My friend and I were last here in 2023 and not the best trip ever, for sure. I found a really good deal (at least in these days of time) so we booked it for roughly $1600 each; one week including direct flights on WestJet (no carry-on included - we paid $100 each for luggage 🙄), TWO hotel rooms and full trip/medical insurance. When I was talking to the owner (Hector) on WhatsApp about requesting mini-fridges, long story short; he ended up upgrading us to Suites with Kitchenettes so that was nice of him 🙏🏼!
It was both our birthday times; mine a few days before departure. Her "50th" dropped in Huatulco and I was happy to be able to celebrate it with her while there. The only planning was going to be what beach we sat on during the day and what restaurant/bar we ate/drank at in the evening. We did book a bay tour with Porfirio who I used for a boat trip with my son when there. It was $75 CAD each pre-tip and 20 - 25 people on board he said. My friend wanted to snorkel so that's why we booked it.
Sunday, November 23rd:
We were off to the airport at 6 am and all went smoothly. Travel days suck but this one didn't have too much pain. My friend's luggage was underweight which helped me because packing "lightly" this time, I was still over 🙄🙄🙄. I don't think I'll ever learn how to be efficient and realistic when it comes to packing... in the end, I wore about a third of what I brought 🤪...
We arrived at 5:30 pm local time. Customs was fine, we both got green lights. We walked out of the airport to get a cheaper taxi at the gas station. We got the ride for $350 MXN ($27 CAD).
We followed the lady ahead of us and the gas station is at the green sign straight ahead. She said her husband was too cheap to take a cab from the airport but she hated walking in the humidity. It looked like a long walk, but it wasn't but the humidity did start to rise... The driver didn't seem happy with the $400 MXN we gave him though that's what he asked for though in the first place 🤷. We told him $350 and he agreed so not sure why he was upset? I felt like he already overcharged us as on the way back the taxi was $250 pesos pre-tip and we gave him $400 pesos and he was super happy.
Hotel check-in was good and it looked nice enough. She surprised us by putting wrist bands on us that were VIP for free breakfast 7 - 11:30 am. This was NOT in our original booking so thanks to Hector for all the nice treatment! We had rooms 203 & 204 which were directly opposite each other. We took the stairs up with our heavy luggage missing that they had an elevator 🙄🧳💪🏼 (we walked right by it, lol).
We went to look for dinner as both of us just had a quick bite at Starbucks at the airport and we were both hungry. I remembered a fish & chips place by the mega grocery store, which was a 2 minute walk from our hotel as well. Very convenient spot! However, google maps had us spinning in circles, we walked back and forth and finally got a cab. It had moved! It was in downtown Centro now, not by the Chedraui (pronounced cheh-DRA-wee 😉) grocery store. Flat taxi fare around Centro was $50 MXN ($4 CAD).
The new restaurant was nice. Service was good and so was the food though the fish was really salty. I remembered that from last time as well.
SHRIMP CHIMICHANGAS $13.50 CAD (My favorite dish of the evening)
CHIPOTLE CRAB TOSTADAS $13.50 CAD (Meh)
The salsas were excellent and we enjoyed dinner and felt so much better. We took a cab back to the Chedraui and bought water and a couple things for our rooms. We said goodnight. I fell asleep for one hour then was freezing cold (only one sheet for bedding on top of bottom one), had to turn the A/C lower to warm up. I puttered and unpacked a little listening to 80's playlists on youtube. Then I wrote the report and tried to get back to sleep 4:30 am local time. That was only 2:30 am my time and I stay up even later at home these days...
Monday, November 24th:
I had msg'd my friend asking if we could have a non-beach exploring lazy day before I started prepping for the day. Our boat cruise was booked for today but Porfirio told us he had made a mistake and it was tomorrow.
She agreed and went for an early morning dip in the pool and waited for me to get ready, which ended up being about 11:00 am and we got just a bit of time to check out the complimentary breakfast buffet.
