Puerto Escondido

Second time in Puerto and a lot has changed in the last year. The secret is out. Construction is rampant everywhere, it’s just build, build, build and it’s only going to get more intense. The new highway has opened up, which makes the trip from Oaxaca only 3 hours. Local Mexicans come for long weekends since the drive is now tolerable, which is packing the town.

It feels like the majority of foreigners I meet either want to start a business or own real estate here. I never made it to Bali, but from the conversations I’ve had for other DN, this is like Bali right before post-pandemic. It’s strange - everyone you chat with knows this area is heading for Tulum, yet too many people just have dollar signs in their eyes - or in this case Mexican Pesos.

This is no longer a sleepy surf town. Come see it soon before it gets nuts. The clock is ticking.

I wrote the last review and want to give an update. I’ve been in Puerto for about 3 months now, and I feel like that’s more than enough for me. I standby everything I wrote in the previous review with a few additions:

- This town is incredibly small and word travels fast. You will see the same people when grocery shopping, when you stop at an Oxxo for petrol, and when you go to the late night bars. Lots of unnecessary immature drama/in-fighting. I try to stay away from these people. I would recommend you do the same.

- The police have stepped up the corruption. They are essentially legal criminals. Please wear a helmet and have a proper motorcycle/scooter license. Don’t carry a lot of cash on you. I’ve heard many stories of police stopping people and just taking their money.

- My friend and I were chatting and agreed that Puerto brings a lot of broken people. I’m no exception. Most of the long term people seem to be running away from something. Puerto by its nature is very remote, very hard to access.

- The town got packed fast when busy season started in October. Prices for accommodations increased a lot. Not sure if it’s worth it unless you want to be at the “it” place.

Happy to have come here and made friends, but not a place to stay more than a few months.

Been here about a month. If you’re like me, you’ve probably seen the digital nomad subreddit rant and rave about this place and wanted to give it a shot. Puerto Escondido has a nice chill vibe, and the beaches are excellent, but deep down it’s really just another surf town. And that’s ok.

Starlink is now widely available and most hotels/guesthouses will openly advertise their internet speed. Mobile phone service and hotspots are still kinda crap and there are still areas that are completely where you will have no service. Electricity will go down once a week (at least in my area) with the longest blackout being a few hours.

As others have stated, the biggest con about Puerto is the noise. In particular, construction noise. Before booking, check to see if previous guests mentioned construction. My guesthouse didn’t mention the 7-day/week, 7am-7pm construction, with the workers living on site and partying at night. All of my housemates complained and demanded partial refunds. Non-aggressive stray dogs are everywhere, which didn’t bother me at first, but their constant barking gets annoying after a while.

The one comment I heard over and over from locals, Central/South Americans, and Western surfer-types was how expensive Puerto is becoming. The conversation of Tulum-ification came up a lot.

Overall, I like Puerto, can see myself staying here a few more months, but not long-term.

Budget:
Room at nice guesthouse next to beach: $650
Motorcycle: $250
Gym: $50
Phone sim: $30
Food + fun: $800

Definitely a place you can digital nomad at. I was here for a month and the internet was never a problem. The noise (constant construction, roosters, dogs and music) and heat were. The surfing was good but even in August there are a lot of people in this sml but developing town.

Internet is not the best but generally acceptable for the type of work I do (infrequent video calls, Slack, web applications, email, no heavy file downloading), except when the internet goes down, it is pretty widespread. Have a local backup SIM, or make sure you have a little flexibility with work. The downsides of the somewhat unreliable internet were made up for, in my opinion, by the beautiful beaches, surfing, and delicious/cheap local food in Centro (La Punta and Zicatela are way too touristy, and overpriced IMO).

I lived there for 3 years... If you wanna work, you'll really struggle. Sometimes the WiFi would be down for like 5 days. If you need to download heavy files you probably wont be able to, WiFi will fall before you can wait the 4 hours it would take. You can rely on your Telcel, but not even that one was working all the time.
Don't believe the hype! I ended up moving out.

I work online. I found a place with satellite wifi, and while it went down sometimes, I just switched to hotspot off my telcel, or went to a cafe with fiber optic. So, if you work online, and don't need perfect Internet all the time, don't worry about it. I was here three months, was totally able to work online, do zoom calls, etc. I made it work.

On that note, I love it here. Beautiful beaches, great food, lots of nightlife, local vibes if you get out of La Punta. It's expensive to stay in La Punta now, but the pandemic did that. Great place could easily spend years here.

If you rent or buy a moto, you can do trips down the coast to Mazunte, Zipolite, etc.

I don't understand all the hype all around PE, there are way cooler places in Mexico that are just as affordable. It's extremely hot, high 80's/low 90's during the day and mid 80s at night. I was doing laundry constantly bc I was always soaked in sweat and I only left the house during the day if was necessary. It made getting things done frustrating.

