Mazunte is a village of about a thousand people on the Oaxacan Pacific coast, between Puerto Angel and Puerto Escondido, and its recent history is unlike anywhere else in this library. Until 1990 it was a turtle slaughterhouse. The national ban on sea turtle fishing that year removed the village's entire economy overnight, and what replaced it was turtle conservation, a cosmetics cooperative and low-key tourism. It is a Pueblo Magico now, and it is still a dirt-road village.
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What Is Here
THE TURTLE CENTRE IS BUILT ON THE SITE OF THE SLAUGHTERHOUSE AND IT DOES NOT HIDE THAT. The Centro Mexicano de la Tortuga holds live specimens of most of the sea turtle species found in Mexican waters along with freshwater and land turtles, in tanks and pools you walk between, and it exists for research and education as much as for visitors. The honest history is part of the exhibit: the village processed tens of thousands of turtles a year, the 1990 ban ended it, and the people who had worked in the plant were the ones who had to find something else. Check the opening days before you go, because it closes part of the week.
TURTLE RELEASES HAPPEN IN SEASON AND THE ETHICS ARE WORTH THINKING ABOUT. Olive ridley arribadas, the mass nestings, come ashore on nearby beaches mainly between about July and December, and hatchling releases are run from Mazunte and neighbouring villages. A well-run release is at dusk, with no handling by visitors beyond what the biologists direct, no flash photography and no walking in front of the hatchlings. If an operator offers you a daytime release or lets children carry turtles around, that is a show rather than conservation, and the turtles pay for it.
PUNTA COMETA IS THE WESTERNMOST POINT OF OAXACA AND THE REASON PEOPLE STAY A WEEK. A rocky headland reached by a twenty minute walk through low scrub from the end of the beach, it projects far enough south that you can watch the sun set over open water and, in the same place, rise over it. It is the single best free thing on this coast. Go in daylight the first time so you know the path, because coming back in the dark over broken rock is how ankles get turned.
The second image is the rock at sea level, which is the texture of this coast: headlands, boulder, small coves between them, and very little continuous sand.
THE COSMETICS COOPERATIVE IS THE OTHER HALF OF THE VILLAGE'S REINVENTION. Cosmeticos Naturales de Mazunte was founded in the mid-1990s with help from Body Shop founder Anita Roddick, making soap, shampoo and oils from coconut, sesame and local plants, and it is still a village enterprise. The shop is on the main street and it is a better souvenir than anything in a market.
Playa Mazunte is the main beach and Playa Mermejita is the wild one. Mermejita, on the far side of the Punta Cometa headland, is long, empty and has a serious shore break. Playa Rinconcito, the small cove at the eastern end of the main beach, is the most sheltered water in the village.
ZIPOLITE IS TEN MINUTES EAST AND IT IS A DIFFERENT PLACE. Mexico's only legally recognised nudist beach, with a much heavier party culture and a long record of drownings. It is an easy walk or taxi, people often stay in one and visit the other, and the two have genuinely different atmospheres.
Boat trips go out for dolphins, turtles and, in winter, humpback whales, launching from the beach at dawn through the surf, which is itself part of the experience.
The Mazunte Jazz Festival fills the village over a weekend in November, free and on the beach, and accommodation books out for it.
ONE HONEST NOTE ON THE PHOTOGRAPHS. The three here are the coastline from the air, the rocks from a boat, and the night sky over cactus, which is a fair picture of the setting. What they do not show is Punta Cometa itself, the turtle centre, or the main street, which are the three things you will actually remember. We would rather name the gap.
When to Go
November to April is the dry season and the best of it, warm and clear, with humpbacks offshore in the earlier part.
July to December is the olive ridley nesting window, overlapping the rains.
May to October is the rainy season, hot and humid, with heavy afternoon storms, and the Pacific hurricane season runs roughly May to November. THIS COAST HAS BEEN STRUCK SEVERELY IN RECENT YEARS and the villages are not built for it.
Late November brings the jazz festival.