I didn't take any pictures and they were closing; we tried a few bites and had a coffee. They had fruit and waffles; stewed chicken and a hash, hard boiled eggs, etc. It wasn't anything to write home about but it was fine to put a little food in the tummy. We asked directions how to walk to the Santa Cruz market but got all twisted around and it took an extra long time and we had to stop at
El Cajun to get out of the humidity. I saw Daniel, the waiter next door at "Sabor A Mi" and recognized him immediately. I don't think he did me and was quite surprised when I called him by name.
We ordered a drink and some habanero mango wings. Delicious sauce though wings could have been crispier. And then it was time to get back into the heat and continue on. We finally made it to the stores at Santa Cruz pier.
We perused the shops. I found a couple T-shirts for my son. My friend wasn't as lucky searching for her treasures though she did get a cowboy hat she liked. We decided to stop at the beach for another drink/snack at
Ve El Mar.
The $20 CAD garlic shrimp below were okay but not like the shrimp I'm used to getting at the beach, and these were beach prices, especially the drinks! They were small and hard to peel though they tasted great.
Afterwards we walked through the marina and headed over to Cafe Huatulco to buy coffee for home. My son likes their coffee and I wanted to gift him some for Christmas. We decided to sit for a coffee like old times and were surprised to see we ordered Iced but they were actually really delicious in this weather, that and they were boozy 😋.
And then it was a walk to the Castillo which was the first place we stayed in Huatulco and discovered Sangrita: (meaning "little blood") it is a traditional, non-alcoholic Mexican beverage designed as a spicy and fruity chaser or a companion sipper to a shot of blanco tequila. It is a palate cleanser that enhances the flavor of the agave spirit. It should not be confused with the wine-based drink, sangria.
We had a couple of these. They didn't charge for the first round but understood we weren't guests for the second and we paid. We did try to tell them first round but they just waved us off. We had a nice visit on memory lane and then took a cab to "cheh-DRA-wee". We were on the hunt for the fried chicken which I adored our last visits but she hadn't tried it yet. Alas, they were sold out! We got ready for dinner and went into Centro.
We had a stroll around and then decided on Xipol for a snack & drink, enjoying the company 🐶.
I really enjoyed the flank steak beef nachos here. So far the best thing I'd eaten. My friend was less sussed 🤷🏽♀️. Prices were reasonable as well.
We continued wandering around town and I saw an Argentinian "Choripán" food truck I wanted to try... next time!
And then close by was one of my fave places with a view, Restaurante La Chicatana. Below was the view from our table, followed by our drinks. She had an espresso Negroni and I the espresso martini.
We wandered over to Ricky's, had a beer on the back patio. I tried a chocolate Modelo which surprisingly to me tasted exactly like chocolate. I'm not sure to this day if I liked it or not?
We took a taxi back to the hotel and said our goodnights. We had an early day coming up.
Tuesday, November 25th:
We grabbed a quick take out bite from the hotel cafe and ate outside waiting for the cab.
We arrived at Marina Chahué (pronounced "cha-WAY") for 9:30 AM. Porfirio and crew showed up and we saw the boat we were going on "My Brother", below:
We had to pay a 50 peso environmental fee before departure and then we were on our way. Below was the view from our seat of choice which was covered from the sun, and right in front of the bar 😉. My friend joked we had a hot tub but actually it's where they stored the life vests 🤷🏽♀️:
I had my own snorkel/mask and they provided fins, but only the mask if needed. We did jump off a couple of times where they claimed there was good snorkeling but the water was very stirred up and no visibility. However, it was beautiful but wavy for sure and took effort to not stray too far out. Unlike most snorkel tours where staff assist you with vests, getting on/off the boat, etc. this tour provided none of that and you were on your own. For the price though can't really complain... On the upside, they made killer margaritas to order and served drinks non-stop while onboard 🍹. We made our way to San Agustin (my favorite Bay) for lunch:
Snorkeling was great here, nice and clear, coral right in front of us. I lent my snorkel/mask to my friend who was obviously struggling without the snorkel part.
