Huatulco

Huatulco was planned as a resort in the 1980s, and unusually the plan included keeping most of it undeveloped: over half the area became a national park, and of the nine bays and roughly thirty-six beaches only a handful have roads. The rest are reached by boat from Santa Cruz, and several, Cacaluta and San Agustín among them, are empty stretches of sand backed by dry forest with good snorkelling on the rocks at either end. The town of La Crucecita was built from scratch as the service centre. Behind the coast the Sierra Madre rises quickly into coffee country, with river trips and waterfalls in the hills.

What you actually see

• The bay boat trip - the standard circuit of the roadless beaches.
• Cacaluta and San Agustín - the emptiest of the protected bays.
• Copalita - a river-mouth archaeological site with a walk through dry forest.
• The coffee fincas - in the sierra behind the coast.

When to go

November to April is dry, sunny and the high season; May to October is hot and humid with heavy afternoon rain and hurricane risk. The sea is calmest in winter. Turtle releases run at some beaches in the warmer months.

Honest expectations

This is a planned resort, and the built parts feel it: La Crucecita is pleasant but manufactured, and the hotel zone is conventional. The best beaches take a boat trip, which adds cost to every day. Currents on the open-ocean beaches are strong and several have no lifeguard. There is much less local character here than elsewhere in Oaxaca.

Nearby

Mazunte and Zipolite are two hours west; Oaxaca city is six hours inland.