Mexico Revisited: 2013-2014

Feb 15-19 2014

Zihuatanejo seduced us again, just as it did on our previous visit. The beaches, accommodation, restaurants and vibrant village were still there, better than ever. This is a west coast beach town worth a longer, repeat visit.

First class buses don’t travel this section of the west coast so it was a second class bus ride from Acapulco to Zihuatanejo. Ray is now taking Dramamine (Gravol) for the bus rides so the sections up and down the hills that line the coast are no longer a problem. He just watches the scenery go by and gets lots of dozing time. The bus didn’t have a toilet or free drinks but the seats were comfortable and the roads were good for the five hour voyage up the coast.

Like several other beach towns along the coast Zihautanejo is a fishing village on a wide bay edged with a long sandy beach and a backdrop of mountains. The village itself nestles in a long narrow valley with houses scrambling up the hills behind the valley. Playa La Principal, at the foot of the original town, is the only beach that is not at the foot of steep hills, as are the newer developments of Playa La Madera and Playa La Ropa. All the beaches offer excellent swimming. This year we stayed at Playa La Madera in Bungalows La Madera. “Bungalows” is a misnomer for our room. The original bungalows sprawled down the hillside to the beach. We had a choice of one of the older bungalows with a view of the beach or a room in a new annex across the road at the top of the original complex. We chose the newer, spacious room with a balcony large enough to accommodate a sofa, chairs, a kitchen and eating area.

Zihuatanejo gives you lots of opportunity for cardio exercise, walking down to the beach and back to our room. A row of excellent restaurants, often with live music in the evening, was down a short, steep hill from our room. The longest stretch of hard packed sand was at Playa La Ropa. Like la Madera, it was at the bottom of a steep hill. Separated from La Madera by a rocky point, the shortest route for us to get there was to walk down the stairs to La Madera, walk up another, long steep hill and finally walk down a steep road to the beach. We liked La Ropa because we could get a longer beach walk that La Madera, but it is much farther from Zihuatanejo town. As we did at the other beach towns we visited, we would pick out a beach restaurant with umbrellas and chairs and settle in for the day. It was not hard to take.

Since we had a kitchen at our disposal, we could buy our own breakfast makings. We were more than pleased to find a thriving market just a 15 minute walk from our room. It had everything we needed and then some. We even bought a good bottle of French wine, fresh fish and vegetables one day and had a great meal on our balcony.

We only stayed four nights, but it would be easy to linger longer in Zihuatanejo. We could see ourselves spending a month or more in this time, as do many other ex-pats. So far Zihuatanejo earns top rating for west coast beach towns.