Our boat dropped us off at
Mar & Luz restaurant. I ordered the "Camarón | Shrimp 4X4" which was 4 of each kind (Garlic, Butter, Breaded & Devil Sauce (my fave - Chipotle) for $35 CAD. Now, this was my favorite meal so far 😋. My friend had the garlic shrimp again. The flies were so bothersome at the beaches, downright annoying 🪰🪰🪰.
When it was time to go, we had to tender back to the boat.
The panga was packed full and the water was very choppy now. I honestly thought we might flip over and Porfirio said they did last week! Anyway, we managed and then got back on for more drinks and sunset serenity before hitting the marina.
The marina was closed upon our return but thankfully some nice local people called a taxi for us. While we waited I captured one more pic of the sunset:
Tonight was my birthday celebration dinner at "
Blu" which is at Sea Soul Beach Club. It was walking distance from our hotel but we took a taxi as it was a pitch black night and it feels kind of jungle like around the beach club, haha. We were a half hour early but could hear music at "Chahue Corner" so we stopped there for a glass of wine which we found expensive.
We noticed how much more expensive it was in Huatulco now. In hindsight, it's that our sad Canadian dollar is weak against the Mexican peso! That's a first! We were used to getting more value for our buck, but that was gone and it cost us 1.5 X more this trip in spending money ☹️...
Above was the view from our table when seated for dinner. Below, my friend got Truffled Beef Carpaccio and I the Tuna Tartar for our appetizers. Both were delicious! We had a handsome waiter and service was great. He said the owners have the same restaurant in Toronto, Ontario.
For entree I had Beef Tenderloin with Mushroom Sauce and she had Burrata Salad. She said that was her favorite meal of this trip. I ordered my steak medium rare but it was blue rare and I let my friend eat most of it because I was afraid it was going to get up and walk away on its own... I cleaned my plate with the rest of the meal though 😋.
My friend ordered a bottle of wine for my birthday and we drank that until the restaurant closed. I had to use my credit card for my meal and it came to $78 CAD. Our waiter called us a taxi and told us to wait in the parking lot for it. It never showed. We walked down to the Quinta Bella hotel gate and security wouldn't call us one and sent us to the gift shop. They wouldn't order us one either. We were just deciding whether to walk back when the waiter came out to his car. He offered to drive us to the cheh-DRA-wee and we made it with about 10 minutes before it closed. Two girls on a scooter were flirting with him and his passenger as were were at a stoplight, lol.
We got our fried chicken!!! We went back to her room for another drink and a piece of chicken - as good as I remembered! Back in my room, I went to sleep with contacts in...
Wednesday, November 26th:
I awoke and my eyes were sooooo sore. I kept rubbing them and then thought I might have slept with my contacts in but couldn't find them. My eyes were red and streaming tears. I finally opened my blinds with the bright sun and a hand mirror and found they had slid into the corners of my eyes. I managed to get them out and it felt much, much better, UGH! We got a taxi and headed to Bahia Maguey. Got our usual spot at
El Pescador.
I had bought a couple of water hammocks ($12 for two! Temu's great for some things, haha) before we left and I blew mine up today. It was great floating in the water with it - I could have fallen asleep and drifted out 🌊. Best thing ever! I like them for the ease of getting on/off them and that they pack small and light.
For lunch, I think my friend had garlic shrimp again. I just had a bowl of shrimp soup which was very good though it wasn't photogenic:
The flies and bugs were out like crazy again 🪰🪰🪰 and service was just okay and we weren't feeling it anymore. We went to go find somewhere else to have a drink but it looked like all the places were closing and were ignoring us when we came in. We tried to get someone to call us a taxi but no one would. In fact Restaurante Las Hamacas was downright rude to us! I'm writing this so I will remember to never go there again. Anyway, we wandered out back and back down the hill and found a taxi with a passenger. We waved at him to call another for us, but he told us to get in and we ended up sharing it with a kind lady. As he was driving out, we saw where the taxis sit so would have found them eventually. My anxiety was high but we got back to the hotel and decided to go have a drink in the pool bar.
It was totally deserted but an attractive guy came to serve us, on Mexican time, lol. I had a Pina Colada and my friend a Margarita. Both were delicious and boozy. My anxiety settled down... I think it was the umbrella in my drink - I love them and to me says "vacation" 😊.
