How to Travel in Huatulco – Mexican Transportation Explained

If you know anything about the bays, or read my description of the area in Where to Stay in Huatulco, I hope you have been convinced that it is well worth you time to travel within the Bahías de Huatulco and the surrounding areas. So, now that you are here to visit, how do you get around in Huatulco?

While Huatulco can seem sparse, it is actually very simple to travel in Huatulco! Many travelers are disappointed to find that there is no Uber or Lyft in Huatulco, but there are so many travel options that vary in price and ease for navigating the district of Santa María Huatulco, or to other regions and states if you are interested that you will hardly miss those ridesharing services.

There are many private and public transport options in Huatulco, some may be familiar and some are distinctly Mexican in nature. Your options for daily or long-range transport are:

Short Distance or Daily Trips

You are in a gorgeous part of the world, in an area that is pretty small compared to many other tourist destinations. If you are staying in La Crucecita or Santa Cruz, I would recommend renting bicycles at some point or for the duration of your stay, especially if you opted for an off-beach hotel in Santa Cruz.

Bicycles are extremely cheap to rent (I’ve seen as low as $500 pesos per month) and offer a cheap, leisurely alternative to a vehicle.

Note: It is extremely difficult to buy used bicycles in Huatulco, because they are such a cheap and convenient form of transport anyone who owns one rides it into the ground. New bicycles start at about $4,500 pesos at Chedraui and Coppel.

Sunrise bike ride from La Crucecita to Bahía Cacaluta

If you aren’t interested in navigating alone by bicycle, you could sign up for a bike tour! Check out this sunrise bike tour to Cacaluta I did with easy bikes huatulco.

Note: Did you know Huatulco is a fairly popular road biking destination? You will often see spandex-clad riders in the early morning (well, I see them coming back through town at the end of their ride around 10am). Huatulco is also home to the World Triathalon Cup Huatulco, held in June every year. In 2021, it was the last qualifier for the Tokyo Olympics!

Taxi’s are by far the easiest, most convenient, and still quite economical way to travel around Huatulco. One of the great things about travel in Huatulco is that the taxis are very safe and professional, but better yet they are standardized. No matter which taxi you take, they will all provide you the same rates. No need to stress about haggling or suffering a “tourist” fee.

You will notice that there are many, many different types of taxis in Huatulco. All will be painted with a white base, but the top half is a different colour, depending on which area they represent. These colours don’t mean too much to you as a visitor, but it identifies where that particular car has its home base.

All taxis can be identified by the two-tone paint job and some sort of logo and stickers that include the following information:

A logo or emblem for the area
The home location (Sitio _______)
The Taxi Number
The Phone Number (usually on the back window)
Bahias de Huatulco, Oax.

All taxis have a certain location they “live” in. These locations are in high traffic areas and are a place the drivers can rest and wait for clients, instead of constantly driving around. These parking locations usually also have a small dispatch office, so if there is no taxi waiting you can ask the dispatcher to call one. If you look on Google Maps for “Taxi Huatulco”, all the dots that appear are these taxi stands. Most bays and sectors have their own taxi collective.

Don’t be worried about not speaking Spanish with the taxi drivers, you really don’t need to be able to speak Spanish to ask for a taxi. If you need to ask the attendant or call, a simple “Hola, taxi por favor” is sufficient and they will ring one for you. And as long as you know the name of the location you are headed, the driver will understand. Worst case, you can put the address into Google maps and show the driver.

If you look on the Google listings for a taxi stand, you will see their phone number, so if you are out somewhere and can’t get a taxi you can call and ask. They also are usually on WhatsApp (with the same number) so if calling scares you, you can always try texting with the help of Google Translate!

Note: Beware that outside of the core sectors the cell reception can be rather spotty. If you take a taxi to a location without reception, arrange a time for that taxi driver to come and pick you up. They are more than happy to do so!

Airport Taxis

This is one place where you definitely pay a convenience fee. A taxi from the airport to La Crucecita or one of the bays starts at $200 pesos. Its about a 25-35 minute drive to Huatulco locations, so from the perspective of someone from someone outside of Mexico, $14 USD is a steal. However, if you walk out from the airport to Highway 200 (about 500m), you can flag down a taxi driving by for significantly less. You can also catch the bus just outside the airport.

Huatulco Public Transport – City Bus

Remember that there are plenty of people that live and work here, so Huatulco has traditional methods of public transport available too! The cheapest and most common for residents is the city bus.

