Ixtapa - Zihuatanejo

Trip Report – January 2007

I did not take notes during our trip, as I was in complete vacation mode.  I am bad at remembering names of restaurants and such, so I am just listing the restaurants that I remember.  Pictures are spread across three cameras, so I have none available at this moment.

Overall we had a very relaxing, enjoyable, and romantic trip.  The weather, the people, the food, and the activities including sleeping on the beach, made this one of my most memorable trips.  This is the first time my husband has said “I want to come back here”.  We will definitely come back to the area, and most likely stay in Ixtapa again.

Hotel / Car / Air

Flight   The direct flight on Alaska from San Francisco was under four hour which was great.  We purchased our tickets through Orbitz as part of the hotel package as we saved over $325.  The ZIH airport is great, nice, small, and the landing/customs literally took 10 minutes. 

Hotel – Krystal The layout of the hotel is perfect as all the rooms have at least some ocean view.  The hotel looks a little older on the inside.  Many web sites had shown pictures of the rooms renovated in early 2006, and it appears that most of our room was (except the bedding).  The furniture and bathroom were great, bed was surprisingly soft, tons of pillows, lock box, and a huge door that opens up to a beautiful ocean view from your patio.  They have a swim up bar pool that always had a few people in it, a large family pool that usually had people playing games, and an adult pool.  The pools were all very clean, but we never swam in them as we’d rather walk 50 feet to the ocean.  They had lots of chairs and palapas on the beach, though you should reserve it the day before from 4:20-5pm.  We had no problem finding one, as a large group of people in our hotel were out golfing every day.  The hotel has I think three restaurants, all good though I have no clue how their AI is.  My only complaint is the Amara construction next door, which is not the Krystal’s fault.  We loved sitting on our balcony every night watching the sun go down.

Car – Alamo    Setup our reservation through Alamo.com, it was only $55.00 total for four days rental.  We purchased the rental insurance, which brought us up to $160.00 for the four days, which was fine with us as we got a lot of use out of it.  The car was a Tsuru, body was spotless even though it had 125,000 miles on it, all the standard items including seatbelts, and we got a free a/c and automatic upgrade.   

Restaurants/Clubs

Bogarts     Great ambience and excellent service.  One of the best true caesar salads I have had in a long time. The lobster stuffed chicken and New Zealand lamb were both delectable.  Dinner for two was about $70.00

Casa Morelos Delicious breakfast (eggs, fruit, juice)

Ruben’s  We were short on time and came across this place and enjoyed a great hamburger with some super hot peppers.  Lunch was less than $15.00.

Tamales y Atoles Any  Very good, had the pozole(?).  We can’t remember the cost.

Christine’s  Excellent dance club for my husband and I as we are in our late 20s/early 30s.  The cover is $30 a person, and I was so surprised to see well over 100 locals in there.  When we got to the counter, I told my husband I did not want to pay that cover, and next thing you know we got in free and they ushered us to the front of the club.  We cut a rug to excellent Latino and American music until 1am.  We were the only gringos in there.

Unknown   In Palos Blancos, just before Petatlan, so about 25 minutes from Zihua, just after you cross the river, on the right side.  The restaurant is small and owned by a local family.  A young many fortunately knew English very well and helped recommend our order.  We ordered pop, two specially made beef quesadillas, carne asada tacos, and chicken chipotle tacos.  Total came to only $10.00, and this was probably one of the best meals we had on our trip.  The young man said we were the only tourists they had seen in a long time, and we could tell as the little children were enthralled with us.  A great experience with the locals.

Activities

Ixtapa Island   Our guide Jorje (works for the Dept of Tourism) picked us up at our hotel and took the panga from Playa Linda.  The beach was very empty, I felt bad for some of the restaurants as all their chairs were empty.  Snorkeling was good, saw lots of fish though by early afternoon the water was cloudy from everyone kicking up sand.  It was fun swimming and relaxing on the beach.  We had the fresh garlic fish that was part of the snorkeling/boat deal.  Worked out perfectly.

Scuba Diving  We were supposed to go to Barros De Potosi but I think since we only had two people, there wasn’t enough other people to go.  We went to La Piedra Solitaria with four other divers, which ended up being perfect.  We saw at least eight sting rays, beautiful colorful puffer fish, eels, various schools of fish (I do not know all my fishies).  Unfortunately I got sea sick and we couldn’t do the second dive near the light house.  Dramamine doesn’t work for me.

