I found frustratingly little information online when I tried to get from Mazunte to Oaxaca City (Oaxaca de Juarez) this year. A lot of blogs talked about flying or renting a car, which surely earns them a commission, but I just wanted to know how to do this trip by bus.
So, I thought I’d quickly share the details.
You can use this information to…
- Travel from Mazunte to Oaxaca City
- Travel from Zipolite to Oaxaca City
- Travel from San Agustinillo to Oaxaca City
- Travel from Puerto Ángel to Oaxaca City
- Travel from Huatalco to Oaxaca City
(Hey, Google! You got that?)
Alright, let’s go.
Getting to Pochutla
Your first order of business is to get to Pochutla, a regional city where you can find lots of connections to Oaxaca City.
Although there are a couple of supposedly direct connections that start in, for example, Mazunte, these actually just drive you to Pochutla and then put you on another service to Oaxaca City.
My starting point to Pochutla was Mazunte, which is about a 10-15 minute drive. You’ll find multiple options for this local transportation:
- You can hop on a camioneta, a pickup truck that serves as a form of cheap public transportation.
- There are also collectivos — shared van services. They go at random times so you just have to catch one.
- Grab a taxi, which in the case of Mazunte to Pochutla, will cost about 200 MXN.
Bus transport to Oaxaca
There are several options to travel overland to Oaxaca from Pachutla.
You can go by coach bus, a line primarily serviced by OCC, which takes about 10 hours. This is considerably more comfortable than a minibus, but it’s also slower. There are night services that will arrive in Oaxaca in the early morning. You can find the coach bus terminal here.
You may wish to buy your ticket online in advance, as there are only a couple services per day. You can also use the ADO app to book tickets, the same way as anywhere else in Mexico.
You can also go by minibus service, which takes about 6 hours but will be somewhat less comfortable. Zig-zagging along the windy mountain roads can provoke motion sickness, so if you are particularly sensitive, you may want to avoid this option. I found it to be fine really, though I generally don’t tend to be strongly affected.
The route from this side of the Oaxacan coast is said to be not as bad as the route from Puerto Escondido to Oaxaca City though, which is where most of the sick-bag stories originate.
Choosing a minibus company
Several minibus companies are operating from Patchutla:
Eclipse goes every half hour from Patchutla. You can find their terminal here. They mostly operate smaller minivans.
Lineas Unidas seems to go whenever a bus is full. You can find their terminal here, across the street. They mostly operate larger minibuses with 18 seats. I opted for them as their vans are a bit more spacious. The cost in 2023 was 300 MXN to Oaxaca and you can also select your seat, which suited me well as I’m quite tall, so I could call dibs on a seat with a bit of extra leg space.
Rapidos de Pochutla is another transport company. I wasn’t able to gather more information on them but they’re right across the street from Lineas Unidas.
You generally do not need to buy tickets in advance as these services go all the time.
As you can see, there are loads of options, so getting to Oaxaca City is really as simple as getting to Patchutla and choosing from the myriad of services available there.
Direct minivan from Mazunte
Eclipse also offers a direct minivan service from Mazunte, with a changeover in Pochutla.
The benefit is that you’ll have a more or less direct service to Oaxaca. You can also buy tickets in advance from a small office in Mazunte, located here near the tourist information office.
The disadvantage is that they only offer 4 services per day, whereas many dozens are going out of Pochutla. So it’s easier to just go to Pochutla as then you can travel onwards whenever it suits you.
As far as I’m aware there aren’t any other places to buy bus or minivan tickets in Mazunte. I saw two places marked on MAPS.me but they no longer exist. In any case, pre-booking isn’t strictly necessary unless you want to go on a specific coach bus service.
And that’s it!
Whether your starting point is Mazunte, Zipolite, Puerto Angel, or elsewhere on the coast, your goal should just be to get to Pochutla. I wish this had been explained more clearly as I actually struggled to figure this out for a couple of days.
Many blogs offer car rental service though I doubt it makes sense for a point-to-point trip, unless you are maybe planning some kind of circular road trip through Oaxaca state. There are also propellor plane services between the coast and Oaxaca, though these are very expensive, so they may be only of interest if you are on a luxury budget.
I hope this post has helped you on your trip! Don’t miss my travel guide to Oaxaca as well as these best things to do in Oaxaca City.
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Posted JAN 17, 2024
Source: indietraveller.co