AdventureDad

We're finishing up our 6 week Mexican holiday with a week in sunny Acapulco  This resort town has been a legendary vacation place since 1950 but its status as glamorous hot-shot place has long been lost.  Today the town is flooded by domestic tourists, mostly from Mexico City, who enjoy Acapulco's cheap prices and the easy access by car or bus. Highlights are warm weather and great nightlife while traffic, crime, filthy water, salespeople everywhere, and an overall state of decay are some negatives.

"Acapulco has always been and will always be Mexico's most famous and important vacation town."  That's what  brochures tell you.  Don't believe a word of it.  Acapulco was surely a hot place from 1950 and forward with stars like Frank Sinatra, Johnny Weissmuller, Elizabeth Taylor, and John Wayne partying or living here.  And later on Mexican stars like Luis Miguel and Juan Gabriel partied like there was no tomorrow.  But Acapulco lost its glamor status a long time ago and is now mostly a destination for Mexicans on budget holiday.

The weather is fantastic all year around and the nightlife is world famous.  People  get dressed up in their nicest clothing and head out for restaurants and nightclubs after dark.  There are countless good restaurants, other sites will give you better recommendations than my limited knowledge, but  many have lost its magic. 

Unbelievable good and top notch service years ago can be so-so today.  My only recommendation, and this applies to several town across Mexico, is to visit the fantastic seafood place Fishers.  Most of their restaurants look simple but the food is world class.  A measure of their greatness is my recommendation despite being food poisoned there last year after eating oysters……

Acapulco is full of nachos.  Nachos is not the food you usually eat, it's a term to describe some people and their style.  The Mexican society is much about different classes, and the direct translation for nachos or nachitos would be something like white trash.  But in Mexico it's not a racist term, it's used to describe people who are not dirt poor or stupid but have a certain style.  The well educated Mexicans with a little style use the  term often and it's not a bad thing to say.

Traffic is like Mexico City horrible.  Buses, cars, and taxis drive up and down La Costera, the road that follows the beach, with their stereos blasting.  Crossing the street here is almost impossible.  Crime is also a problem.  For a tourist it's not the drug wars between the different cartels that worry, it's the feeling of not being completely safe.  

While crime in all others resort town, like Cancun, is virtually nonexistent Acapulco is different.  If you put down your backpack and look around it will be gone.  You can't leave your stuff in your chair and walk on the beach.  There will be nothing left in a few minutes. I can clearly see people staring at our stuff when we hang out, it's just like people are waiting for a chance to grab it. It's not at all as bad as Mexico City but the children needs to be watched carefully.

While you're at the beach you do not want to go into the water under any circumstances.  The hotels on the beach let out their sewage straight into the ocean and have been doing so for many years.  The water is filthy and you can even smell how dirty it is.  Forget diving or snorkeling, some people get allergic reactions just by taking a dip in the brown water.  Scary thing is that it has gotten a lot better. Truly disgusting that corrupts town officials, like the useless mayor, have  destroyed the ocean.  No one is surprised he's also a part time drug dealer.

If you've been to Mexico before you have noticed that  many people try to sell you items on the beach.  "No Gracias" is a phrase many learn quickly.  Salespeople are manageable in most places but Acapulco is a joke.  Despite laying on the hotel beach of a very nice place I'm being asked roughly 40 times per hour if I want to buy something.  A bit much for my taste.

Acapulco is the Mexican resort with best access after the very expensive but phenomenal interstate highway was built some years ago.  Driving from Mexico City takes about 4-5 hours and nice buses make the trip every hour.  Ironically, this easy access and cheap prices has also made the place less attractive and it feels a bit run down across the board.  You can surely find many nice hotels but next to it might be some building about to fall over.  Very different from the other Mexican resort towns.

If you want to visit a nice tourist trap town in Mexico I would recommend others than Acapulco.  Cancun, Playa del Carmen,  Ixtapa, Puertovallarta, or perhaps our favorite place Huatulco.  But heading town for a bachelor party with the boys would be a blast.  Just don't go swimming.

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