Santa Cruz Bay (Bahía Santa Cruz)
Santa Cruz Bay, Oaxaca, 68030
Home to Huatulco’s harbor, Santa Cruz Bay (Bahía Santa Cruz) is located just minutes from La Crucecita and offers shops, restaurants, hotels, and easily accessible beaches. It’s the jumping-off point for boat tours of Huatulco’s bays, or for hiring small fishing boats to visit some of the coast's more remote spots.
The Basics
Santa Cruz is the perfect place to shop for artisan crafts, enjoy authentic Oaxacan cuisine, and experience the beauty of the coast. Beach-goers can rent kayaks and jet skies to tour the bay, or swim and snorkel from shore. Those looking for a more scenic escape can hop aboard one of the sightseeing cruises, which depart from the main dock. These excursions carry travelers across the bay, with stops at a number of popular beaches.
Things to Know Before You Go
English is widely spoken in almost all of the Huatulco tourist areas.
Most boat tours of the Huatulco Bays leave from the harbor in Santa Cruz.
The bay has restaurants, shops, and water-sports facilities.
Bring sunblock and a hat or sunglasses, as the beaches offer little shade.
Beach chairs and umbrellas are available to rent.
How to Get There
The Huatulco Bays stretch for 22 miles (35 kilometers) along Mexico’s Pacific Coast in the state of Oaxaca. Most visitors arrive by air or cruise ship. Getting there from Oaxaca City by car takes about five or six hours. Santa Cruz Bay is located on the same seaside boulevard as La Crucecita.
When to Get There
Santa Cruz Bay is lovely year-round. The Huatulco resort area as a whole receives fewer tourists than other popular Mexican resort areas and overcrowding is rarely a problem, though Santa Cruz tends to get crowded on days when cruise ships dock here.
Boat Tours of the Huatulco Bays
A boat tour is one of the best ways to explore Huatulco. Sightseeing cruises typically depart from Santa Cruz and include stops at a number of popular beaches, such as Yerbabuena, La India, and Cacaluta. Small fishing boats calledlanchas wait in Santa Cruz to take visitors to the untouched shores of bays like Chachacual, which is only accessible by boat.
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