We got ready for dinner and headed to Centro in a taxi. We decided on
Tequila Taberna for both a meal and tequila tasting. We chose the basic package over the premium which was about $45 CAD each.
We let the server Christina choose for us. It was her first tasting and she did an amazing job. We enjoyed it very much. My friend bought a bottle of reposado for the gal at home watching her cat. Below were the 8 tequilas we tried:
We ordered food as well. I was stoked to see they had smoked meats but my friend doesn't enjoy that so I just ordered the smoked birria tacos, which were fantastic though the picture doesn't capture it. My friend had some chicken lettuce cups.
Below, the margarita that came with our package was fantastic. Christina told us the bartender made the best sangritas so we finished the night with a couple of those. We were really happy with this place. Staff, live music, food, drinks all excellent and reasonably priced. Owners are from Calgary, Alberta.
We took a taxi home and had another drink in her room, and maybe a piece of fried chicken too 😉🍗.
Thursday, November 27th:
We reserved a day pass at the
Quinta Bella (Bella is pronounced "baya") pool. The pass includes a towel, lounge chairs and use of the pools but no drinks or food for 200 pesos or $15 CAD. We walked down there and Christmas was coming to life all around Huatulco.
We checked in, got our towels and found lounge chairs. It was pretty quiet and we had the big pool pretty much to ourselves which was perfect for the hammock floaties. Below is our view from where we sat:
One change since our last visit is that restaurants/bars were now doing separate checks which was nice. Last visits we always had to sit with a pen and figure out our drinks, etc. and at a long dinner, it would take a longer time to figure it all out ✍🏼📝. Anyway, the food today while not really a meal was my favorite of the trip so far. Below were my first "fresh" items. Absolutely DELISH! The pool food came from "
Marea Restaurant" on property.
My friend ordered Aguachile and I had to follow suit. She said it was SPICY🌶️ and I wanted in! She had the traditional and I the "Culichi" style.
To me, these were just WOW! I ended up drinking the remaining liquids from both bowls and it burned so good, err..
twice if you catch my drift... ♨️ 😉?
The Red Flag is always up at Playa Chahue
We had two bills each, one for liquor and one for food. That took a bit of time to sort out and especially the separate checks part, but it worked out in the end. We walked back to our hotel and got ready for dinner. It was US Thanksgiving and we weren't interested in a turkey meal so we thought we'd just head to Centro and figure it out from there. We decided to start at
Alfredo's as we always go there at least once while in Huatulco. It was quite busy but we managed to find a table on the outside patio. They were only doing a Thanksgiving menu and nothing else. They had live music as well.
We both got salads from the appetizer part of the menu. Hers was a pear walnut thingy and I had some kind of Cobb. It was very brave of us because we were trying to avoid raw vegetables mostly, but because neither of us had been sick this visit (touch wood 🪵), we chanced it. Both were tasty and we had no complaints. In fact we finished them completely.
All of sudden it seemed almost the entire restaurant cleared out and then the band starting chatting with the folks that were left, including us. This made us quite uncomfortable so we decided to leave as we weren't feeling like being in the spotlight. We walked by the hotel below which is somewhere I've always wanted to stay but haven't yet. When I've brought it up it was dismissed because they don't have a pool... We've eaten at the restaurant before as well and it was good.
I decided I wanted to go get the Choripan to take back to the hotel for later. My friend wasn't thrilled following me with my google maps so she said she'd wait by the town square for me and window shop. The maps ended up taking me to the restaurant instead of the food truck but the owner said they were both the same and made me a sandwich to go.
I headed back to the town square and we saw a
club that seemed busy and full of locals so we went in.
The only seats were at the bar. We ordered espresso martinis and watched the live band and salsa dancing.
We ended the night back at Tequila Taberna and had Sangritas till closing time. It was their grand opening of the downstairs, a new addition to their space.
We went back to the hotel and her room for a drink and tried the choripan. It was good though would have been better fresh and hot. And there may or may not been more fried chicken that evening, haha...
