Mexico Guide
Acapulco and the Pacific beaches
Acapulco
Most people – even if they've not the remotest idea where it is – have heard of ACAPULCO, yet few know what to expect upon arrival. Bordered by the rugged Sierra Madre to the east and beautiful Acapulco Bay to the west, the city is considered by many to be the grande dame of the Mexican tourist industry.
As long as you don't yearn to get away from it all, you'll find almost anything you want here, from magnificent beaches by day to restaurants, clubs and discos by night. That said, the manicured and sanitized hotel zone, where everything is geared towards package tourists, can be thoroughly off-putting. Getting from one side of the city to the other is also a very time-consuming and frustrating experience, with perpetual gridlock, grime and choking exhaust fumes.
What Acapulco undoubtedly has going for it, however, is its stunning bay: a sweeping scythe-stroke of yellow sand backed by the white towers of the high-rise hotels and, behind them, the jungly green foothills of the sierra. Even though the town itself has a population of over one and half million and hundreds of thousands of visitors come through each year, it rarely seems overcrowded. There's certainly always space to lie along the beach, partly because of its sheer size, and partly because of the number of rival attractions – everything from hotel pools to parasailing to romantic cruises.
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