THE SURF IS BIGGEST IN THE SUMMER MONTHS, which matters more here than the rain, because the swell is what makes the water dangerous rather than the weather.
Getting There
By air into Puerto Escondido, about an hour and a quarter west by road, or Huatulco, about forty five minutes east, both with domestic flights.
By road from Oaxaca city, and this is the part to plan properly. THE MOUNTAIN ROUTE ACROSS THE SIERRA SUR IS SPECTACULAR, ABOUT SIX TO SEVEN HOURS AND RELENTLESSLY WINDING, and a significant proportion of people who take it are sick on the way. A newer and faster highway has cut the journey substantially, and conditions and times on it have changed repeatedly, so check current journey times rather than relying on an old figure. Shared vans, the colectivos, are the cheapest and the most uncomfortable option.
Locally, taxis and colectivos run constantly along the coast road between Puerto Angel, Zipolite, San Agustinillo and Mazunte, which are strung out over a few kilometres.
THERE IS NO BANK AND NO RELIABLE ATM IN MAZUNTE. This is the most practically important sentence in the post. Card acceptance is patchy and intermittent, the nearest dependable cash machines are in Pochutla about twenty minutes inland, and people regularly arrive with nothing and spend a morning sorting it out. Bring pesos.
Is Mazunte Safe for Women?
Mazunte is a small, friendly village with a long-established low-key traveller scene and is safe by Mexican standards. The FCDO does publish advised-against areas for Mexico, and being precise about them matters more here than almost anywhere, because the country is large and the restrictions are specific rather than general. It advises against all but essential travel to the cities of Tijuana and Tecate in Baja California, to the areas of Guanajuato south-west of road 45D, to most of the state of Michoacan with named exceptions for Morelia and Patzcuaro reached by toll road, to the parts of Jalisco south and south-west of Lake Chapala and eleven northern municipalities, to the state of Colima except Manzanillo reached by air or sea, to the state of Guerrero except Zihuatanejo and Ixtapa reached by air, to a 40km strip of the Guatemalan border in Chiapas, to one stretch of Federal Highway 199, and to the city of Acapulco. That last one appears on the safety and security subpage rather than in the landing page list, which is exactly why you should read both. None of those areas includes this destination. Read the current advice yourself before you travel, because the list is revised regularly.
OAXACA STATE CARRIES NO FCDO ADVISED-AGAINST AREA, and the restrictions named in Mexico's advisory are in other states entirely. That is worth stating plainly because the advisory is long and specific and skimming it leaves a wrong impression of the Oaxacan coast.
THE SEA HERE IS THE DANGER, AND NO TRAVEL ADVISORY SAYS SO. The Oaxacan Pacific has a heavy shore break that dumps directly onto a steep beach, and a strong undertow running back off it. The waves break in shallow water onto sand, which is how neck and shoulder injuries happen, and the rip pulls you out from a depth where you were standing comfortably a moment before. ZIPOLITE, TEN MINUTES EAST, HAS A LONG AND WELL DOCUMENTED RECORD OF DROWNINGS, and Playa Mermejita behind the headland is comparably serious. There are lifeguards on parts of this coast in season and long stretches with none.
The practical rules are simple and people ignore them. Swim where other people are swimming and where you can see a lifeguard. Do not swim after drinking. Do not go in at Mermejita or on an empty beach alone. Do not turn your back on the water at the edge, because the break arrives on the sand itself. If you are pulled out, do not fight it: let it carry you, swim across the pull rather than against it, and raise an arm.
The Punta Cometa path is broken rock and low thorn scrub, with an unfenced drop in places, and is genuinely dangerous in the dark. Take a torch and know the route in daylight first.
Mosquitoes carry dengue on this coast and there is some scorpion presence, so shake out shoes.
The ordinary village precautions apply: theft from unlocked rooms and from the beach is the realistic crime, lighting on the dirt streets is minimal, and the village is dark early.
The Mazunte Packing List
Heat, humidity, severe sun, salt, dirt roads and a village with almost no infrastructure.
