Oaxaca and the Pacific coast in 9 days: markets, mezcal and Mazunte

Day 2 — Monte Albán and the markets

• 08:30 — Monte Albán, twenty minutes up the hill. A Zapotec city built on a levelled mountaintop from about 500 BC, with ball courts, carved stelae and a view over three valleys. Go early; there is almost no shade.
• 12:00 — Back down for lunch.
• 14:00 — The Centro on foot: the Museo de las Culturas in the Santo Domingo complex, which holds the Mixtec gold from Tomb 7, and the Textile Museum, free and excellent.
• 17:00 — The Mercado de Artesanías, and the rug shops. A genuine Teotitlán rug is wool, dyed with cochineal and indigo, and costs what it costs. The cheap ones are acrylic.
• Evening — Tlayudas, which are the Oaxacan street food everyone else calls a pizza and nobody here does.

Day 3 — The valley: mezcal, trees and Hierve el Agua

• A full day east, by hire car, taxi or tour.
• 09:00 — El Tule, a cypress with the stoutest trunk of any tree in the world. Ten minutes, and worth them.
• 10:00 — Teotitlán del Valle, the weaving village. A demonstration of carding, spinning and natural dyeing is the point, not the shop at the end.
• 12:00 — A mezcal palenque at Santiago Matatlán. Agave roasted in a stone pit, crushed by a horse-drawn stone wheel, and distilled in clay or copper. Taste espadín first, then a wild variety, and understand why the wild ones cost what they do.
• 14:30 — Hierve el Agua — petrified mineral waterfalls and spring-fed infinity pools over a valley. Access has been interrupted more than once by disputes between communities, and the site has closed for extended periods — check it is open before you commit the afternoon.
• 18:00 — Back, or Mitla on the way for its geometric Zapotec stonework.

Day 4 — A cooking class, and the last of the city

• A cooking class is the best half-day in Oaxaca. Market first to buy the chillies, then mole negro from scratch, which takes hours and about thirty ingredients.
• The alternative: San Bartolo Coyotepec for black pottery and San Martín Tilcajete for alebrijes — the carved painted animals — both short drives south.
• Evening — Last dinner, and pack light for the coast.

Day 5 — Over the sierra to Puerto Escondido

• Morning — Fly (35 minutes) or drive the new highway (three to four hours). If you are taking the old road, leave at dawn and write the day off.
• Afternoon — Puerto Escondido. Stay at La Punta for the surf-town end or Zicatela for the big-wave beach.
• Zicatela is a serious wave and not a swimming beach. The Mexican Pipeline drowns strong swimmers. Playa Carrizalillo, down a long staircase, is the sheltered one.
• Sunset — Carrizalillo or La Punta, with everyone else.

Where to stay in Puerto Escondido (two nights)

• Grand: a boutique hotel on the cliff above Carrizalillo.
• Mid-range: a hotel with a pool at La Punta or Rinconada.
• Simple: surf hostels and cabañas at La Punta, which is where the town’s evening is.

Day 6 — Dolphins, lagoons, or a surf lesson

• 06:00 — A boat from Puerto Angelito. Dolphins are common, turtles near certain, and humpbacks pass from December to March.
• The alternative: Laguna de Manialtepec, half an hour west, for birdlife at dawn — and bioluminescence on moonless nights, which is a different trip entirely and worth timing for.
• Afternoon — A surf lesson at La Punta, which is the beginner break. Not at Zicatela.
• Evening — The fish market, or the long row of beach restaurants.

Day 7 — East to Mazunte

• Morning — Drive or colectivo east, about an hour and a half.
• Midday — Mazunte. A village that used to live by killing turtles and now lives by not doing so — the national turtle centre here is the result.
• Afternoon — Punta Cometa, the headland, which is the southernmost point of Oaxaca and the sunset walk.
• The neighbours: San Agustinillo is a five-minute drive and calmer; Zipolite is the next bay and is Mexico’s only legally clothing-optional beach — go or do not, but know before you arrive.
• Zipolite’s surf is dangerous and the name means “beach of the dead”. Swim where the flags are.

Where to stay in Mazunte (two nights)

• Grand: a cliffside eco-hotel with open-air rooms above the bay.
• Mid-range: a posada in the village, a minute from the sand.
• Simple: cabañas and hammock places, of which there are many.

Day 8 — Turtles

• The turtle release is the thing to time. Olive ridleys nest on this coast most of the year, with arribadas — mass nestings — concentrated between roughly August and November at La Escobilla. Hatchling releases run on a schedule that depends on the nests, so ask locally the day you arrive rather than booking months ahead.
• Morning — The Centro Mexicano de la Tortuga in Mazunte, which is a research centre with tanks rather than a show.
• Afternoon — Nothing. This is the day the trip is for.
• Sunset — Punta Cometa again, because it is better the second time.

Day 9 — Huatulco, and out

• Morning — Drive east to Huatulco, about an hour and a half, through the last of the coast.
• If the flight is late: the Bahías de Huatulco — nine bays, several reachable only by boat, and the most developed stretch of this coast, which here means a few low-rise hotels.
• Huatulco airport is 20 minutes from La Crucecita.