Jet Ski  We rented a jet ski for $60/30 minutes in front of the Dorado hotel.  Fun experience getting out and back in over the big waves.  It was a lot of fun, as I have been doing this my whole life.  People need to watch out for boats and others on the water to make sure everyone is safe, and stay far away from the beach to avoid the swimmers.

BodyBoarding We had so much fun doing this we did it three days.  Rented a board for $5/60 minutes.  The key is to get past the small break area to the calmer water right before the area the big waves break.  Jump and ride!  I only recommend this for people who are familiar with boarding and who can handle a few tumbles in the water.  Keep the tip of the board up.

Petatlan  Unfortunately due to time, we only had a half hour to see the church.  Being a Christian and believing in miracles, it was enlightening.  We would have liked to see the silver / gold market.  Next time.

Delfiniti  So we went there and paid a few pesos to watch, but did not swim with the dolphins.  In my opinion the dolphins look healthy, the water is clean, and they really love their trainers.  To see a dolphin come up to someone and close their eyes as their belly is rubbed, just like a dog, is amazing.   I do not see this as any worse than people catching a fish, tearing a hole in its mouth, leaving their human scent on the fish, and throwing it back in the water.  Dolphins in captivity actually live much longer than in the wild.

General

Topes   I had read about all the topes, and yes they are all over the place.  Living in California I am used to it, so no big deal.  The worst one was in Zihua that I was forewarned about, and one in Ixtapa caught me off guard and I caught a little air.  In general, not as bad as many people say; you would have to be flying over the topes to do any serious damage to your car.

Solicitors  I had read about all the solicitors selling time shares, local crafts, and tourist activities.  I, and many other couples I asked, were never approached about time shares in Ixtapa.  In front of the hotels on the beach we did have people selling necklaces, purses, and other things, but honestly it didn’t bother me as it was very infrequent.  The solicitors are way worse in PV, Cancun, and in the Caribbean .

Driving  Driving was extremely easy in Ixtapa, around the airport, and to Petatlan.  Zihua was okay driving, but we only went down a few streets (dive shop).  Parking was limited everywhere, but we never had a problem finding space.  My only complaint is one time driving on 200, we were in a line of at least five cars, and suddenly this truck came up behind us and flashing us and was so close to our car we could not see his head lights.  Very bothersome as to why a local would do that, when we didn’t do anything wrong.  We observed him doing the same thing to every car in front of us until he got past the row of cars.  I suggest keeping the Green Angels information handy when driving.

The People  All of the locals were so friendly and willing to help answer our question of how to get somewhere, where to find cash, etc.  The travelers seemed to be an older crowd, I saw very few people in our age group.  Not many families, though the families there seemed to stay in certain hotels (e.g. Dorado).  I really enjoyed the mix of travelers as it ensured no crazy drunk people yelling and running in the streets.  I was disappointed to see people leaving their drink cups on the beach at night, but by morning it was always cleaned up. 

Weather  Perfect, simply perfect.  90 and sunny every day, with just slight humidity that we felt in the late afternoon / early evening.  Perfect weather.

Water   Water in Ixtapa was extremely clean.  The water in Zihua to the right of the pier seemed dirty though near Las Gatas was cleaner.  In Ixtapa, near the pier in Playa Linda it is quite stinky.  Out of the three areas, I have to say the best beach and water cleanliness was in front Playa Palmar.  Water was warm, though just guessing about 78º.  Not bath water warm, but just right.  The water is rough, so people need to pay attention.

Ixtapa  Overall the city is very well laid out with the hotels on one side, and the shops/restaurants on the other.  Streets and sidewalks were very clean and well maintained.  The foliage is beautiful.  Many choices for things to do.  It appears that many people staying in Ixtapa do the all inclusive hotel route, as many restaurants outside the hotels were nearly begging people to sit and eat.  You can tell the great restaurants from the okay ones, just look where everyone else is eating J

Zihua  Spent just a few hours here.  Playa Las Gatas was nice, and not crowded at all.  I thought the streets (one area past the dive shops) were quite dirty and there was a funny smell.   It is an experience to walk the streets and soak in the local life, as it is different than Ixtapa.  We would have liked to spend more time here, but we will save that for our next trip.