Mexico
Puerto Escondido
The Mexican Pipeline — a barrelling wave so close to shore you watch from your hammock.
The wave at Zicatela breaks so close to shore you can watch it barrel from your hammock. The lip throws forward, the tube opens — hollow, heavy, and terrifyingly beautiful. Twenty metres away, surfers paddle into walls of water that would close out most beaches. Puerto Escondido's Pipeline breaks within swimming distance of the sand.
Puerto Escondido's Zicatela beach break is one of the heaviest beach breaks in the world — a Pipeline-class wave that barrels on sand rather than reef, producing massive, hollow tubes that attract professional surfers from May through September. The wave breaks remarkably close to shore, making it one of the best spots on Earth to watch world-class surfing from dry land. Five hundred metres north, Carrizalillo is a sheltered cove with calm water and gentle waves — world-class surf and safe swimming exist within walking distance. The town has evolved from a fishing village into a surfer and traveller hub along the Oaxacan coast, with a growing restaurant scene that draws on Oaxaca's culinary depth. Playa Bacocho to the west hosts olive ridley turtle nesting between June and December. The town retains a low-rise, palapa-roofed character, and the cost of living remains a fraction of Mexico's Caribbean coast.
Friends
Surf sessions at Zicatela, sunset beers watching the barrels, and nights in the Rinconada strip — Puerto Escondido is the group surf trip that Mexico invented.
Solo
The surf culture welcomes solo travellers instantly. Paddle out, eat tostadas de marlín on the sand, and find your rhythm in a town that runs on swell forecasts and hammock time.
Couple
Watch the Zicatela barrels from a beachfront palapa, swim at Carrizalillo in the afternoon, and eat Oaxacan seafood as the Pacific turns gold — adrenaline and calm, side by side.
- The Zicatela beach break is one of the world's heaviest beach breaks — a Pipeline-class wave.
- The wave breaks remarkably close to shore, making it one of the best spots on Earth to watch professional surfing from sand.
- Neighbouring Carrizalillo beach is a calm, sheltered cove — world-class surf and calm swimming within walking distance.
Tostadas de marlín — smoked marlin piled on crispy tortillas — from the market stalls behind Playa Principal.
Pre-dawn tamales and atole from the beach vendors before the Zicatela break turns on.
Raglan
New Zealand
One of the world's longest left-hand point breaks rolling into a harbour of black volcanic sand.
Kadavu
Fiji
Villages connected only by sea, manta rays turning slow circles above the fourth-largest barrier reef.
South West Rocks
Australia
Grey nurse sharks circle through underwater caves beneath a convict-built granite gaol on the headland.
Dibba
United Arab Emirates
Three countries share one fishing bay — dhows bob between Omani, Emirati, and Sharjah-claimed shores.
Grutas de Tolantongo
Mexico
Thermal rivers tumbling into canyon-cliff infinity pools, steam rising through the cold mountain air.
Tepoztlán
Mexico
A mountain village in a volcanic cleft where an Aztec temple crowns the cliffs above.
San Miguel de Allende
Mexico
Colonial light turning pink at dusk, every doorway hiding an artist's courtyard.
Pico de Orizaba
Mexico
Mexico's highest peak — a glaciated volcano at 5,636 metres where the air is thin.