Friday, November 28th:
We slept in today and had no plans except for dinner which felt good. We ended up going to the Chedraui for champagne and maybe more chicken... we were both addicted to it if you can't tell already. We took our champagne in water bottles and sat at the hotel pool.
The day turned into a blur. I warned my friend I was waaaay too drunk, but somehow I managed to get ready and make it into Centro with her. We found
Thai Pei restaurant which I wanted to check out so we went in for pre-dinner drinks. We chatted with some other people having dinner and they said the food was great so we said we'd come back tomorrow. Our server said they opened at 2 pm. I have a LOT of pictures of us on their swings, lol. Our poor server 😆.
Then we headed over to
Rocoto. I have a couple pics of our appetizers. I remember I had seafood chowder. My friend told me the next day I kept saying there was no seafood but looking at the picture, I can clearly see lots of it in there, lol. I don't have a clue what she had though it looks scrumptious:
"Turn out the lights, the party's over 😵"... My switch flipped, triggers ignited and I left with my uneaten dinner, spilled wine on the table and an expensive bill for nothing. I ended up throwing dinner in the trash at
Otto's place down the street.
I sat there and had two Sangritas and then got a cab back to the hotel. And I slept in my contacts again...
Saturday, November 29th:
Today was my friend's 50th birthday. Of course I felt like absolute shit, both mentally and physically. My triggers and alcohol are NOT a good combination when I cross the line of imbibing "too many drinks". In hindsight, I should have never went to dinner and took a nap instead! Anyway, speaking of drinks, I gulped an electrolyte water down and then wondered if it'd stay there. Then I knocked on her door with her birthday present and a bottle of Rosé that matched her gift bag. I didn't go into her room while she opened it and instead got back into bed. She msg'd, thanked me and invited me over for a glass of Rosé but I declined and told her to enjoy it. I drifted back to sleep...
My phone woke me and she msg'd asking if we were going to Thai Pei for lunch and 2 for 1 Margaritas at 1 pm like we had planned? I said no and told her to enjoy her day. BUT, then I thought about how I was just going to lie there and mope and feel sorry for myself and that wasn't fair to do for her birthday so I told her I'd be ready for our 2 pm lunch. I msg'd Rocoto as well and apologized for my behavior. They graciously accepted it and said I was welcome back anytime. I went to her room first and and we talked it out - all good; so it was time to move on and get ready to go eat... I had bought her a 50th Birthday Tiara and she wore it and looked adorable in it 😍.
Our server from the night before greeted us and told us the chef wasn't quite ready yet but we could have a drink. I got the same delicious mango thingy I had the night before. We ordered and I asked him how come his English language was so good. He laughed and said I asked him that last night, didn't I remember? Oops 🤭. Anyway, he grew up in Florida is why, and I remembered when he told me again. I liked the Vietnamese rolls (though I don't know where they got that name), but that was the only thing I did enjoy. Everything else was pretty meh though I ate it as I was starving! I'm writing this report a month later so I'm doing my best to remember everything from all the pictures. I ordered the sticky ribs and Pad Thai below:
My friend enjoyed hers though so I was happy for her. I think she had a Thai green curry stir-fry? At least that's what it looks like...
We went and got another bottle of Rosé from Chedraui and then got ready for dinner. I also got my friend a sash that said "Fiftylicious" so she wore that over her sparkly white dress. We walked down to
Otto restaurant at the Quinta Bella.
The complimentary bread and dips/salsas are always a highlight here and this was no exception. There was also a hummus as well this time:
My friend had Caesar Salad and I had bone marrow with ants eggs (Escamoles a.k.a Mexican Caviar) and smoked avocado. Really delicious though I was surprised at how big those eggs were considering they came from ants!
For entree my friend had steak tartar and I had short ribs (melt in your mouth). All the food so far was sublime, no complaints at all.
The only dish that was a waste was the ratatouille I ordered. I could only manage a bite and it wasn't anything to write home about though it looked beautiful in presentation.
