Acapulco (Mexico)

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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.

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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 are available to play in the area. Papagayo Park, a limited and rather dated fun park is popular amongst children. 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).

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Population: 106.202.900
Languages: Spanish, various Mayan, Nahuatl, and other regiona
Currency: Mexican peso
Currency code: MXN
Local Times:
Mexico - Federal District - Mexico City

Country Dialling Code: +52
Voltage: 127V 60Hz
Electrical plugs:
2 parallel flat prongs

Mexico forms a bridge between the slick first-world commerce of North America and the more chaotic Latin tempo of its southerly neighbour. Mexico is a traveller's paradise, crammed with a multitude of opposing identities: desert landscapes, snow-capped volcanoes, ancient ruins, teeming industrialised cities, time-warped colonial towns, glitzy resorts, lonely beaches and a world-beating collection of flora and fauna.

With a Native American heritage and a distinct Spanish flavour, Mexico is vibrant, colourful and unique. Its varied terrain ranges from cactus-studded deserts to white sandy beaches and blue waters, tropical rainforest and jungle-clad hills to steep rocky canyons and narrow gorges, and from snow-capped volcano peaks to bustling cities.

Since the height of Mayan and Aztec civilisations, Mexico has suffered the destructive force of the Conquistadors, European colonial rule, civil and territorial wars, rebellions, dictatorships, recessions and earthquakes.

Yet its people remain warm and friendly, much of the countryside remains unspoilt by development, and its cities display a unique style of architecture. The extraordinary history is reflected in the ancient Mayan temples strewn across the jungles and ruins of Aztec civilisations, rural indigenous villages, Spanish colonial cities and silver mining towns, and traditional Mexican ports.

Buildings display a unique combination of colonial and pagan architecture, blending together Art Nouveau, Baroque, Art Deco and Native American design into the structure of their churches and public structures. The country's culture displays a similar blend of the traditional and modern, where pagan meets Christian in a series of festivals, or fiestas throughout the year.

Besides a combination of unique culture and fascinating cities, Mexico also boasts several hundred miles of coastline extending down through both the Pacific and the Caribbean, which has branded the country as a popular summer retreat destination.

Beach resort cities such as Acapulco, Cancún and those of the Baja California peninsula are accepted vacation havens. The countryside is also rich in archaeological treasures with pyramids, ruins of ancient cities and great stone carvings of ancient gods standing as testament to a country once ruled by the Aztecs and Mayans.