The Huatulco Bus is recognizable but it’s white & blue paint job and a sign in the front window that reads “Santa Maria Huatulco”. This bus doesn’t stop every few blocks like a transit bus in a big city, but it does cover a lot of the region.

The bus route is as follows:

Santa Maria Huatulco > Downtown La Crucecita > Santa Cruz

Santa Cruz> Downtown La Crucecita > Santa Maria Huatulco.

You can get on the bus from the front or the back doors, but you must exit from the front and pay the driver as you leave. There is usually another attendant on board at the front entrance monitoring everyone’s entrance and exits.

Public transport is hands down the cheapest way to travel. Between La Crucecita and Santa Cruz, the cost is $8 pesos. From La Crucecita to Santa Maria Huatulco it is about $20 pesos. Be sure to have small change, you don’t want to hold everyone up while the driver is trying to change you $100 peso note.

Colectivos

Ok, now for a truly Mexican experience!

Colectivos are taxis that charge per seat in the vehicle, instead of a fee for the trip. They work between set locations and usually wait until the car is full before they will leave. I have mentioned them before in my instructions for getting to Bahía San Agustín, but there are many of these shared transport options scattered about the area.

I have found that colectivos are not really an organized form of transport, so you won’t find a lot of info online. Since they cater mostly to locals you really just need to know how to spot them, or have enough Spanish to ask for directions. Lucky for you, I have done that work for you! See my guide and maps to the colectivos in Huatulco here.

Long Distance Options

For day or weekend trips from La Crucecita or other areas in Huatulco, there are some additional options.

Bus – Long Distance

For further travel away from Huatulco, there are several bus companies in Mexico, the main one in Huatulco is ADO. ADO is a national company, so from here you can connect to any other state or large city. This is pretty much the only option for travelling between states by ground (eg. Chiapas).

Though slower, the ADO buses have bathrooms on board and sometimes wifi, so they can be better than the camionetas (see below) for longer trips if you want to stay connected. Some play movies too!

The other bus station is on the way out of town, towards the airport. It is called Central Camionera Huatulco Altamar, but everyone just calls it “segunda”. It’s the 2 nd second bus station. There is a bus line that runs from here, but it is also where you can find colectivos to:

Salina Cruz
Pochutla/Puerto Escondido

Pochutla is a bit of a gateway city, from there you can get taxis and colectivos to:

Zipolite
San Agustinillo
Mazunte
Puerto Escondido

Private Vans (Camionetas)

Another uniquely Mexican transport are the private van services. Honestly, I think they are the best option for medium range travel, 2 – 7 hours. These companies operate to specific locations around Oaxaca in 15 passenger vans or minibuses. I prefer camionetas to ADO, as I find them a little more comfortable and faster, naturally. Camionetas are a 2 destination operation, each location has a different brand. For a full list of locations and prices, see my post Budget Transport in Huatulco here.

For ADO and Camionetas, I recommend going to the station a day or so in advance to buy your ticket! You do not want to walk up and find out the time you were hoping for is sold out. Also, the seating is assigned so you can pick where you want to sit before it gets too full.

Car Rental

Another option, of course, is to rent a car while you are here. If are traveling in a group it might be preferable to avoid taking two taxis all the time, but remember you are on holiday! It can be very stressful driving here, there are so many motos, street performers, people selling goods, and the traffic laws are different. Especially if you enjoy having some margaritas on the beach, I do not recommend driving.

But, you might want to rent one for a day or two to go on an excursion or travel somewhere off-grid in Huatulco! So here are some options:

Los Tres Reyes Huatulco

Los Tres Reyes is the most highly rated rental company in Huatulco. It is located just outside the airport (where you could catch a bus or taxi) and has been commended for its exceptional customer service.

Airport Car Rentals

There are traditional car rentals in the HUX Airport, such as Alamo, Hertz, and Avis.

Flights

Another long-distance option is of course, flying! The Huatulco Airport has direct flights through many popular airlines, but also smaller airbus flights. This means that you can fly direct to a lot of places!

Volaris flies direct to Tijuana, Oaxaca City, and other popular destinations, avoiding a stop in CDMX.

WestJet, AirCanada, American Airlines, and Volaris also operate seasonal flights from Canada and the US directly to Huatulco! You can read all about those options here.