Huatulco

In February 2020, we visited Santa Maria Hualtuco, Las Bahías de Huatulco.  It is located on the Pacific coast in the state of Oaxaca.

In the map below, you can see that it is slightly south to where we lived in Belize, but significantly hotter. Most days were 33 degrees C and cloudless so getting out of the sun was difficult. Evenings were pleasant, usually around 23 C. A hat is essential to bring with you.

Santa Maria Hualtuco, Las Bahías de Huatulco is the area we visited.  It is located on the Pacific coast in the state of Oaxaca. In the map above, you can see that it is slightly south to where we lived in Belize, but significantly hotter. Most days were 33 degrees C and cloudless so getting out of the sun was difficult. Evenings were pleasant, usually around 23 C. A hat is essential to bring with you.

Yim and I gave this decision a lot of thought before choosing as we had been to Puerto Escondido in 2018 and loved it. I think what sold me was the Eco-Tourism orientation and the nine bays in total which surround the area and waters of the Pacific coast. We wanted to go snorkelling again and our resort claimed to feature its own private bay and it turned out to be okay but nothing really special given all of our travels to diving destinations that we have visited. The snorkelling was quite poor but probably as good as can be expected in Mexico on the Pacific side. It was close to shore and there were quite a variety of fish but there was nothing but clumping coral, which seemed to be mostly covered in algae, really.

I love snorkelling, as does Yim but she only went once and it was exceptionally easy access so that gives you a fairly good idea of the snorkelling. On a scale of 1 to 10, I would say 2 at best.

The nine bays of the area are divided into three distinct areas: Crucecita, Santa Cruz, and Tangolunda. We thought the Nine Bay Tour would allow us to visit them but what we saw was the nine bays from about 5 miles offshore. Some of the bays are unsuitable for development as the shoreline is too rugged and the undertows too strong along some beaches.

We left from Bahia Tangolunda and drove to Bahia de Chahue where we boarded a 32 foot boat and about an hour later got dropped off at the last northerly bay, Bahia de San Augustin, for some very poor snorkelling BUT on our way back, spotted some Humpback Whales and they breached directly in front of us so that made the entire trip for us.

The Nine Bay Tour dropped us off for lunch within the National Park on a very nice beach which was owned by a small band of fishermen who refused to sell to the Mexican Government when they expropriated the land to create the National Park, so a deal was made for them to stay as they had been there for generations. They serve their catches of the day to visitors and have musicians strolling the beaches.

Pluma Hidalgo Coffee Plantation

The other tour we took was to visit the Pluma Hidalgo Coffee Plantation, high is the Sierra Madres. It was a long bumpy 90+ minute ride and we ended up in the town of Pluma Hidalgo, where we were taken to a shop where they ground coffee but mostly made Mescale. Citrus Mescale, Banana Mescale. Coffee Mescale. Marijuana Mescale. We tried a few but not the marijuana Mescale and then headed for lunch high in the mountains and a tour of the so called plantation. I saw one coffee plant in a pot before we had to make the 90+ minute bumpy ride back home. Oh yes, then we stopped at a Mescale Distillery to taste more Mescale.

All that said, Huatulco is being carefully managed to cater to people who are looking for a higher quality resort experience with less of a “manufactured” feel and it is noticeable. It is cleaner that anywhere else we have visited in Mexico and the commitment to eco-tourism is obvious with everyone you speak to who lives there, so that’s awesome.

Huatulco’s commercial beach resorts are not high-rise commercial cousins to Cancun. Instead, space has left between building projects and areas for development are being carefully selected to minimize the impact on the environment; for example, hotels and other buildings cannot exceed six stories in height.

And development is VERY limited, so hopefully, they have their template straight and can stick to it but we already felt the cruise ship curse when we went into La Crucecita… lots of jewellery stores, lots of people asking you to come into their stores and a sense of opportunism, which I don’t like much.

However, if your body and soul is craving some serious beach therapy that is more relaxed and quieter than the most popular beach resorts, but you don’t want the up-market exclusive privacy and quiet that comes with Mexico’s ultra-luxury resorts, consider relaxing on the shores of Huatulco’s bays.

Las Brisas

We stayed at Las Brisas and the property was beautiful, the landscaping was lush, well kept and a pleasure to walk within and the food was excellent. Given that we are both plant based, we never felt like we were left out. There was lots of food choices for us so that was a huge plus. The beaches were small and quite nice but the coral reef they promote was certainly NOT a coral reef. I suppose it could be called a large patch of coral but it was mostly dead from tourists walking across it. To me, that was the only negative I had so overall, the resort was quite nice.

Would I go back… no. I’d go to Puerto Escondido again for the surfing and the 20 mile long beaches because there was nothing compelling enough to make me want to return to Huatulco, although we loved our one week visit.