Mexico

Why Mexico

Mexico is really three surf trips wearing one flag, and picking the wrong one is the classic mistake.

• Nayarit (Sayulita / San Pancho / Punta Mita) — soft, forgiving, warm, and the single best place in the country to learn. La Lancha is a gentle point that a first-timer can genuinely surf.
• Guerrero (Troncones / La Saladita) — long, peeling, sand-bottom left points. Paradise on a longboard, and quiet by Mexican standards.
• Oaxaca (Puerto Escondido) — a split personality. La Punta is a friendly left; Zicatela is a heavy, hollow, genuinely dangerous beach break that has hurt a lot of confident surfers. They are a fifteen-minute walk apart, which is exactly why people get caught out.

When to go

• May–Oct: the south-swell season. Biggest, most consistent surf — and the rainy (green) season. The rain is mostly short afternoon storms; the swell is the point.
• Nov–Apr: smaller, drier, calmer. Better for beginners, thinner for everyone else.

Getting around

Fly into Puerto Vallarta for Nayarit, Zihuatanejo for Troncones, or Puerto Escondido (PXM) for Oaxaca. These are not day trips from one another — Puerto Escondido and Sayulita are a thousand kilometres apart. Pick one coast per trip.