Oaxaca de Juárez Travel Forum

hi --

i saw one tip that seemed to suggest that there are beaches in (?) or near oaxaca. is this so? if there are some, how far away are they from downtown?

please forgive my ignorance. i've scheduled a week's trip to oaxaca for the beginning of october but know hardly anything about it yet!

thanks -- susie margaret

I saw those tips and they are misleading. Oaxaca has no such beaches. Those are meant the beaches of Puerto Escondido, Puerto Angel, Zipolite, Mazunte... Probably those tips mean Oaxaca state beaches (and not Oaxaca city). It's some 7 hour bus ride to the PAcific coast from Oaxaca. Quite far away from downtown :-).

hi --

thanks for the info. i was pretty sure that a city inland could not have any beaches, but i'm not so great on mexican geography, so i thought, well, maybe i don't really know where it is!

-- susie margaret

Uh, Susie,

You really need to look at that tourist site that I referred you too. First of all, when one speaks of Oaxaca, it is necessary to understand that Oaxaca is a State (Oaxaca) and a City (Oaxaca de Juarez, the capital of the State.)

Oaxaca, the State, is Large,Big, about the size of New Jersey, maybe larger. In the State you find evrything from tropical beaches with world famous surfing to jungle, to high planes desert, to lush agricultural valleys, rainforest, and wooded mountains that will remind you of Appalachia.

Oaxaca, the city, is the capitol. The current population of the City and the outlying Colonias (suburbs) is about 400,000 last time I looked. The city was built before the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock by the Spanish, who had just taken over the land. (Hernando Cortes, the conqueror of Mexico, only asked one thing from the King of Spain for his conquests in the new world - to be made the feudal overlord of the Valley of Oaxaca. The king of Spain made him the Marquis le Valle de Oaxaca.

There are churches, palaces and private homes here that were built a hundred or more years before the US revolution. The town Center (el Centro Districto, where I live,) was proclaimed many years ago a Protected Site of the Human Cultural Patrimony. On top of that, Oaxaca, the City, was built by the Spanish around the Monte Alban archeaological site, which is still right here, on top of one of the mountains that the city surrounds. Monte Alban is quite possibly the oldest inhabited place in North America, dating back about 3,000 years.

The other replier to your post seems to be confused in her geography. Oaxaca, the State, does have a Pacific Coast, the main beach is Porto Escondido - or hidden beach, one of the still un-developed Mexican Beaches. You´ll find some tourists there, but you will also find many beach resorts where you can get a double room for $20 US a night, with breakfast. Yeah it´s about a seven hour bus ride, but you can catch a plane from the City to Porto Escondido for, if memory serves, about $70 US, and takes about an hour.

Look at that site I sent you and give me an e-mail, I could recommend some reasonable lodgings and other facilities here for you. Of course there are some *** and **** star hotels here that are lovely, have swimming pools, etc. etc. These will run you from $150 - 250 a night.

But for myself, I would rather stay away from places that are just copies of Hiltons in the States with a bit of local color painted on. There are gorgeous hotels and Inns here that go for a fraction of that and have been in the same families for generations, sometimes centuries.

Max Uhler

Susie,
Hi Just joined site and saw you were going to be in Oaxaca the beginning of October. My boyfriend and I are going for the Food of the Gods festival and were wondering the same thing about the beaches. Did you get some good info about inexpensive, non Hilton like hotels in Huatulco? Do you know if that would be the best beach area?
Nini

hi --

it turns out that there is a difference between the CITY of oaxaca and the STATE of oaxaca (like new york, new york). the city is inland, and that's where i'm going. however, the state extends to the coast, which is where the beaches are.

you probably need to post this Q separately under the names of the cities or towns you are considering (huatalco, puerto escondido, etc.). this will automatically put your post under the listings for the STATE of oaxaca also.

-- susie margaret