Acapulco

Acapulco (Officially: Acapulco de Juarez) is a city and major sea port in the state of Guerrero on the Pacific coast of Mexico, 300 km (190 miles) southwest from Mexico City. Acapulco is located on a deep, semi-circular bay. It is a port of call for shipping and cruising lines running between Panama and San Francisco, California, USA.

Acapulco Bay. This file is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0. Check out more photos of all our featured destinations in our photo gallery.

Spring Break

The original Mexican resort town, Acapulco has been eclipsed by Cancun and other resort towns. Still, it remains a major destination and a worthwhile trip and is the number one spring break destination among college students.

In recent years, within the younger crowd, Acapulco has made up some ground on Cancun as a popular spring break destination. This growing popularity may be because Acapulco offers a different unknown experience and a larger, international student crowd than Cancun due to its prominence as an international tourist mecca with many available international transatlantic and transpacific flights. Apart from just the beach, Acapulco's best known island Roqueta, is a great attraction which is typically reached by transparent-bottom motor boats (enabling clear view of the bottom sea). As in Cancun, water sports such as water skiing, para-sailing, scuba diving, deep sea fishing, sailing and snorkeling excursions are available in many price ranges amongst the picturesque coastal waters.

Clubs and Bars

La Costera, Acapulco's main drag along the coast, is full of bars and clubs. Locals tend to frequend Ibiza a lounge club on the beach which is very pleasant and plays mainly electronic music. The super clubs in Acapulco are El Alebrije and Palladium. El Alebrije is the largest night club in Latin America, capable of holding over 5,000 people. Cover is $350 Pesos for men and $300 Pesos for women with a free open bar until 5am. Be prepared to tip if you plan on drinking heavily. If arriving by car, you can park in the Walmart 24 hour carpark just up the road and save on the valet parking charges. Palladium is perched on top of a cliff overlooking Acapulco. The large panoramic glass wall which forms one side of the dancefloor is very impressive. Prices are about the same as in Alebrije and also offers an open bar.

Other clubs in Acapulco include: Disco Beach whose main attraction is a dance floor fronting the beach and is very popular with foreign visitors and locals. Barbarroja a bar/club in the shape of an old pirate ship that caters mainly to the 30 and over crowd and; Baby'O, one of Acapulco's perennial favorites. Baby'O is by far the most luxurious (and expensive) club in Acapulco and is favored especially by the 18 to 35 set of Mexico City's upper-class. Here, you will be able to revel in luxury. Expect to pay at least a $250 pesos cover charge and $80-$150 pesos for a drink.

In the past few years Acapulco has become a preferred destination for spring breakers, with tens of thousands of students descending upon this resort town to drink away the sorrows of midterms in a multitude of bars and clubs.
Another nice place to go is called Andromedas, music is electronic and is full of beautiful girls.

Here are some of Acapulco's most popular clubs:

Palladium: The center of the Acapulco nightlife and the biggest and best nightclub, if you want to follow the crowd. The amazing view, good music, friendly bar staff, a decent layout to meet new people, and a mind-blowing show at 4:00 am make it the top-rated disco in Acapulco. But during spring break and on holidays, you may wait a long time to get in and get served. Located in Las Brisas.

El Alebrije: A humongous and popular disco, but also the youngest crowd (average age of 18-20). The stadium seating is very conducive to meeting new people and the bartenders are excellent, and the waiters are good and the music is great.

Baby'O: The best disco in Acapulco for the social elite of Mexico. Baby'O is smaller than most others, has an all ages crowd, and is a first class establishment. However, space and seating is limited, it's a bit difficult to meet new people, and it costs US$30-60 to enter NOT including drinks. If exclusivity is your preference, this is the place to go.

NJoy: A large disco with many couches, a good-sized dance floor, dancers on stages, and your typical selection of Spanish dance music. Located south of Cinemark on La Costera. Saturday is the night to go - because it is so large, you will have more fun if it is crowded.

Mandara (Formerly Enigma): Located in Las Brisas next to Palladium, next door (literally) to Siboney, and under the after-hours bar Privado, Mandara is an elegant night club with a beautiful view of the bay. It is a good place to take a date and to be seen with the social elite from Acapulco. Go here on Fridays, and hit Palladium on Saturdays and/or Thursdays.

Restaurants and Bars

Look for our full directory of hotels and restaurants, coming soon.

Attractions and Events

Since 1934 the La Quebrada Cliff Divers perform their impressive jumps into the shallow stream of water of dangerous tides that forms in the bottom part of La Quebrada.

