The best surf & design hotels · Puerto Escondido
Hotel Humano
The pedestrian lane in La Punta runs past the front of the building and the lobby opens straight onto it — deliberately, architecturally. Hernandez de la Garza and Plantea Estudio designed the latticed façade to make the hotel porous rather than contained, so the street life of Zicatela moves through the ground floor rather than around it. Thirty-nine rooms above it, handmade wine-coloured San Pedro Ceramics tiles in every bathroom, original drawings by Lucio Muniain on every wall, every material handmade in local ateliers by area artisans. The rooftop faces the break. On the right day in October, that view is the most specific thing this hotel offers.
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The hotel
The Design
Handmade tiles, handmade furniture, handmade everything. The build spec required local ateliers for every surface. The result is a hotel that couldn't have been built anywhere else.
The midcentury modernist structure is grounded in the Mexican architectural context — concrete, raw brick, tropical wood — with the latticed façade as the distinguishing move: partial transparency between street and lobby, the building's way of saying it belongs to La Punta rather than sitting in it. The rooftop spa, sauna, and cold plunges are the reason guests don't leave for two days.
The Design
Handmade tiles, handmade furniture, handmade everything. The build spec required local ateliers for every surface. The result is a hotel that couldn't have been built anywhere else.
The midcentury modernist structure is grounded in the Mexican architectural context — concrete, raw brick, tropical wood — with the latticed façade as the distinguishing move: partial transparency between street and lobby, the building's way of saying it belongs to La Punta rather than sitting in it. The rooftop spa, sauna, and cold plunges are the reason guests don't leave for two days.
The Surf
Zicatela is steps from the front door. On a solid south swell in October, it is one of the most powerful beach breaks in the world.
Playa Zicatela — the Mexican Pipeline — is a fast, hollow, heavy beach break that peaks in October and November on south and southwest groundswells. The drop is steep, the barrel is long, and the wipeouts are the kind that get photographed. The hotel puts you in the break's neighbourhood rather than at a safe distance from it.
The Surf
Zicatela is steps from the front door. On a solid south swell in October, it is one of the most powerful beach breaks in the world.
Playa Zicatela — the Mexican Pipeline — is a fast, hollow, heavy beach break that peaks in October and November on south and southwest groundswells. The drop is steep, the barrel is long, and the wipeouts are the kind that get photographed. The hotel puts you in the break's neighbourhood rather than at a safe distance from it.
