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Best road to Salina Cruz in Oaxaca


protekme

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There are 3 roads going from Oaxaca to the coast, one to Puerto Escondido, another to Puerto Angel and the longest to Salina Cruz. They all have to cross the Sierra Madre range and are excruciatingly slow and windy. I have driven the first 2 and each took 5 or more hours to travel 150 miles from Oaxaca City to the coast..

If you are driving from Ajijic the safest route is the cuota that connects Cuernavaca to Acapulco. At least you can traverse the Sierra's on a 4 lane highway.

If I remember right we spent the night in Salina Cruz in a very hot room having driven from Guatemala along the coast road. From there is was a long drive just to get to Chilpancingo by nightfall and found a room where the rates were quoted by the hour. Puerto Escondido has places to stay but if you can, plan a stop in Huatulco which has fabulous facilities although it's pretty close to Salina Cruz.

In order to get to the Acapulco cuota you'd need to go through Toluca and either Ixtapan de la Sal to Taxco to the cuota or head toward Cuernavaca through the mountains.

Either way the trip will be very long 2 days and a little easier in 3. Unless absolutely necessary try to bypass Acapulco.

Salina Cruz is on the Pacific side of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, the narrowest part of Mexico between the Gulf and the Pacific. It was amazing to drive through mile after mile of CFE wind turbine farms that cover that area.

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Am somewhat curious as to why anyone would want to go to Salina Cruz. I was there 40 years ago and it was not a pleasant place. The beach was called La Ventosa and the wind blew so hard there all the time that the sand constantly blew in your eyes. Tehuantapec was interesting though, and most of Oaxaca quite beautiful.

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In my opinion the two lane road over the Sierra's is a lot more dangerous than the heavily traveled road through Acapulco. In addition, if you want to get to Oaxaca City to start that trek you'll need to swing around DF to get on the cuota to Puebla and then drive almost to Orizaba in order to head back to Oaxaca. It's a pretty drive as I've done it a few times but it's a lot of extra miles if all you want to do is to get to Huatulco which is a far better destination than Salina Cruz.

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Salinas Cruz has great musicians and lots of sailors.It is not a town that I enjoy and you can get in trouble there much faster than on the Autopista del Sol. Tehuantepec is more interesting, the best beach from these two towns is la playa de los Jaibes or something like that if you enjoy deserted beaches. It is beautiful with nothing but fishing shacks and a few cabins to rent north of Salinas, check it out. It is rustic to say the least but the sight is pretty. The cabins are barebone some have beds and all have hamacs. They are very clean and you can have breakfast lunch and diner overlooking the sea.

The Acapulco road has a bad reputation but it is not dangerous to drive. I just do no enjoy that route too many topes for my back although it is very interesting and I do go that way to check out the textiles from the Amusgo near Ometeoec and Pinota Nacional. Part of the population is black . The people there are descendant from slaves that escaped fromVera Cruz. It is a fun area during carnaval with the black , the indigenes and mestizo population, fun music and food. but it is not a well developped area for tourism. The first place with fancy hotels is Puerto Escondido..

The autopista del Sol is no more dangerous that the autopista going through Michoacan...

Salinas is a rough place with lots of sailors..Tehuantepec or Juchitan are better places to stay. The best beach in that area is north of Salinas it is called la playa de los jaibes or something like that. It has very clean cabins with beds and hamacs where you can stay and you can each at the fishing shacks.. The beach is totally deserted most of the time and very beautiful if Huatulco is not your thing..

I do not care for Huatulco I find it too resorty.. bu there are beautiful beaches around and all kinds of beaches. For a very picturesque one, drive do not take the boat to San Agustin (not Agustinillo) I also like Mazunte with its "in ex hippy type population" and the beach at Zipolite which is magnificent but has a dangerous surf and is a sufer´s paradise ás well as a cloth optional beach.

The Ithmus is a fascinating area. I believe that the Velas for the Gays that are transvestite for a good part of the population is on the second week of November. There the gays are accepted as the third gender or Muxes and the males are expected to live with their mother and take care of her until she sdies. It is not a true matriarchal culture but women are in charge of business and money and do all the businesses. Many of the gay sons dress as women and also do business. They are totally accepted but they are not suppose to have live in partners as their rle in the society is to stay home and take care of their mother. It is a fascinating twist of the Zapoteca and Mixteca cultures.