We were absolutely stuffed! I had to coax my friend into sharing dessert as I had bought a her a birthday topper for it. I finally was able to talk her into the Basque cheesecake by raving about it, lol. We got Cafe Lattes to go with it. They brought it out with a sparkle fountain candle but it blew out before we could get a picture. When we got the bills, they told us they comped her dessert which was lovely of them as well 💜.
Dinner was exceptional! We waddled back to the hotel and said good-night. Tomorrow was check out so we were busy puttering and packing...
Sunday, November 30th:
We checked out at noon sharp and stowed our luggage. We sat in the hotel restaurant and had a beer while waited for it to be 1 pm for the 2 for 1 margaritas a few doors down. We walked by another Christmas tree but the lights seemed to be out at the top (or they ran out) otherwise it would have been beautiful.
Restaurante Galería, where we went for the margaritas was cute and they had an A/C room in the back which we sat in.
The margs were very sweet so we asked them to cut the sugar and then they were much better. I had some beef tacos and the best thing about them was the "
Salsa Macha" they served with it. I found it at the airport and brought it home. It packs a punch 👊🏼! We sat there until it was time to depart for the airport. Back at the hotel, Hector and the attractive waiter from the pool bar (his son?) helped us load our luggage into the taxi. We thanked everyone and said our good-byes. Taxi fare was 250 pesos. We checked in, both luggages were underweight though we sure sweated worrying about it! We shopped, bought duty free, went to the restaurant, had drinks and waited to board...
...and we waited... flight was delayed multiple times and at the 4 hour mark, they cancelled it. We all had to collect our luggage and go through security AGAIN with it. Then they shuffled us off to different hotels/resorts telling us to check our emails for our new flight info. We lucked out and got Dreams all-inclusive. It was a long drive and we didn't get checked in till well after 11 pm, maybe midnight? We had to share a room which my friend wasn't too happy about but they didn't care that we had our own rooms. We were on the same flight booking so that was one room to them. The only food was room service but I wasn't going to order while she was trying to sleep so I went to the only bar that was open which was the night club. It was pretty loud and everyone was in a congo line so I didn't stay long. I asked for a double wine and went and sat in the lobby.
Monday, December 1st:
When I did get back to the room I was unable to sleep and lied awake till morning. I called WestJet to ask how we were getting back to the airport and they kept me on hold for 90 minutes only to tell me to check with the WestJet desk at the hotel 🙄. I left the room and went for a walk. The resort was HUGE. There'd be no problem getting your steps in if you stayed there 👣.
I went for breakfast at the buffet restaurant. Below was the view from my table.
I found the line for the WestJet desk and they said the transport would be at noon (checkout time). I went and sat at the lobby bar and ordered champagne until then. I watched the staff decorate the Christmas tree.
The transport showed up about an hour late but we were on time for 3:30 pm flight. WestJet let us pack our duty free in our luggage knowing we'd be overweight as we couldn't find our receipts to carry it through security. While waiting I took the picture below of the National Guards(?) but he didn't look happy about it, lol.
Finally it was time to board...
Flight was fine. I was stuck in the middle seat again but I did manage some Z's💤. WestJet apologized to us but didn't offer a free drink or anything like that. Anyway, I was in my home about 11 pm that evening and happy to be there!
Final Thoughts: Normally I would bring $1000 CAD converted to pesos for a week and that would let me live like a queen wanting for nothing and maybe even coming home with pesos for next trip. This time I brought $1200. My final tab on spending money was $1600+ CAD ($400+ on credit card) for me and we didn't live like queens though we didn't deny ourselves either; but I had to reign in my spending at times... I ran out of my daily budget a few different days...
Other than that, except for the "one blind drunk 🥴" night and getting delayed leaving, the trip was almost perfect. I enjoyed it a lot with my friend on her milestone birthday and it restored my faith in visiting Huatulco again. WestJet denied our compensation claim stating and I quote "Upon review of your reservation, we are unable to approve your claim for compensation as the most significant reason for your flight interruption was due to unplanned aircraft maintenance and outside of WestJet’s control."...🙄🙄🙄 ¡Hasta la próxima!
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