Puerto Escondido Adventure Guide #7: East to Agua Blanca a Foodie Heaven

A monthly guide to give you fresh ideas for adventures just outside of PXM

Preface: I’ve lived in Puerto Escondido for almost four years, and at this point have been to most of the small towns, beaches, and points of interest in the area. I used to help lead trips for the Hikers of Puerto group, led by my friend David (you can find them on Facebook), which certainly helped to that end.

Every month I’ll be sharing a weekend adventure idea here on my newsletter, in hopes that it inspires you and your loved ones to pack the car, jump on the moto, or flag down a colectivo with the goal of making new memories. Listo por una aventura amigos!?

East to Agua Blanca

The first time I heard about Agua Blanca someone told me They have oysters bigger than your hand and 200 peso lobsters. This is exactly how I still explain it to other folks when this small beach town comes up in conversation.

I often visit a property that I’m a part of in El Puertecito, about 30 minutes east down the coast. Agua Blanca is about another five to ten minutes from there and a seafood lover’s paradise. The beach is gorgeous, and the little town seems to be made up almost entirely of beachside restaurants with rustic palapas.

I’ll share a restaurant recommendation below, but the magic of Agua Blanca is that you can’t really go wrong. Every restaurant serves oysters, lobsters, camarones de diablo y ajo, and big spicy micheladas. Pick a spot, and post up for a few hours while you look out at the sea and taste its bounty.

How to Get There:

This part is pretty easy, so I’ll keep the section short. You can take the Mazunte collectivo, and jump out at Agua Blanca, but getting back to Puerto Escondido might prove difficult. I’d recommend driving if you can, whether on a moto or in a car.

To get there, drive east along the highway. Agua Blanca is halfway to Mazunte, and just past Santa Elena. Santa Elena is a small town with a few tiendas, a bakery, several hardware stores, and a yellow pedestrian bridge that runs above the highway.

After you pass under that pedestrian bridge, the next right will take you to the beach in Agua Blanca. Take that bumpy dirt road until you run into a long line of restaurants on the beach.

What to do:

The majority of folks who make the trip to Agua Blanca are there to spend a day at a stunning beach while eating their body weight in seafood. The restaurant scene is genuinely unbelievable.

Beyond eating and drinking, the town is small enough that you can basically walk the entire length of it. You can walk the main street to the very end, and then walk the beach back, and in about 30 minutes you’ll have the lay of the land.

I would also strongly recommend bringing a good book, a frisbee, and any other beach toys you can gather up. It’s one of my favorite places in the world to pick a hammock, crack open a book, and then slowly order food and drinks over a few hours.

Note: If you’re a dog owner, it’s also the type of town that’s very fun for your dogs. There’s no real risk of them getting lost or running into traffic in the one-street town, so I love bringing my two dogs for a fun day of off-leash running, swimming, and sniffing around for dropped shrimp.

Beach Club:

I have to give credit to my good friend Jaime for sharing this info because although I was just in Agua Blanca, I had no idea that you could make the experience a bit more luxurious by stopping in at Nossa. Thank goodness for Puerto’s 1000 WhatsApp groups!

On the far east end of the main strip, you’ll find Nossa, where you can pay for a day pass to enjoy the pool and restaurant. They’re related to Naked in Zipolite, which I mention in my Adventure guide for Mazunte and Zipolite.

From scrolling their Instagram, it looks pretty gorgeous.

Little Torta girl.

Other fun stops to make:

There are a few stops mentioned along this stretch of the carretera in my Adventure Guide about El Puertecito. That post shares a bit of info about Plataforma, Ventanilla, and Tierra Blanca—which are all on the way to Agua Blanca!

Here are a few more stops to consider on this stretch of the Oaxacan coast.

Tomatal

Tomatal is the turning point for my longer bike rides down the coast. It’s a small town clustered around the highway with several small restaurants and tiendas, and it serves as the halfway point to Agua Blanca. There’s a rough road that heads to the ocean, which you can drive down if you want to get off the well-trodden trail and check out a wide-open beach.

Santa Elena

Santa Elena is really similar to Tomatal in terms of vibes. It’s a small town clustered around the highway, with one main road that shoots down toward an empty beach. That road is just a bit longer and a bit rougher than the one in Tomotal. Also, I’ve been told the population is slightly bigger in Santa Elena, but basically—they’re two interesting small rural towns to explore, and both are very useful for stocking up on supplies.

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Insider info: Second entrance to Agua Blanca & my top two restaurant reccos