The people on the sea like San Mateo are from a different ethnic group and speak another language.

A hot , humid, windy and fascinating area if you have time to stay around .

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Thanks bmh for your detailed info. But I'm afraid that going by Acapulco is dangerous for criminals to stop you not the road itself. We were told to avoid Michoacan. That it was the most dangerous area. That's why we were told to pass y Toluca or above or below Mexico city? My question is: Do we go through Puebla and down to Oaxaca city?? What is the name of the highway (toll).

I'd appreciate if some one could give us some details and a hotel half way to Huatulco or the area.

Thanks.

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If you want to go to Oaxaca via the other way go through Michoaxan to Atlacomulco, just before Atlacomulco you take the Arco Norte direction Tula Querétaro Puebla, then follow the signs to Puebla you will go past Tula and then you will get to the exit to Puebla. Go through Puebla and drive a ways you will see a big sign for the Oaxaca cuota and then follow all the way to Oaxaca.

After that which road will you take The one ending at Pochutla and Mazunte or the one ending in Tehuantepec?

If you go to Tehuantepec when arriving in Oaxaca take the Fortin road that takes you to the main drag in Oxaca folllow the sign direction Tehuantepec, you will go through Tule , Tlacolula and keep going. Oaxaca traffic is pretty crazy and there is a point on the big boulevard where you will face oncoming traffic as the road takes a left, also some cars forget to stop at red light so do not start early at a light..

The San Pedro Pochutla way you follow the Puerto Escondido signs and the road will eventual splits into Puerto Escondido to the right and I am not sure what the sign says but it is the Ocotlam Miahuatlán San Pedro Pochutla San Angel way to the left.

There is also a road from Tuxtepec to the Ithmus and someone from DF told me that it was the quickest way to go to Tehuantepec but be aware that there was a collapse of the road betwenn Tuxtepec and San Felipe and it may not have been fixed yet. It was almost closed last week.

How many hours a day determines where you would stop but Puebla would make sense.

There are several hotels on the west side of the freeway, Fiesta Inn, Holiday in and a couple of less expensive ones. On the way back there is a motel not a no tell motel, past the VW plant which is fine, there is a restaurant there as well.

Other option is to go into Puebla or Cholula but you lose time in the morning if you want to get out fast. Puebla traffic is no fun and since there is a lot of work going on it is better to stay right on the freeway if you want to get out quicky. There is also a hotel in Tehuacan further out from Puebla if you feel like driving more that was recommended to us but where we never stayed, it is called Cantarana. There a several hotels as you go in as well but they ar not super exciting...actually we were not super excited at seeing the town either. It is famous for its wáter.

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We drove to the Salinas Cruz area about 2 1/2 years ago via RT 200 from Manzanillo. It was a pleasant and safe drive at that time, but I'm not sure I'd feel the same traveling through Guerrero now, whether on 200 or the Toluca-Acapulco autopista. I would opt for the route bypassing D.F. to the north and around Puebla to Oaxaca city and then Salinas Cruz. Other than the major cities, I don't have any hotels to recommend.

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Two and a half years ago is a long time ago. We go down there every 6 months and the conditions of the roads for exemple not speaking of the security are changed every time we go. In December there were delays on the Arco Norte because of construction and on the Morelia Atlacomulco road. The roads around Puebla were a total mess because of construction as well, who knows what they will be when we go next month when we go.

If you go on a Sunday you do not have to worry about construction as a rule.

Security,,we never had a problem so I cannot really talk about it but I would not hesitate to take the Acapulco road to go to the coast but I find there are too many topes for my back on the costa Chica and it takes too long on the coastal road to get there...Meanwhile we do nott take the coastal road through Michoacan or the Guerrero Coast on the Costa Grande side anymore it is too quiet and there are too many cops and or army in some places.

By the way there are not a whole lot of gas stations on the Guadalajara Atlacomulco road or on the Arco norte so do not let your tank go very low. We always forget there is a station right after the Morelia exit and always wonder if we can make it there..They are building a couple of gas stations on the Arco Norte, I do not know if they are open yet but there is one at the Tula exit .

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