Oaxaca · Mexico
Where to stay in Huatulco
Huatulco is a city in Oaxaca, Mexico, home to about 7,000 people. This guide covers 1 hotel in Huatulco.
- Places to stay in this guide
- 1
- Nearest airport
- HUX15 km · Bahías de Huatulco International Airport
- Currency
- MXNpeso
- Time zone
- America/Mexico City
- Language
- Nahuatl, Spanish, Yucatec Maya
About
About Huatulco
Huatulco (Spanish pronunciation: [wa'tulko]; wah-TOOL-coh), formally Bahías de Huatulco, centered on the town of La Crucecita, is a tourist development in Mexico. It is located on the Pacific coast in the state of Oaxaca.
The name Huatulco historically refers to the lively (but decidedly non-touristy) town of Santa María Huatulco, located in the foothills of the Sierra Madre del Sur a number of kilometers inland from the beaches. However, the Huatulco tourist area is centered on the small towns of La Crucecita, Santa Cruz, Chahué, and Tangolunda, officially considered outlying villages of the Santa María Huatulco municipality, which are gradually merging into one bigger population center.
Wikipedia and Wikivoyage contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0; excerpted.
Things to do
What to see and do in Huatulco
See
The "Bays of Huatulco" are the main sightseeing attraction, with daily boat trips (550-600 pesos per person for a "colectivo" boat) visiting multiple sheltered beaches, letting passengers step on the beach or snorkel at certain ones, often including remote beaches in the national park without any buildings or access by road. As of April 2024, one promoter claimed that dolphins, turtles, and whales are also seen on every trip. There is also a waterfall somewhere in the area.
Do
The main activity here is hanging out on the beach. Major tourist beaches (Santa Cruz, Chahué, Tangolunda, La Entrega, Maguey, San Agustín) are lined with seafood restaurants and bars, where you can generally enjoy shade, a relatively safe place to put your belongings, and sometimes wifi, as long as you're "consuming". The water is generally calm and safe to play or swim in, with large areas of each bay roped off with buoys to protect from boat traffic (though life guards, where present, don't seem to enforce any rules on where or when you swim). If that sounds boring to you, the national park also offers decent snorkeling, diving, hiking, birdwatching, and mountain biking.
Wikivoyage contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0; excerpted.
Where to stay
Places to stay in Huatulco
1 place to stay from the chains this guide covers, each linked to its own website.
| Place to stay |
|---|
| Barceló Huatulco - All Inclusive hotel |
Schematic: the city centre in orange, each place to stay as a dot, distance rings in kilometres.
Where to stay
More hotels in Huatulco
2 hotels within 25 km of the centre, as recorded in Wikidata. Each name links to its encyclopedia article where there is one.
| Hotel | Opened | From centre |
|---|---|---|
| OYO Hotel Betsua Vista Hermosa OYO Rooms | 1.6 km | |
| OYO Hotel Posada San Vicente OYO Rooms | 4.7 km |
When to go
The best time to visit Huatulco
Huatulco has no month that is both mild and dry by the measure used here. April is the warmest month, with average highs of 35 °C; June is the wettest, with about 200 mm of rain.
Comfortable means average daytime high between 18 °C and 29 °C and under 80 mm of rain in the month. Averages for 1991–2020 over the surrounding area, a grid square about 50 km across, so a coast or a nearby mountain can make the town itself warmer or cooler. Data: CRU TS v4.10, Climatic Research Unit, University of East Anglia (Open Database License).
Getting there
Getting to Huatulco: airports and arrival
The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Bahías de Huatulco International Airport (HUX), about 15 km from the city centre in a straight line; Puerto Escondido International Airport (PXM, 104 km) and General Antonio Cárdenas Rodríguez National Airport / Ixtepec Air Base (IZT, 134 km) are also within reach.
Getting in
Huatulco is a 10-hour drive or a 1-hour flight from Mexico City, or a 6-hour drive or very short flight from the city of Oaxaca.
Wikivoyage contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0; excerpted.
HUX · Bahías de Huatulco International Airport
PXM · Puerto Escondido International Airport
IZT · General Antonio Cárdenas Rodríguez National Airport / Ixtepec Air Base
Local knowledge
Eating, drinking and staying safe in Huatulco
Drink
The serious nightlife scene is two hours away in Puerto Escondido, but Huatulco does have a lot of small bars, especially in the Crucecita town center (and of course inside beach resorts). In the daytime, most beaches have multiple restaurants right on the sand with beer service, and possibly drinks. "Cocteles" here usually means seafood salads (like shrimp cocktail), not mixed drinks.
Stay safe
The Huatulco area seems to be very safe in terms of crime. Maybe consider inquiring locally before wandering dark parts of Crucecita at night. Swimming here is generally safer than other places because of the calm, sheltered water in the bays, but you should still be cautious - never underestimate the ocean. Jellyfish can sometimes show up, but they don't seem to be the dangerous kind. Crocodiles are theoretically present in wetlands in the national park, but shouldn't be an issue on sandy beaches.
Wikivoyage contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0; excerpted.
Questions
Huatulco: questions travellers ask
When is the best time to visit Huatulco?
Huatulco has no month that is both mild and dry by the measure used here. April is the warmest month, with average highs of 35 °C; June is the wettest, with about 200 mm of rain.
Which airport is closest to Huatulco?
The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Bahías de Huatulco International Airport (HUX), about 15 km from the city centre in a straight line; Puerto Escondido International Airport (PXM, 104 km) and General Antonio Cárdenas Rodríguez National Airport / Ixtepec Air Base (IZT, 134 km) are also within reach.
What currency is used in Huatulco?
peso (MXN).
Nearby
Destinations near Huatulco
Sources: city facts from Wikidata and Wikipedia; airports from OurAirports; climate from CRU TS v4.10 (University of East Anglia Climatic Research Unit), 1991–2020 monthly means, 0.5° grid; places to stay, guest scores and amenities from each operator's own public pages. How this guide is made.