Puerto Escondido is a city-port and tourist center located in the municipality of San Pedro Mixtepec Distrito 22 in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico. The settlement is relatively modern, with no permanent town existing prior to the 1930s. Before its establishment as a town, the bay had been used intermittently as a port for shipping coffee, but the lack of potable water prevented permanent settlement in the area.
The city's name derives from a local legend of a woman who escaped her captors and hid at the location. The area was previously known by its Nahuatl name, Zicatela, meaning "place of large thorns." Today, Zicatela refers to the city's most famous beach and is a notable feature of the Puerto Escondido tourist landscape.