Pacific Coast Events

The coast’s calendar is built around turtles, whales and the Catholic year, with one event that belongs to the Costa Chica alone.

Turtle arribadas — July to December

At Escobilla and Morro Ayuta on the Oaxaca coast, olive ridley turtles come ashore in arribadas — mass synchronised nestings in which tens or even hundreds of thousands of females emerge over a few nights, so densely that later arrivals dig up earlier nests. These are among the largest reptile aggregations on earth, they happen on only a handful of beaches worldwide, and the timing is loosely tied to the last quarter moon but never certain. Access is controlled and must be arranged through the authorities or a sanctuary; the Mexican Turtle Centre at Mazunte, which occupies the site of a former turtle slaughterhouse closed in 1990, is the place to start.

Humpback whales — December to March

Banderas Bay off Puerto Vallarta fills with humpbacks that have come from Alaska to calve and mate, with breaching and song audible through a hull. Licensed operators only.

Danza de los Diablos — 1 and 2 November

On the Afro-Mexican Costa Chica, masked dancers with horsehair beards perform for the Day of the Dead, a tradition of African origin marking the return of the ancestors.

Guelaguetza and the sierra fiestas — July

Inland and up from this coast, Oaxaca’s Guelaguetza brings delegations from every region of the state to dance in their own dress and music over two Mondays in July, and coastal and Afro-Mexican communities send groups. Many of the sierra villages behind the coast hold their own patronal fiestas through the summer with fireworks castles, brass bands and mezcal, and these are the unstaged version of the same thing.

Surf competitions — summer

Puerto Escondido hosts international events when the southern swell is running.