Puerto Surf House & School - 70934 Puerto Escondido

Before booking my experience, Puerto Surf required I send them my flight information. I booked a ticket to OAX and Puerto Surf booked my week. 3 days before my trip, I contacted PS to try to arrange pick-up from the airport, only to be told then that the airport I was flying into was a 7-hour drive from Puerto Escondido. Completely my fault for this mistake, but admittedly, I was frustrated with Puerto Surf. Requiring my flight information gave me a false sense of confidence that everything was in the OK. It was a bit of a nightmare arranging passage to Puerto Escondido from Oaxaca City, but Puerto Surf did help with this. On my first day of lessons with my instructor (who remained my instructor for the entire week), we checked out surf in La Punta. I had self-labeled myself as a beginner/intermediate surfer. The waves were pumping and I had to let the instructor know that I did not feel comfortable going out in conditions that big. He took me to Carrizalillo, which I found to be much more within my comfort zone. The beach there was crowded with many other beginner surfers. To make a long story short, the week was interesting/maybe horrible. Every subsequent day of lessons was done at La Punta. There was a day when the waves were much bigger than what I was comfortable with (but I guess this is why you pay for an instructor--to keep you safe and to guide you) and honestly, I was scared. Multiple locals in the water that day expressed to me that they didn't think I was at my level and that the conditions were more than I could handle. At some point, the instructor was yelling (yes, yelling) at me in the water. "Left, left, left!!" And on my paddle back was basically reprimanding me--"Why do I need to repeat myself? You need to listen on the first command!" I found his tone unnecessarily abrasive and harsh and honestly, he brought me to tears. His demeanor eased up slightly when he saw that he'd made me cry. I understand that surfing is an exceedingly difficult thing to learn and that there is a point where you do have to feel fear. I took it all in stride, taking it in as part of the process of learning something demanding, but am still not sure it needed to be so intense. Throughout the week, I heard from other students that a board had snapped in half, a leash had been snapped. And for me personally that week, I got smashed into the reef and cut up, ripped a fin out of the finbox, for which the instructor asked that I help pay for, as it was going to come out of his salary, dinged a little girl in the head with my board, and then on the last day of my lessons on the very wave, got greedy, jumped off too late and absolutely destroyed my foot in the sand. I'm not saying Puerto Surf is to blame, but it certainly makes me question some things.. My instructor ended up literally carrying me off the beach back to Puerto Surf and dropped me off at the hospital downtown (he was a hero to me that day). As I was entering the hospital, I saw another girl from Puerto Surf leaving the hospital. (Earlier that morning, she'd stepped on a sea urchin.). I was thinking then, that something didn't seem right... Was this a normal week for Puerto Surf? I got XRs done and turns out I'd broken my mid foot in 3 places. I never heard from my instructor after he dropped me off at the hospital. One of the other instructors, David, heard about my accident and took me to the airport. When I tried to pay him for the ride, he refused payment, saying he really just did it from his heart; I felt that--it was so, so genuine. But his actions did put into stark contrast those of my personal instructor, who literally never even contacted me after dropping me off at the hospital. The girls at the front desk were also super sweet throughout the process--Ani, Andrea, and Victoria. As for the instructor, definitely would not recommend and though he knows some things when it comes to surf, could use a few lessons when it comes to being a kind human.

Beautiful house, clean rooms and shared kitchen. Luis was my guide for surfing every day and he helped me improve so much! By the end of my week he had me comfortable on larger waves and always ensured my safety even when the waters were getting rough.

The Hotel gets the full 5 stars from us! Clean rooms (which were cleaned every 2 nights), we took room #7 with A/C, which they don’t turn off once you leave the hotel, this was something we really appreciated. The surf lessons were below par, the first day I had a very good instructor on a calm beach (Carizalillo) but on day 2 they took us to La Punta beach wich is not made for beginners. Surfing here is super dangerous and they should not have allowed beginners to go onto this beach. It took us between 10-15 minutes to get back into the ocean (that’s how strong the waves were) which resulted on only surfing 4 waves. Btw, I read similar reviews on Puerto Surf taking beginner surfers to this obviously more advanced beach.. The instructors gave little to no information at the beginning. Most of the information was given in the water, which makes it much harder to remember everything. Also they don’t have a lot of patience and can get (verbally) aggressive at some points. They say that the class takes 2 hours, but ours were never longer than 1 hour 15 mins. I personally did not mind because I was exhausted after 60 minutes, but just so you guys know what to expect. Thank you for the lovely stay!

Had the best stay! Room 7 was much bigger than expected and very clean. I was able to check in early which was great. The surf lessons were professional and improved my surfing a lot! 100% recommend to stay here

I had such a fantastic time at puerto surf house thanks to the warm welcome of ALL the staff. I loved meeting other guests at the community table and sharing meals there. And a special thank you to Juan for getting me back on a surf board. I can’t wait to come back !!!

I had the best time in Puerto Escondido learning how to surf with the best instructors. Especially the last three days at playa Tierra Blanca were amazing. Thank you! Wish I could stay more - I' ll definitely try to come back again.

This review is solely for the instructors not the surf house. I’ve surfed in many places, but never have I encountered the level of aggression that these guys show towards anyone else in the lineup that they are not teaching. I watched one instructor swim over to a dude who had been catching some nice waves and threatened him for taking his pupils waves. Another shout at someone else for cutting in on their pupil. These instructors do not give the company they work for a good name not indeed La Punta or Puerto Escondido. Be nice, be accommodating and maybe if you do that, other people might think about getting lessons with you guys!

We were super happy about our stay at Puerto Surf House. The staff was so kind and helpful and the service was excellent. They helped us book tours, gave us tips on resturant’s and on what to do. We were treated as family during the stay. We also took surf classes and the teachers was super professional and kind.