Hotels Overview

Most of the newer, more expensive resorts are located in Acapulco Diamante and Playa Revolcadero. These are designed to keep you captive by offering the total vacation experience, including restaurants, clubs, spas, expansive grounds, beautiful beaches, and in some cases golf courses. Acapulco proper is a $15 taxi ride away.

The 8-km (5-mi) stretch of Avenida Costera Miguel Alemán known as the Costera is lined with beachfront, side-by-side, high-rise hotels. Most were built in the '60s and '70s, forever changing one of the world's most beautiful bays. The hotels are in all price categories, the cheaper properties being on the north side of the avenue. Stay here if you want to be in the middle of the action, surrounded by restaurants, bars, discos, shops, malls, and food stores. For cheap transportation along the Costera, simply jump on one of the local buses that chug up and down the strip (a ride costs 4.50 pesos), or flag one of the many taxis.

Old Acapulco is where to find budget hotels and restaurants.

To the west of Acapulco Bay, on the Pacific, is the laid-back beach town of Pie de la Cuesta, home to low- and mid-priced small hotels, usually family-run and on the beach. If you stay here, you'll get a good taste of Mexican beach-village life.