Influencers have ruined Mexico’s Caribbean coast – head here instead

A new ‘superhighway’ connecting Oaxaca with the Pacific coast is opening up less visited parts of the country

Trawl through TripAdvisor, Reddit and blog posts about what it’s like to holiday on Mexico’s east coast and the majority of recent reviews are enough to make you shudder. “Hell is a town called Tulum”, one is titled, describing how the surge in tourism to its Caribbean waters since 2019 has prompted an increasingly overbearing military presence, taxi prices higher than Manhattan, thumpingly loud beach clubs and ugly overdevelopment. 
“Like a diet Mykonos”, described a friend travelling home from there this year. One subReddit is dedicated to Tulum’s increasingly expensive bars and restaurants, with Americans describing their recent holidays as pricier than both Miami and Hawaii: a burger for US$40 (£31) and a cocktail for $20.
Meanwhile, the once beautifully quiet island paradise of Holbox has become such a TikTok hotspot it’s near impossible to get in the sea without an influencer politely asking you to shift a little to the left so that they can get their shot. 
Mass tourism has wreaked similar havoc on Cancun, which in 2021 was the second most visited city in the world after Dubai. Last year, a record 21 million tourists arrived on Mexico’s Caribbean coast, with more than 10 million to Cancun. By comparison, the country’s capital, Mexico City, saw just under four million and Oaxaca 5.6 million.
All of which makes the quieter areas on Mexico’s southern Pacific coast a much more attractive, better value proposition – particularly since the 104 km “superhighway” connecting Oaxaca and Puerto Escondido was finally finished this spring, after 15 years in construction. 
Now travellers who want to top or tail a city break to Mexico City and Oaxaca with a few days by the beach can do so without an expensive short-haul flight or precarious overnight bus ride through the mountains – the Barranca Larga-Ventanilla highway cuts an eight-hour journey down to a jaunty two-and-a-half. 
It hasn’t been without its controversies – a local indigenous group blocked traffic on the first day of its opening, while many in Oaxaca are nervous about the impact of increased tourism. Arguably now is the time to go, before the crowds proliferate.
Arriving in Mexico City, its enormity can be overwhelming. It took me an hour to get across the city by Uber, and, come cocktail hour, it can feel like the inner city is at a standstill. But staying in the peaceful neighbourhood of Roma at La Valise, a charming 1920s French-style townhouse hosting eight unique suites, allowed me to stroll to most bars and restaurants on my list. In particular: Casa Prunes (a secret wonderland of a restaurant with a speakeasy and a cigar lounge), Salon Rosario (the best mescal masterclass in town), and Tortas Al Fuego (a chaotic and unassuming taqueria). 
My most memorable evening was spent learning salsa upstairs at Mama Rumba – no partner, no problem – before being nudged down to the main dancefloor to mambo step with nimble-footed locals before a live band. Essential encouragement came in the form of several strong mojitos, which I only mildly regretted the next morning while nursing a restorative guava roll and people-watching from a shady table at the city’s best-known bakery, Panaderia Rosetta.
Unlike in Cancun or Tulum, in the suburbs of Mexico City you can easily spend several hours without seeing a fellow tourist. Gleaming streets are busy in the morning with residents buying tacos from tiny street stalls or enjoying coffee with colleagues before work. Even Taquería El Califa de León, which this year became the world’s first taqueria to win a Michelin star and which, elsewhere, might be heaving with influencers, was so quiet come Friday lunchtime I thought I had gone to the wrong place. 
Of course this is still a capital city though; I was advised to book tickets two weeks in advance for Frida Kahlo’s house, Casa Azul, a shock of cobalt blue in the leafy Coyoacán neighbourhood, which features the brutally confronting self-portraits Kahlo painted while recovering from several spinal surgeries. Her bedroom and sitting room are beautifully preserved – her brushes, easel and paints exactly where she left them.
A world away from the cosmopolitan sleekness of Mexico City is the quirkiness of Oaxaca City – just an hour’s flight away. Colourful streets are canopied by rows of ribbons streaming in the breeze, while on every other corner you’ll find “Mojigangas”, giant puppets brought to Mexico from Spain in the 1600s and used for religious events and dances. 
In keeping with the city’s vibrant culture of arts and crafts is the boutique Pug Seal hotel in the centre of town, where murals and frescoes stretch across the walls of a beautiful two-floor courtyard. I spent perfect mornings reading my book in a pool of sunlight on a canary-yellow sofa, drinking sweet Mexican coffee, before popping in and out of boutiques selling Oaxacan black clay pottery. 
One evening, after an afternoon walking around the ancient ruins of Monte Albán, I headed to the bustling covered market of Benito Juarez. Having spent an upscale evening at the excellent Los Danzantes restaurant recommended to me by a cab driver the night before, I was after something cheap and cheerful. 
Sharing a long table with a local family, I assembled my own tortilla from the various vegetable vendors, with meat chargrilled on the spot. For dessert I walked out of the back of the market for a cup of drinking chocolate hand-ground from the mill next-door. Then, a nightcap at bar Selva: a mezcal margarita, obviously.
Compared to the heaving, overpriced bars and beach clubs of Mexico’s east coast, it was a joy to spend the final few days of my trip hopping between the beach shacks of hippie paradise Puerto Escondido, the Oaxacan port town just two and a half hours from Oaxaca city by bus or private car across the new superhighway. 
Staying at serene boutique hotel Casona Sforza, where hammocks swing poolside and a sandy pathway leads to a secluded beach, I spent a sleepy day buying fresh coconuts on Playa Zicatela before having one of the best meals of my life at natural wine bar Glou Glou, on the roof of the handsome Casa TO hotel: catch of the day in beurre blanc, brussel sprouts in romesco sauce, slivers of beetroot, radish and carrot in harissa. 
Come sunset, I walked down the dirt road for a beer on the beach, where tourists, expats and locals had gathered to watch the sea turn orange and surfers catch their last wave – no selfie sticks in sight.
Eleanor Halls travelled as a guest of La Valise, which offers doubles from £331; Pug Seal, which offers doubles from £214; Casa TO, which offers doubles from £216 and Casona Sforza, which offers doubles from £330. 
British Airways flies to Mexico city from London from £700 return; Aeromexico flies from Mexico City to Oaxaca from £43 and from Puerto Escondido back to Mexico City from £29. Private transfers from Oaxaca City to Puerto Escondido cost just under £200; bus tickets start from £15, both using the Barranca Larga-Ventanilla highway.

Explore hotels that have been tried, tested and rated by our experts