Our merino base layers are 100% Australian merino at 17.5 micron, and a long sleeve merino wool base layer for women earns a place in a hot-coast bag for a reason that has nothing to do with warmth: this is a village where laundry is a two-day errand, the humidity means synthetics go stale in a morning, and a fine wool layer worn over a swimsuit covers your shoulders through a boat trip or a walk to Punta Cometa and can be worn again the next day. It is also the layer you want on a dawn boat and on the mountain road out, where the air at altitude is cold.
A wide brim UPF 50 sun hat with a chin cord for the boats, and a long sun hoodie, because Oaxacan coastal sun at this latitude is unforgiving and the shade is a palapa.
Walking shoes with grip for the Punta Cometa headland, which is loose rock and low thorn scrub rather than a path, and where sandals are the reason people turn ankles here.
A rechargeable headlamp. THIS IS NOT OPTIONAL HERE. The streets are unlit dirt, the village goes dark early, power cuts are routine, and Punta Cometa in the dark without a light is how people fall.
A waterproof dry bag for the dawn boat launches, which go out through the surf and soak everything aboard, and DEET insect repellent for dusk, since dengue is present.
Not linked and worth packing: PESOS IN CASH, because there is no bank and no reliable ATM in the village and this is the thing most people get wrong; A REFILLABLE BOTTLE, since tap water is not drinkable and most accommodation refills from garrafones; SOMETHING ON YOUR FEET IN THE WATER for the rocky coves, which we would normally link except our only water-shoe register entry is unverified; A QUICK DRY TOWEL; EARPLUGS if you are near the main street in festival season; and REEF-CONSCIOUS SUNSCREEN, with the honest note that the phrase is unregulated, so read for non-nanoparticle zinc oxide and rely mainly on covering up.
Recommended Tours and Experiences
Essential Resources for Women in Mazunte
Emergency numbers: 911 for police, ambulance and fire, the single national number, free from any phone. English-speaking operators are available in the tourist states but are not guaranteed everywhere.
The two things to get right before you arrive are cash and the sea. THERE IS NO BANK AND NO RELIABLE ATM IN MAZUNTE, card acceptance is patchy, and the nearest dependable cash machines are in Pochutla twenty minutes inland, so bring pesos. THE OAXACAN PACIFIC HAS A HEAVY SHORE BREAK ONTO A STEEP BEACH AND A STRONG UNDERTOW, AND NO TRAVEL ADVISORY MENTIONS IT: Zipolite ten minutes east has a long record of drownings and Playa Mermejita behind the headland is comparably serious, so swim where others swim and where a lifeguard is visible, never after drinking, and never alone on an empty beach. If you are pulled out, swim across the pull rather than against it and raise an arm. THE PUNTA COMETA PATH IS BROKEN ROCK WITH UNFENCED DROPS and must be learned in daylight before you walk it at dawn or dusk. A HEADLAMP IS ESSENTIAL because the streets are unlit dirt and power cuts are routine. TURTLE HATCHLING RELEASES SHOULD BE AT DUSK with no handling, no flash and no walking in front of the hatchlings: a daytime release where visitors carry turtles is a show, not conservation. THE TURTLE CENTRE CLOSES PART OF THE WEEK. DENGUE IS PRESENT and the Pacific hurricane season runs roughly May to November on a coast that has been hit hard.
US State Department travel advisory: the Mexico advisory. Read the current level there directly rather than relying on a figure printed in any guide.
UK FCDO travel advice: gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/mexico, and read the safety and security page rather than only the landing page, because that is where the substance sits.
Main hospital or clinic: Mazunte has a small health centre for routine matters and there are clinics in San Agustinillo and Puerto Angel. ANYTHING SERIOUS MEANS POCHUTLA, about twenty minutes inland, which has the nearest hospital, or Huatulco and Puerto Escondido for better facilities, and a genuine emergency may mean Oaxaca city six hours away over the sierra. That distance is the reason to take the water seriously rather than to rely on being rescued and patched up quickly. Private facilities expect payment or a direct insurance guarantee up front. Dial 911. Private hospitals in the large Mexican cities are good and expect payment or a direct insurance guarantee up front, so carry your policy number where you can reach it rather than in the bottom of a bag. Public clinics will treat an emergency. Tap water is not drinkable anywhere in the country: drink bottled or purified water, which every hotel and restaurant supplies as a matter of course, and take the same care with ice and raw salad that you would with the water itself.
