Vacation In Zihuatanejo
In recent years a small town named Zihuatanejo has become the paradise of Mexican coastal resorts.
Traveling is one thing that everyone loves to do. If you like traveling or plan to travel in the future, you need to visit the place called Zihuatanejo. Located in southwest Mexico in the state of Guerrero, it is a small fishing town that has so much to offer to you and your family.
The best hotels in Zihuatanejo for your stay. These hotels offer many amenities to meet anyone’s needs. The great location of these hotels makes it easy for guests to access many points of interest within the city.
Have you ever visited a place by accident and found yourself saying “It’s so beautiful here, I could live here!”? This is what happened on my recent vacation in Zihuatanejo. My husband and I had traveled to the Riviera Maya for a few days of relaxation. We ventured off the tourist path a bit and found this beautiful little beach town called “the little big island” because of it’s big nature. The weather was perfect, the people were nice and we celebrated our anniversary in paradise.
Zihuatanejo is a small town in Mexico 40 miles south of the state capital, where I recently spent a week on vacation. It’s climate was tropical with some chilly nights and the beach was beautiful. I fell in love with the place. I’m hoping to return someday soon.
Short on time? Follow this link to a Google Maps version of our Zihuatanejo guide with all of our favorite spots labeled! You can “follow” the guide, and the saved locations will automatically transfer to your own Google Maps account.
Vacation In Zihuatanejo
Last weekend, Tyler and I sprinted away from reality, straight into the arms of the white sand and mango margaritas of Zihuatanejo.
You might remember Zihuatanejo as the paradise that Andy dreamt of and finally escaped to in The Shawshank Redemption. This sleepy fishing town is nestled on the Pacific coast of Guerrero, Mexico, and neighbors a plush and sterile resort town called Ixtapa (will discuss Ixtapa later).
“Zihua” is known for its kind, light-hearted locals and near-perfect beaches, and it did not disappoint in either regard.
Neither of us had ever done a “beachy” vacation before this.
I mean, I grew up clumsily trotting through campgrounds in the middle of the night, holding a flashlight as big as my body, trying to find the bathroom before the bears found me.
And Tyler and I haven’t gone on a relaxing tropical vacation since we’ve been married. This was our first time going somewhere just for the beach.
We spent most of our four days wading in the perfect temperature water at Playa La Ropa, drinking green juice after green juice, and shoveling buckets of chips and salsa into our mouths.
We absolutely loved our time in Zihua, but we did run into a few minor disasters on this trip–many of which, to be honest, were our own fault. #travelbloggers
Sometimes your dream vacay has a few hiccups. Ours just happened to have the kind of aggressive hiccups that make everyone in the restaurant turn and stare in concern.
A few examples. On our second day, we accidentally joined a tour that turned out to be an absurd waste of money and time, and we had to full on break up with our tour guide. On our third day, a red-eyed canine, who I’m positive was rabid (Tyler thinks otherwise), kept showing up, causing more than a little alarm with no Atticus Finch to save us. And then Tyler got super sick the second-to-last night night we were there. We spent most of our last day alternating dips in the pool with episodes of Modern Family.
While some of our hiccups were unavoidable, I’m including the ones that you can learn from in the following list of recommendations. Online resources about Zihuatanejo were extremely limited, so we wanted to put together a guide of things to know while you are planning your trip.
1. FLY ALASKA AIR FROM LAX
One of the huge benefits of choosing Zihua as your beach getaway is that it is a quick three-hour plane ride from LAX. We found the Alaska Airlines flight much cheaper than other options, and we had a great experience. You can read more about how we paid for the flights here.
The Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo airport is really close to everything. It only took 20 minutes for us to cab from the airport to where we stayed at Playa La Ropa.
2. CHOOSE ZIHUATANEJO, NOT IXTAPA
Zihuatanejo is a colorful and friendly fishing town, full of history and culture. In the 1970’s, the Mexican government commissioned a resort town next to it to boost tourism. Enter Ixtapa, an antiseptic strip of resorts that draws loads of tourists to the region every year. Ixtapa left something to be desired, in our opinion. We much prefered Zihua with its cobblestone streets, lively restaurants, and authentic atmosphere. If you’re heading to the area and trying to decide between the two towns, we suggest staying in Zihua.
3. GO AT THE RIGHT TIME
We spent most of the trip sweating buckets. My hair was a LION, and Tyler was constantly soaked. It was very warm. And very humid. We were there in late May, but apparently the weather is flawless in January, February, and March. We highly recommend going during that time frame, when it’s dry (but still perfectly warm out) to experience the best weather in Zihuatanejo.
4. BRUSH UP ON YOUR SPANISH
Half of the people we talked to spoke some English, and the other half spoke none at all. I’m sure you could manage without much working knowledge, but it will definitely make your life easier if you can memorize a few key phrases. Download Duolingo to practice your Spanish before you take off, and you can use TripLingo to help translate while you are there.
5. PICK THE PERFECT BEACH (AND THE PERFECT BEACH-SIDE BAR)
There are plenty of beaches to choose from in this area. We advise staying away from Playa Principal, the main beach, unless you need to go to the pier to join a sunset cruise or fishing excursion. Our favorite beach was Playa La Ropa, just steps away from where we stayed. Rows and rows of palm trees line the curved strip of beach, and the sand was so soft it almost felt fake.
There is an overwhelming number of beachside restaurants on Playa La Ropa, but we posted up at La Perla every day at 5pm. The piña coladas here were INCREDIBLE, and you know we embarrassed ourselves with the amount of guacamole we ordered over the course of the weekend. You can also pay $5 USD at La Perla to rent beach chairs and an umbrella for the day.
6. GO TO ZIHUATANEJO WITH AN EMPTY STOMACH
PER USUAL, our favorite part about this trip was the food. We had some really incredible dinners in Zihua, all made with fresh ingredients and always with the best service. Friday nights at 10pm, head to Bandido’s for salsa dancing and salsa, freshly made next to your table. We loved the atmosphere and garden setting at El Vigía (try the steak and homemade chocolate ice cream!). And you definitely cannot miss the blackened tuna with sesame seeds at El Manglar. Don’t be alarmed by the crocodile lurking in the lagoon next to the patio.
7. GET THERE FIRST–THEN DECIDE WHAT TO DO
We spent a ton of time researching and booking activities for our time in Zihua before we got there. Normally we do suggest planning out your time before you get to your destination, but we didn’t know what we were getting ourselves into with some of these activities.
For example, we signed up for a “sailboat sunset cruise” before we got to Zihua for the first night we were there. We arrived at Playa Principal ready to sail the evening away and discovered that our “sailboat” was actually a dinky, covered motorboat that looked like it was built in about 1702. We apologized to the captain and dipped out.