reviewed
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Bahía Principal
The central beach is long enough to accommodate restaurants at its west end, a fishing fleet in its center (Playa Principal), and sun worshipers and young body-boarders at its east end (called Playa Marinero). Pelicans wing in inches above the waves, boats bob on the swell, and a few hawkers wander up and down. The smelly water sometimes entering the bay from inaptly named Laguna Agua Dulce will put you off dipping away from Playa Marinero.
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Pascal
Right under the palms on the Playa Principal sands, Pascal from France prepares original and delicious seafood, meat and homemade pasta dishes with rare flair. You might go for the ravioli with ham, peanuts and ricotta, or the shrimp with orange and tequila. There’s a choice of tasty sauces for all pasta dishes, and the seafood is fresh as can be. Your visit might coincide with the occasional live-music or trapeze entertainment.
reviewed
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El Cafecito
It sometimes seems as if the whole town is here for breakfast, and with good reason, as the combinations (Mexican and international) are tasty and filling, the Zicatela view great and the coffee cups bottomless. The Cafecito also serves up great cinnamon rolls, carrot cake and juices, and tasty lunch and dinner dishes from vegetarian lasagne to Mexican antojitos. The other branch across town is just as good.
reviewed
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Sociedad Cooperativa Turística Nueva Punta Escondido
Lanchas (fast, open, outboard boats) will take groups of four people out for an hour's turtle-spotting (and, in winter, sometimes dolphin-spotting) for around $300. Lancha owners have formed the Sociedad Cooperativa Turística Nueva Punta Escondido and you can contact them at Restaurant El Pescador or the lancha kiosk, both at the west end of Bahía Principal.
reviewed
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Bahía Puerto Angelito
The sheltered bay of Bahía Puerto Angelito, about 1km west of Bahía Principal (a 20- to 30-minute walk from El Adoquín), has two smallish beaches. The western one, Playa Angelito, has lots of comedores and is very busy with Mexican families at weekends and holidays. Playa Manzanillo, the eastern one, is inaccessible to vehicles but can still get crowded at weekends.
reviewed
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Seis Palmas
The fantastic ocean sunsets from this Carrizalillo clifftop perch are the perfect backdrop for the inventive and delicious Californian-Oaxacan dishes arriving at your table. You might start with green-bean tempura with mustard, and follow it with a grilled whole snapper with grilled veggies and caramelized onions.
reviewed
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La Hostería
The Hostería restaurant shows the 1993 Italian travel-and-crime movie Puerto Escondido nightly. This film (directed by Gabriele Salvatores) has attracted thousands of Italians and others to Puerto and is worth seeing, even if it makes the town seem more remote than it really is.
reviewed
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Capitán Francisco Prado
Capitán Francisco Prado has a booth on Playa Manzanillo and specializes in snorkeling day trips to Roca Blanca, an offshore islet about 30km northwest of PE, at around $1600 for up to four people. You can lunch at one of the rustic comedores on the nearby beach.
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La Galería
At the west end of El Adoquín, La Galería is one of Puerto’s best Italian spots, with art on the walls and tasty fare on the tables. The pizza and homemade pasta dishes are original and flavorsome, and the jumbo mixed-greens salad (M$49) is a treat.
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Casa Babylon
This cool little travelers’ bar has a great Mexican mask collection and a big selection of books to exchange. It has live music or a DJ several nights a week. The owner prides herself on her mojitos and caipirinhas.
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La Galera
This breezy upstairs restaurant at Hotel Arcoiris is always a good place to eat, with tasty mixed Mexican and international fare. Main dishes focus on fish and meat, but the three-course menú del día has vegetarian options.
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Omar Sportfishing
Omar Ramírez of Omar Sportfishing specialises in dolphin- and even whale-spotting trips, costing M$1600 for up to four people for four hours. There’s an 80% to 90% chance of seeing dolphins from October to March - (it is possible to see dolphins all year round)
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Mangos
Palm-roofed Mangos might have the best breakfast combinations in town (M$25 to M$45), and its seafood dishes – like a whole fresh red snapper – are well prepared. There are often two-for-one drinks, and the service is friendly.
reviewed
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Playa Carrizalillo
Small Playa Carrizalillo is in a rocky cove reached by a stairway of about 170 steps. It's OK for swimming, snorkeling, body-boarding and surfing, and has a bar with a few palapas (thatched-roof shelters).
reviewed
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Cabo Blanco
A great Zicatela spot for prawns, fish steak or arrachera, cooked in the open, streetside kitchen – or burgers or tlayudas for tighter budgets. It has light and dark beers on tap, too.
reviewed
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Restaurante Bar Los Tíos
Right on Zicatela beach, ‘the Uncles’ serves great licuados and fresh juices to go with its tasty egg dishes, antojitos and seafood. It’s popular with locals and very relaxed.
reviewed
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Cinemar
This mini-cinema, in the PJ’s Book Bodega building, shows films ranging from the best Mexican movies to the latest general releases in Spanish and English. It has air-con.
reviewed
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Central Surf
A good rental and tuition place is Central Surf, where classes are given by brothers René and David Salinas, from a well-known local surfing family.
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