There are also lots of bugs. I had a tarantula and a brown recluse spider in my apartment in the first two weeks. I had salamanders falling off my ceiling. It's hard to sleep in if you live in a residential area because the roosters start crowing around 6:30, and that sets off all the dogs and at that point the whole neighborhood's awake.

Speaking of dogs, they're absolutely everywhere. They're not aggressive, but they will sit next to you and try to beg in restaurants, and you'll even find them in clubs. Once I left my door open (for less than a minute) and I turned around to find a random dog standing in my living room. It was a lot.

A lot of places don't have A/C and you'll still pay up to $900 for a one bedroom. The wifi is really bad and the coworking spaces aren't much better (many don't even have AC but still charge a premium).

The drinking and cocaine culture is kind of intense. Most of the people I met who loved PE were just partying (so work and WiFi weren't a problem). I couldn't deal with it but I can understand why this would be appealing to some. For me as a professional it was hard to relate to other people there and I heard the same from other nomads.

You will also have to pay way more for everything if you're a foreigner. I would hear the locals laughing with each other about screwing over tourists and that really left a bad taste in my mouth. (I speak Spanish but don't look Latina). If they mess up your order and you don't want it you're still expected to eat it and pay for it. I get the principle but by the end of my trip I was totally fed up.

I know that was a lot but seriously do your research before going. It's a pain to get to and get out of, it's not that cheap, the weather is difficult and it's hard to work. I've spent loads of time in Mexico and this was the one place I couldn't wait to leave.

Bad internet, too many insects when the sun goes down, and too many arrogant French people!
One of the few cities in Mexico I didn't like.

The scores are completely wrong for this town. I have spent 2 years in Puerto Escondido and the internet is terrible and unreliable. Sure, you can find places with high speeds... But those high speeds are not consistent. The internet gets slow at certain parts of the day because too many people are on the same network. The internet (and sometimes electricity) will cut out completely, if you're lucky it will only be for 10 minutes. It is extremely common for the internet to stop working around town for half a day or a full day. It is so unpredictable. It is very difficult to work in this town if a person has a set schedule, if your workdays are completely flexible (no reservations or strict meeting times) then it is doable.

I have to echo the other comments, internet is not sufficient for remote work. Food and taxis are more expensive than expected. However, the weather and beaches are fantastic. La Punta has a more surfer/Bali vibe, but I personally enjoyed the area around Rinconada and Centro. There are also some nice towns along the coast within an hour of P.E., Mazunte, Zipolite...

Don't agree with most of those reviews. There is good internet in some co-work places like Paulina cowork, Losodeli cowork and Blason cafe. It's chill and great to surf, but very slow with very little infrastructure. It's in development because of all tourists.

Don't go here if you actually need to work. Wifi is terrible everywhere you go, some days the whole town goes without any internet connection. Housing is also way overpriced.

Selina's cowork is going under renovations in February & March 2022, meaning it will be closed for those month. Oficia de Puerto cowork is currently day pass only as they sold out week passes. Outside of coworks, the internet is non-existent.
Playa zicatela is great if you're a great surfer. I'm not sure it's the best for those who aren't.

Great place for a holiday but nearly impossible to work as a nomad here. The internet is terribly slow when it works and sometimes goes down for hours/days at a time. However there are some incredible restaurants and beaches worth discovering. Don't be fooled, it appears close to Oaxaca City but it takes roughly 6 hours by bus on some sketchy mountain roads to get here. Direct flights are hard to come by and you'l likely have to fly back to CDMX just to get to PE.

Been here about 3 weeks & staying another month. If you do your due diligence when looking for a hotel/hostel/airbnb - you can find places with good internet speeds. Casa Bonita has 100MB+, lots of AirBnbs have 10-20+. However, wifi can go down for the day in the whole town (plus 4G). So if you work a 9-5 might not be ideal.

The weather on Nomadlist is incorrect - the coldest it gets at night here is about 25 & that's in December. In July it's about 32 at night.

I stayed there for about 3 weeks, cheapest beach town I've been in Mexico. Wifi like most people said it already is awful! i can't stress this enough, it's almost nonexistent. The town itself is pretty chill, nice restaurants and beaches, but for nomads not a great place.

The good:
Great surfing, great food (and pretty cheap), amazing vibe, good nightlife, overall nice lifestyle.

The bad:
- Wifi... it's terrible. The only place I've found with good wifi is Selina Coworking—it's a must.
- Accommodation is actually fairly expensive for what you get in return.

wifi is terrible, unreliable, sometimes the hole city runs out of internet, but still a wonderful place.

Puerto Escondido is wonderful - feels Tulum-y, but much cheaper. However, unlike Tulum, the wifi is terrible. Tried dozens of places, and the speeds are rarely higher than 2-4mpbs, but also unreliable. One exception - Playa Bacocho beach club has good wifi.

i dont know why this tool shows the weather in Puerto Escondido as in the 70s (f). It's always in the mid to high 80s. We're here now (Jan-Feb 2021), and it has consistently been about 85F-88F every day, with low temps around 70F....