🇲🇽 Mexico · Pacific Coast
Bahías de Huatulco is one of the best-kept secrets of the Mexican Pacific: a string of nine bays and 36 beaches stretching along the Oaxaca coast, many of them untouched and reachable only by boat. Unlike the big saturated destinations, Huatulco was born with a different philosophy, betting on orderly development, low density and sustainability, which has earned it international recognition as a responsible-tourism destination.
Huatulco's great treasure is its almost intact nature: turquoise, crystal-clear water, coral reefs made for snorkeling, dry forest that reaches the sea and Huatulco National Park, which protects a good part of the bays. Here you can swim among colorful fish at La Entrega, take a boat to lonely bays like Cacaluta or Maguey, spot turtles, dolphins and, in season, humpback whales, all in a protected setting with exceptionally clean water.
This guide covers Huatulco with a practical eye: how to organize the classic nine bays tour, which beaches to pick for swimming or diving, where the hotels and services are concentrated, what La Crucecita is like, what the sierra's ecotourism and Oaxacan coffee offer, and how to get around this calm, green destination. A corner of the Pacific for anyone after paradise beaches, nature and quiet, far from the bustle.
The name Huatulco comes from the Nahuatl 'Cuauhtolco' or 'Guatulco', usually translated as 'place where the wood (or the cross) is worshipped', in reference to one of the most famous legends of the Oaxaca coast: that of the Holy Cross of Huatulco. According to tradition, some 1,500 years ago a white-haired, bearded old man arrived from the sea carrying an enormous wooden cross that he planted in the sand of what is now Santa Cruz bay. The cross became an object of veneration. During the colonial period, Huatulco was a secondary Pacific port tied to the Manila Galleon route, and therefore a target for pirates: in 1579 the English privateer Francis Drake sacked Huatulco, and in 1587 Thomas Cavendish tried to destroy the cross with fire, axes and saws without succeeding, according to the legend. In 1612 the cross was sent to Oaxaca and divided into fragments distributed to the cathedral, the Vatican and other churches. After centuries as a peaceful fishing area, in the 1980s the Mexican state, through Fonatur, developed Huatulco as a planned and sustainable resort area, and in 1998 Huatulco National Park was decreed. The full story is on our history page.
Read the full history ↓The state with the greatest Indigenous diversity in the country: Zapotec and Mixtec land of Monte Albán and Mitla, birthplace of Benito Juárez and Porfirio Díaz, capital of food, mezcal and Pacific beaches.
Read the history of Oaxaca →No exact prices: a scale from $ (budget) to $$$$$ (luxury), with 2-3 options per category.
Origins, formation and what the sources say.
The Huatulco coast, in southern Oaxaca, was inhabited from pre-Hispanic times by Indigenous peoples of the region, in a territory of great cultural diversity where communities of different languages and traditions lived side by side. They lived off fishing, farming, gathering and coastal trade, making use of a strip of sheltered bays with great marine wealth. The area was known and traveled long before the Spanish arrived.
The name 'Huatulco' comes from the Nahuatl 'Cuauhtolco' or 'Guatulco', usually translated as 'place where the wood is worshipped' or 'where the wood (the cross) is'. This etymology is directly tied to the most famous legend of the place: that of the Holy Cross of Huatulco, a venerated piece of wood that, according to tradition, had existed on these shores long before the Spanish conquest. The toponym, then, preserves the memory of an ancient cult associated with a sacred cross or piece of wood.
That fusion of the Indigenous substrate and the legend of the wood makes Huatulco a singular place on the Oaxaca coast. Before it became a tourist destination, the region was, for centuries, a peaceful territory of fishermen and small communities, marked by its colonial history and by the raids of the pirates who scoured the Pacific in search of the riches crossing the ocean.
Huatulco's most famous legend —the one that gave the place and Santa Cruz bay their name— tells that, roughly 1,500 years ago, long before the Spanish arrived, an old man with white skin, a long beard and long hair came from the sea to these shores carrying an enormous wooden cross. The mysterious figure drove the wood deep into the sand of what is now Santa Cruz beach and then disappeared. From then on, the peoples of the region venerated that cross.
