Huatulco Review

Unspoiled coastal jungles meet the rugged Pacific coast along the sparsely inhabited southern coast of Mexico. This is where you find the Bahias de Huatulco --- a series of nine very individualistic bays that cater to a very different kind of beach traveler than do the beaches of Mexico's Caribbean coast.

Huatulco is more laid back. It's quieter, and it's much more undeveloped than most major Mexican resort areas. It also offers more untamed natural parkland in and around the resort areas (the national parkland encompasses over a million hectares --- it's BIG), and visitors who like seclusion will have no problem finding a place to call their own somewhere along Huatulco's 22 miles of coastline.

There's something for everyone here. There's beaches that are good for swimming, there's beaches that are good for surfing, and there's beaches that are good for just relaxing in a chair with a cool cerveza in hand. Nature lovers can do bird-watching treks or backcountry hikes into the wilderness of the parkland, and luxury lovers can find spas for a relaxing massage. There's also an 18-hole championship golf coarse near the upscale hotel area of Tangolunda Bay. If you want to do day-trips outside the immediate resort area, there's local tour guides who do whitewater rafting trips, rock climbing ventures, and jungle trail hikes --- just ask at your hotel's concierge desk, and they'll set you up. Of course there's also boat tours of the nine bays and snorkling and dive trips, most leaving from the harbor in the Santa Cruz village.

As a resort destination, Huatulco is fairly spread out, and because it's so sparsely populated, it's a good place for a rental car or motorcycle if you don't want to use the local taxis (though the taxis are definitely the cheapest and easiest way to get around). The upscale hotels are clustered together in one small village area (called Tangolunda), while the moderately priced hotels are near the beaches of Bahia de Chahue or Bahia de Santa Cruz. Low budget properties that cater to working Mexicans are found in the town of Crucecita, which is where you also find the main market, internet cafes, shops, laundromats, etc. It's rather strange, but Crucecita is a brand-new town, built by the Mexican tourism agency (FONATUR) just a decade or two ago, yet it LOOKS and FEELS like it's been there forever, and it feels like a real Mexican town --- not an invented fantasyland.

Huatulco is a good place for the active vacationer. Water sports, jungle trips, nature hikes...these are the main activities in Huatulco, though lounging by the pool or heading for the links isn't far behind. The area isn't huge, and it doesn't have the breadth of infrastructure that you'd find in a resort area like Cancun --- though Huatulco doesn't have the crowds or the party noise that go with size and popularity. It's all a matter of priorities.

GETTING TO HUATULCO

Huatulco is often easiest and cheapest to visit by booking a package deal (flight with hotel) through a travel agent. That's because there's more charter flights into Huatulco than scheduled mainstream airline flights, and because the larger resorts are quite expensive when booked alone. Many U.S. carriers will connect in Mexico City to Mexicana flights to Huatulco (HUX), though Continental has non-stop flights via Houston, so they might be your best bet.

WHERE TO STAY

The most luxurious hotels in Huatulco are the Quinta Real and the Camino Real Zaashila. If you don't have to be on the beach, a moderately priced luxurious property is the Mision de los Arcos.

WHERE TO EAT

Cheap eats abound in the town of Crucecita. AI resorts proliferate, and some better restaurants struggle as a result. There's informal, grass-roofed shack restaurants along a couple of the good swimming beaches, and fresh grilled pescado with a cold Negra Modelo is a tough cheap lunch to beat. If you're in the upscale hotel area of Tangolunda, the best restaurant is called Don Porfirio, and the thing to get is the grilled lobster tails. Great atmosphere, plus there's a nightclub on premises for the late night crowd tired of resort property pablum. Culinary adventures MUST make a point of having dinner one evening in Crucecita at a restaurant called El Sabor de Oaxaca. Oaxaca has some of the most ancient and adventurous cuisines of Mexico, and this restaurant is the real deal --- it's as good as the high-end restaurants in Oaxaca City, but a heck of a lot closer to the beach resorts (order the mole here, if you're not afraid of bold and extraordinarily complex flavors...it's redolent with crude cocoa, roast coffee, red chiles, and absolutely unforgettable).