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You’ve wrestled your backpack through Mexico City’s underground system and survived a ride through rush hour in a battered VW beetle without too much physical damage. You’ve also stopped off at Oaxaca, stumbled up to the summit of Monte Albarn and bought a jade gnome from a man with a terrifying moustache. Now it’s time for some serious ‘R&R’; swinging your hammock on the balcony of a wooden cabana with a cool Corona in your hand and nothing but white sand beach as far as the eye can see. Yes, before you set off down the coast towards Puerto Angel, Zipolite and the turtle grounds at Mazunte, a short stay in the little fishing town of Puerto Escondido is exactly what the doctor ordered. Here’s how to spend a quality 24 hours in the ‘hidden port’…

9am
After waking to the gentle ticking of the overhead fan and the crashing of the waves on the beach below, throw the mosquito net to one side and step onto the balcony of your own personal wooden bungalow - or cabana to give it the proper title. Taking things easy is hard work, and a decent breakfast is definitely the place to start. Nestling just behind the Playa Marinero end of the main beach (Bahia Principal) is Carmen’s Panaderia y Cafeteria run by the matriarchal Carmen and her Canadian husband. The fruit juices are like mainlining vitamin C, and groaning plates of fresh fruit are served up alongside delicious honey-soaked bread. Once Carmen has topped up your fresh coffee a couple of times you should have enough caffeine, vitamins and sugar inside you to be bouncing off the walls.

11am
Shopping trips need to be out the way before the midday sun kicks in, so walk past the fishing boats to the Avenue Perez Gasga - the pedestrianised (obviously excluding any police vehicles/teenagers speed-testing mopeds/people taking a short cut in their jeeps) main drag. If you don’t have one already, this is the place to buy your hammock. Obviously don’t buy the first one you see and get your haggling banter down-pat - just because you’re a tourist it doesn’t automatically mean you have to be a mug. Some of the shops are a bit upmarket for backpacker budgets, so be sure to steer any girls with imminent birthdays away from the silver shop just down from the Wipe Out Bar. The little supermarket at the east end sells those slow-burning mosquito ring thingys you’ll need for the cabana once the sun goes down, and the internet café halfway down is very reasonably priced if you need to check in with the rest of the world.

Midday
To the beach. It can get extremely hot in the summer, so make sure you’ve got access to some shade. The beachside bars have parasols and there are also plenty for hire all the way down the Bahia Principal. Puerto Escondido is a legendary Mexican surfing venue, but novices beware: long-boards in three-foot swells off Bondi this ain’t. Many of the slightly pricier bungalows and hotels have their own pool (think Lonely Planet’s ‘Places to stay – mid-range’) and it’s worth the extra pesos to be able to spend a couple of hours lounging in your hammock and rolling into the pool when the heat starts to get a bit much.

Or, if you’re still charged up by Carmen’s breakfast and fancy going further afield, you could always catch one of the little wooden speedboats (lanchas) that flit in and out of the beaches around the other side of the peninsula. Most are little more than a sheltered coves, but Puerto Angelito has a cute little beach ringed by a couple of little bars and restaurants and has a more ‘exclusive’ feel to it than the main beach. Wait until the sun retreats a bit and then take the 20 minute coastal path past the lighthouse back to town, keeping an eye out for the thousands of black crabs scuttle about on the rocks below.

7pm
If you don’t like seafood, skip to the next section. OK, so it’s probably possible to eat something other than fish in this town, but as most of the fishermen land their catch within spitting distance of the Perez Gasga restaurant strip, it would be foolish to eat anything else. The Red Snapper served up at the Restaurant Los Crotos practically bit my hand off it was so fresh, and neither the baleful stare of its lifeless eye nor the chattering of the giant bats in the palm trees next to us could stop me from seriously considering ordering another one there and then. A word of warning though: once you’ve had guacamole in Puerto Escondido you’ll feel obliged to slap the chef in your local ‘Mexican’ eatery back home for taking the mickey out of you all these years.

9pm
Puerto Escondido’s nightlife is concentrated along Av. Perez Gasga, so this is the place to tackle any serious night out. Stop off at the fearsomely-named Moctezuma’s Revenge for the compulsory round of tequilas, but the Barfly, Un Tigre Azil and the Wipe Out Bar are all within stumbling distance. The latter’s rooftop bar offers discount cocktails, loud music and the chance to become romantically entangled with someone you’re bound to bump into wherever you go for the rest of your stay. If you fancy more of a surfing tinge to your evening head down the Playa Zicatela and get stuck into Casa Babylon’s Cocktails. Run by two nutty French girls (who also mix a mean Mojhito), its CD and book collections will keep you amused while you wait for your turn on the backgammon board.

2am
You’re still in the Wipe Out bar and you’re about to purchase a round of Mezcal - Carmen is going to have her work cut out tomorrow morning. No trips in boats for you tomorrow but hey, at least now you know why the cabana with the pool outside is such a good idea…


Fact file
The best way to get to Puerto Escondido is by bus. The two routes to Oaxaca city are via highway 131 (7 hours) or highway 175 (8-9) hours and both run day and night services. Acapulco is around 7 hours drive to the west. If you’re feeling flush and fancy splashing out upwards of US$55 for a flight to Puerto Escondido, Aerocaribe, Aerovega and Global Air all fly to the coast from various Mexican locations.