Sights—A full-day boat tour of Huatulco's bays; Our Lady of Guadelupe Church in Crucecita; a coffee plantation tour; see the jungle from an ATV.

Memorable Meals—A hearty Mexican meal at Don Porfirio; shrimp cocktail at Ve el Mar; octopus with garlic at El Grillo Marinero; Continental cuisine at L'Echalote.

Late Night—Local "mermaids" swimming in giant glass-enclosed pools at La Papaya; drinking a tankard of German ale in a castle setting at Camelot; watching a folkloric Oaxacan dance at Noches Oaxacuenas.

Walks—Duck into shops, bars and restaurants on a stroll along La Crucecita; a hike through the national park to lovely Bahia Cacaluta.

Especially for Kids—Swimming and watersports in Tangolunda Bay; giant turtles at the National Mexican Turtle Center in Mazunte.

Using Cancun as a model for what not to do when building an ecologically friendly resort, developers designated 40,000 acres/16,200 hectares as an ecological preserve. Rather than build a single strip of high-rise hotels along the area's 22-mi-/35-km-long coast, the government picked several sites, separated by stretches of unspoiled shoreline, to be developed with hotels, restaurants and shopping complexes. So far, four of the area's nine bays have been developed: Santa Cruz, the original fishing village and the port where cruise ships dock; Tangolunda, the deluxe-hotel district; and Chahue, with just a few hotels, restaurants, bars and cafes (all several blocks from the beach), as well as a beach club, a marina and a day spa. Conejos Bay has some private condos on top of the bluff, and Fonatur is developing plans for two self-financed hotels to kick-start investments there. However, there are still no services for the general public. The rest of the bays are part of a national park reserve and will remain that way with no development.

Created from scratch to house construction workers, La Crucecita now serves as Huatulco's "downtown," with a Catholic church, market, post office, Internet cafes and other services, in addition to restaurants, bars and budget hotels.

Note: Some businesses in Huatulco are located on unnumbered streets and labeled as "s/n," or sin numero (without number). The addresses are described using the closest intersection.

For much of its history, this stretch of coast 300 mi/480 km southeast of Acapulco was cut off from the interior of Mexico by the steep mountains that rise up behind it. As a result, the original inhabitants—members of several indigenous Indian tribes, including the Zapotecs, Mixtecs and the conquering Aztecs—traded goods by sea, traveling between the bays in small boats. Not much is known about the early days, but the origin of the area's name is a colorful part of its past. Huatulco is derived from a Nahuatl (the language of the Aztecs) word that means "place where people worship the cross." Legend has it that a white, bearded man brought a cross to Santa Cruz more than a thousand years before the Spanish conquest. (Some believe he was the apostle Thomas.) The story goes that he converted the Indians to Christianity and then disappeared. When the Spanish arrived in the 1500s, they established a trading post there, and for a time, it was more important than Acapulco. But British pirates attacked in the late 1500s, and Thomas Cavendish burned the port. The cross, however, remained undamaged by ax or fire. It has since been replaced and now hangs in a small chapel in the center of Santa Cruz. Numerous purported miracles have since been attributed to the relic.

After Mexican independence, Huatulco was largely ignored. Until the 1980s, only about 1,000 farmers and fisherfolk resided in the small village of Santa Cruz Huatulco. Just about the only visitors were die-hard surfers who wandered over from Puerto Escondido.

Government officials recognized great potential for tourism in Huatulco's nine pristine bays, however. A highway linking the coast to the interior was built in 1984, and water, sewage, electric and phone lines were installed. The influx of construction workers and service employees swelled the local population.

Development was slower than anticipated because of Mexico's economic woes in the 1980s. As a result, the initial master plan was revised to include more nature and fewer hotel rooms. The current plan calls for 18,000 hotel rooms and 1.2 million visitors per year by 2020. There are currently only 2,544 rooms, making it one of Mexico's most intimate beach resorts.

However, the government has been careful to preserve the environment as the resort expands, building three of the best waste-processing facilities in Mexico. In 2005, Huatulco was the first resort in the Americas to be certified by the Green Globe group as an environment-friendly tourism community.

The Oaxacan coast is one of the favorite egg-laying spots for sea turtles in the world.

The Huatulco bays are a protected national park that is home to 413 plant species, 291 types of birds, 130 different mammals, 72 reptile and 15 amphibian species.

Area coffee plantations produce the gourmet Pluma bean, which you can sample at the cafe-kiosk in Santa Cruz's central plaza.

A regional delicacy is iguana tail, prepared in mole or tamales, part of the home cooking in the tiny villages around Huatulco.

Expect to find Oaxacan specialties in the small shops and some restaurants in Crucecita, such as a potent native drink called mezcal, chocolate, string cheese (quesillo) and fried grasshoppers.

Huatulco has 22 mi/35 km of coastline—much of it swimmable.