Official health authority: the Secretaria de Salud, Mexico's federal health ministry. covers the Oaxaca state health services and the dengue situation on the coast
US Embassy: the United States Embassy in Mexico City.
Official tourism authority: the Secretaria de Turismo, Mexico's federal tourism ministry. with state information from the Oaxaca tourism secretariat, which publishes the Centro Mexicano de la Tortuga opening days and the Mazunte jazz festival dates
Takeaways
Bring pesos. There is no bank and no reliable ATM in the village.
The sea here kills people every year and no advisory says so. Swim where others swim.
Walk Punta Cometa in daylight first. Then go back for the sunrise.
Pack a headlamp. Unlit dirt streets and routine power cuts.
Solo women safety assessment: Mazunte is a comfortable and welcoming place to arrive alone, and it has been a low-key traveller village for thirty years, so a woman on her own is entirely unremarkable here. It is about a thousand people on a few dirt streets, Oaxaca state carries no FCDO advised-against designation, the accommodation is mostly small family-run posadas and hostels where staff know who is in and who is out, and the atmosphere is yoga-and-early-nights rather than the party scene that Zipolite ten minutes east has. The realistic crime is theft from an unlocked room or a bag on the sand, and the practical answers are a padlock and not leaving anything on a beach towel. 911 IS THE NATIONAL EMERGENCY NUMBER with English unlikely in a village this size, so your accommodation is usually the fastest route to help. THE MEDICAL DISTANCE IS THE CONTEXT FOR EVERYTHING ELSE: there is a health centre for ordinary problems, the nearest hospital is Pochutla twenty minutes inland, better facilities are at Huatulco or Puerto Escondido, and a serious emergency could mean Oaxaca city six hours away over the sierra. THE SEA IS THE THING THAT ACTUALLY KILLS PEOPLE HERE AND NO GOVERNMENT ADVISORY MENTIONS IT, which makes it exactly the hazard a careful traveller misses. This coast has a heavy shore break that dumps onto a steeply shelving beach and a strong undertow running back out beneath it, so the wave breaks in shin-deep water hard enough to injure a neck or shoulder, and the pull takes you off a bottom you were standing on a moment earlier. Zipolite's drowning record is long and well documented and Playa Mermejita behind the Punta Cometa headland is just as serious. Swim where other people are swimming and a lifeguard is visible, never after drinking, never alone on an empty beach, and do not stand at the edge with your back to the water. If you are caught, let it carry you, swim across the pull rather than against it, and raise an arm. ON LAND, the Punta Cometa path is broken rock with unfenced drops and the village streets are unlit dirt with frequent power cuts, so a headlamp is a genuine safety item rather than a convenience, and the headland route should be walked in daylight before you do it at dawn.
Reading On
Mazunte is the middle of a short, varied stretch of Oaxacan coast. The Puerto Escondido packing list covers the surf town an hour and a quarter west and the Huatulco packing list the planned resort bays forty five minutes east, which are the two airports you will use. Inland over the sierra, the Oaxaca packing list covers the city, with the Monte Alban packing list on the ridge above it and the Hierve el Agua packing list out in the eastern valley. Further on, the San Cristobal de las Casas packing list and Palenque packing list cover Chiapas, the Puebla packing list and Mexico City packing list the route north, and the Sayulita packing list and Puerto Vallarta packing list the Pacific coast beyond. For the country, the Mexico travel guide for women and the Mexico packing list carry the transport and the advisory geography in full. For why wool survives a humid village with no laundry, read the guide to merino wool base layers for women. Every destination we cover is indexed at the travel packing guide for women, and the base layers are at the Roman Trail collection.
If the outer journey is calling you, the inner one usually is too. Explore SoulMap at romantrail.com/blogs/soulmap.
