Mexico Guide
Acapulco and the Pacific beaches
The 800-kilometre stretch of coast between Puerto Vallarta and Punta Maldonada, where the Sierra Madre reaches out to the ocean, is lined with some of Mexico's most popular resorts. Acapulco – the original, the biggest, and for many, the best – is a steep-sided, tightly curving bay that, for all its excesses of high-rise development, remains breathtakingly beautiful, from a distance at least. This is the stomping ground of the wealthy, whose villas, high around the wooded sides of the bay, offer isolation from the packaged enclaves below. It's pricey, but not ridiculously so, and while tourists swarm the congested beaches the city itself retains a local feel, with the coarse characteristics of a working port.
Highlights
1 Whale watching Watch the humpback whales frolic in the Bahía de Banderas from December to April.
2 Costa Alegre A beautiful stretch of coastline punctuated by small, low-key resorts.
3 Comala Sip a beer and feast on free snacks while mariachis compete for your attention in the town plaza.
4 Acapulco 1950s retro glamour, romantic dining and death-defying cliff divers.