Tourism

For most of a century exotic and historic west-coast Acapulco, the origination of the famed Acapulco Galleons treasure ships, has been a popular resort for tourists taking long holiday weekends and cruises from the United States, the Mexican interior and countries in South America. Eventually, it began competing directly with east-coast Cancun as a super-tourist destination in the recent three decades long era of affordable air fares as international airlines added flights and infrastructure was emplaced to support the increasing air travel. The two beach resorts are essentially located on opposite coasts oriented due East and West from the other at essentially the same latitude . The city has had its star-spangled times, prompting none other than Frank Sinatra to give the place a mention in his all time classic "Come Fly With Me". Modern Acapulco has a great appeal and is a featured destination for many Pacific cruise ship packages and international air carriers. The vast majority of the tourists are Mexicans, but it's balmy subtropical climate and pleasant year round temperatures draws in many other foreign nationals year round providing the volume to support the numerous bars and clubs dotted around the bay. Whether seeking a break from northern climes, winters or heat, or the southern hemisphere's seasonal analogs, the resorts proximity to the equator on the narrows of the North America continental isthmus gives it an economically important geographic centrality rivaled by only a few resorts in the world.

Several real estate, hotels and timeshares had been developed in the Acapulco Diamante (Diamond Acapulco) zone. The largest is Mayan Resorts, the largest vacation club and golf operator in Mexico.

Transportation

Taxis are everywhere in Acapulco. Since they are unmetered, make sure that you agree on a fare before entering. You should not have to pay more than $50 pesos per cab ride within the Costera area but fares can reach as much as $120 pesos for rides from La Costera to La Quebrada, Princess Hotel (Revolcadero Beach) and the airport. Alternatively most hotels can arrange for taxi transportation for a fixed fare. Prices will usually be about 50% more expensive than for a taxi hailed on the street.

There are several public transportation options: Yellow cabs are 10 pesos per person; buses are 4 pesos or 5 pesos with the luxury of air-conditioning. Because of the sheer amount of taxis here, when one is dining out it is often worthwhile for them to offer a round trip and simply wait around while you have your meal, and they will not charge extra.

Beaches

Most beaches are in the bay area fronting the main boulevard "La Costera". This bay area is what made Acapulco famous and its beauty and majesty have not faded over the years. Some of the most representative beaches in La Costera are Icacos, Condesa, Hornos and Caleta, of which Condesa is the cleanest and most scenic. Beaches on La Costera have mostly calm waters suitable for practicing sports and even riding "la banana", the fruit shaped inflatable. Most hotels in Acapulco are found along La Costera.

Perhaps the best beach in Acapulco can be found close to the hotel 'Princess de Acapulco'. Playa Revolcadero is about three miles from the airport and as opposed to beaches in La Costera that are protected by the bay, this is an open water beach with strong tides that warrant extra caution. Transportation from La Costera takes about 35 minutes through a winding and scenic road.

History and Development

Acapulco has been well known as a traveler's crossroads for at least a millennium. Its name is a Nahuatl word, meaning "plain of dense reeds".

The earliest local remains, stone metates and pottery utensils, were left in the 3rd millennium BC. Much later, sophisticated artisans fashioned curvaceous female figurines.

Other artifacts resemble those found in highland Mexico. Although influenced by Tarascan, Mixtec, Zapotec, and Aztec civilizations, sometimes paying tribute to them and frequented by their traders, Acapulco never came under their direct control, but instead remained subject to local caciques until the Spanish conquest.

After conquering the Aztecs, Hernan Cortes sent expeditions south to build ships and find a route to China. The first explorers sailed from Zacatula, near present-day Lazaro Cárdenas, Michoacan, on the coast 400 km (250 miles) north-west of Acapulco. By a royal decree dated April 25, 1528, "Acapulco and her land ... where the ships of the south will be built...." passed directly into the hands of the Spanish Crown. Voyages of discovery set sail from Acapulco for Peru, the Sea of Cortez, and to Asia. None returned across the Pacific, however, until Augustinian priest Andres de Urdaneta discovered the northern Pacific tradewinds, which propelled him and his ship, loaded with Chinese treasure, to Acapulco in 1565.

For more than 256 years, a special yearly trading ship, known to the English as the Manila Galleon, set sail from Acapulco for the Manila and the Orient. Its return started an annual merchant fair in Acapulco where traders bargained for the Galleon's cargo of silks, porcelain, ivory, and lacquer ware. This trade connection, which persisted up to Mexican independence, was instrumental in placing the Philippines on the east side of the International Date Line until the end of 1844.

Acapulco's yearly treasure soon attracted marauders, too. In 1579, Francis Drake attacked but failed to capture the Galleon, but in 1587, off Cabo San Lucas, Thomas Cavendish seized the Santa Anna. The cash alone, 1.2 million gold pesos, severely depressed the London bullion market.

After a Dutch fleet invaded Acapulco in 1615, the Spanish rebuilt their fort, which they christened Fort San Diego in 1617. Destroyed by an earthquake in 1776, the fort was rebuilt by 1783. The War of Independence (1820-21) stopped the Manila Galleon forever, sending Acapulco into a century-long slumber.

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