Travel Eye on Acapulco (Mexico)

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Overview

Situated on one of the loveliest bays on the coast, backed by the evergreen vegetation of the Sierra foothills, Acapulco offers anything and everything to the holidaymaker, but this is not the place to seek a peaceful escape from it all. It is the Queen of Mexican beach resorts, the loudest and most famous in the country with non-stop energy, high-rise hotels, a glittering nightlife, white beaches and an enormous range of activities. The main attraction is the string of beaches that sweep around the bay, each offering a different atmosphere and ample opportunities for water sports, with calm waters, sun bathing, and seafront dining of international quality. The downside of the city is the shabby, polluted and overcrowded old town area, but it is easy enough to ignore this side of Acapulco with plenty to keep visitors happy along the glitzy resort strip among shopping plazas, restaurants and beaches.

Acapulco's beach life and nightlife are the resort's main attributes that draw in a young American and Canadian crowd, and this sets the general character of the tourist scene, especially during high season. The city is also a popular port of call for cruise ships. Foreign tourism concentrates in the lively central bay area or "Golden Zone", which runs for a couple of miles between Papagayo Park and the Convention Centre; this is where the majority of shopping centres and nightclubs are located. A busy dual-carriageway runs along the back of the beach-front properties and around the whole bay with resulting traffic noise and fumes. The history and really Mexican character of the city becomes evident only around the port, in the markets and along narrow streets of the Old Town, but this is also where visitors are most likely to witness the poverty-stricken reality for most Acapulqueños. Wealthy visitors have generally moved E of the main city and bay area to locations overlooking Puerto Marquez or along the more recently developed Revolcadero Beach. Here things may be more genteel, with golf clubs and quiet private roads.

Locality:

Acapulco is situated on the SW (Pacific) coast of Mexico, 250 mls S of Mexico City. Acapulco international airport is 16 mls S of the city.

Entertainment/Facilities/Attractions/Things to do:

The beach is the main "activity", with associated water sports such as parasailing, water-skiing and banana rides. Diving, sailing, snorkelling, jet-skiing, deep-sea fishing and just floating in inner tubes. Cliff diving is exclusively a spectator sport that has been drawing tourist crowds for many decades, but bungy jumping offers adrenaline rushes to all-comers. Many hotels have gym and sports facilities as well as daily activity programmes. Several golf courses. Papagayo Park, a limited and rather dated fun park. A local water park with dolphin and seal shows. Weekly bullfights. Go-karts, roller-skating, a zoo, aquarium, museum and exhibitions at the convention centre. By night Acapulco offers a handful of large discos, often with live acts and offering lively all-night entertainment. There is no real focus to the night scene, which can feel quiet and unsophisticated outside a few key places. Plenty of smaller clubs and bars. Many hotels run their own programmes of evening entertainments.

A famous Acapulco institution since the 1930s are the Quebrada cliff divers, who pitch themselves gracefully from a height of 148ft (45m) into the seemingly shallow water of a narrow chasm in the ocean below after praying at the small rock shrine for safety.

Getting around is largely limited to taxi's. Whilst local buses are readily available they tend to be uncomfortable and less convenient than the cheap door-to-door service offered by local VW Beetle cabs. Larger saloon-car taxis offer the added comfort of air-conditioning but at a considerably higher, although usually fixed, price. Taxis often wait outside the larger hotels but are less readily available in the quieter sections of the resort.

Excursions tend to revolve around Harbour and bay tours, some calling at local islands or other beaches. Dinner cruises. Jet-boat tours in the stunning Papagayo River gorge for thrill-seekers; slow boats also available. Jungle boat tours on the Coyuca Lagoon. Mexico City and the silver-mining and jewellery-making town of Taxco (overnight tours).