Later Catholic tradition read the story as a miraculous prefiguring of the Christian faith in the Americas, and some versions identify the old man as the apostle Saint Thomas. Beyond its legendary character, the account shows the enormous symbolic importance that the wood —the 'Santa Cruz'— held for the local community and for the later evangelization of the coast.
The cross became such a powerful object of devotion that it survived, according to the legend, the pirates' attempts to destroy it. Finally, in 1612, the cross was moved to the city of Oaxaca, where it was divided into smaller fragments distributed to different places: pieces that, according to tradition, were sent to the Vatican, the Oaxaca Cathedral, the church of Santa María Huatulco and a chapel in Puebla. The bay kept the name Santa Cruz forever, in memory of that miraculous wood.
During the colonial era, Huatulco was a secondary but significant Pacific port of New Spain, tied to shipping between Acapulco, the Central American coasts and, to some extent, the Manila Galleon route linking Acapulco with the Philippines. Ships and goods passed through its bays, which made the region a target for the European privateers and pirates stalking the Spanish empire's riches in the Pacific.
The most famous raids bear the names of two famous English privateers. In 1579, Francis Drake —the legendary navigator and privateer in the service of Queen Elizabeth I of England— sacked Huatulco during his voyage through the Pacific. Years later, in 1587, Thomas Cavendish also reached Huatulco, hoping to find treasure after Drake's sack. According to the legend, Cavendish tried to destroy the enormous wooden cross on the beach with fire, axes and saws, but the wood miraculously resisted every attempt, which reinforced its reputation as sacred all the more.
These episodes of piracy are a central part of Huatulco's historical memory and are woven into the legend of the Holy Cross. After that turbulent era, and with Huatulco's decline as a port in the face of Acapulco's dominance, the region entered a long period of calm. For centuries, the bays went back to being a peaceful territory of fishermen and small communities, almost forgotten by the rest of the country, keeping their nature intact.
After centuries of calm as a fishing area, Huatulco went through a radical transformation in the 1980s. The Mexican state, through the National Tourism Development Fund (Fonatur) —the same body that had developed Cancún and Ixtapa—, chose the bays of Huatulco to create a new Integrally Planned Center (CIP). In 1984, the federal government expropriated the land area in favor of Fonatur to start the tourism project.
Unlike the excesses of other destinations, Huatulco was conceived with a philosophy of orderly, low-density development that respected the setting. The plan set aside wide areas for conservation, concentrated the urbanization and the hotels in a few bays (Santa Cruz, Chahué, Tangolunda) and left many others untouched. The service town of La Crucecita was created to house the population and everyday life, separate from the hotel zones. The intent was to avoid overcrowding and preserve the natural character of the bays.
The development gave Huatulco an international airport, infrastructure, a marina and hotels, putting the destination on the national and international tourist map. Its growth, however, was slower and more measured than Cancún's or Acapulco's, which, far from being a flaw, became over time its greatest virtue: Huatulco kept its calm, its low density and its almost intact natural setting, laying the ground for its future identity as a sustainable destination.
Huatulco's commitment to conservation was cemented on 24 July 1998, when Huatulco National Park was decreed, a protected natural area that since the year 2000 has been managed by the National Commission of Protected Natural Areas (CONANP). The park covers close to 12,000 hectares, combining land (deciduous dry forest, one of the most threatened in the country) and sea (coral reefs, bays and their wildlife). That formal protection shielded a good part of the bays from urbanization.
Over the years, Huatulco became a benchmark for sustainable tourism in Mexico and worldwide. The destination earned international responsible-tourism certifications —like the EarthCheck seal—, with commitments on clean energy use (part of its electricity comes from wind farms), water and waste management, and the protection of ecosystems. That bet set Huatulco apart from mass-tourism models and positioned it as a destination for conscious travelers.
Today, Bahías de Huatulco offers a singular balance: the comfort of a planned destination, with hotels, services and an airport, alongside the chance to explore untouched bays, coral reefs, forest and rich wildlife —turtles, dolphins and, in season, humpback whales. The legend of the Holy Cross, the pirate past, Oaxacan culture and protected nature combine to make Huatulco one of the most beautiful, calm and responsible corners of the Mexican Pacific.