Some 115km south along Hwy-200 from Lázaro Cárdenas, the towns of Ixtapa and Zihuatanejo, while only 7km apart, could hardly be more different. Ixtapa, a purpose-built, computer-planned paradise resort, is, quite simply, one of the most soulless towns imaginable. These almost completely cordon off Ixtapa’s admittedly lovely stretch of beach from the road. Zihuatanejo is located in the Municipio of Zihuatanejo de Azueta in the state of Guerrero on the Pacific Coast of Mexico about 240km (approx. 144 miles) northwest of Acapulco. Zihuatanejo is the seat of government for the Municipio and the principal community in the region. Ixtapa is a government-planned tourist resort that was begun in the early 1970's and constructed on what was once a coconut plantation and mangrove estuary.

You can walk a further fifteen minutes beyond the end of Playa la Ropa to Playa las Gatas, named after the nurse sharks that used to populate the waters. Las Gatas is the last of the bay’s beaches, its crystalline blue water surrounded by a reef, giving it the enclosed feel of an ocean swimming pool. It’s safe for kids. The clear waters are great for snorkelling you can rent gear from vendors among the palapa restaurants. Hire a guide to take you by boat to Playa Las Gatas where legend tells of a Tarascan king who built a reef so his daughters could swim safely. The fastest and most inexpensive way to reach your Hotel is to get a public taxi. Taxis and vans are very efficient and inexpensive. Las Gatas is directly opposite the town and, it is accessible by launches (daily 9am–5pm, last return 5.30pm) from the Zihuatanejo pier.

Ixpapa was built as a Tourist resort. In other words there was nothing there and then it was developed. You are concerned with safety then Ixtapa is one of the safest places to go on the Pacific coast. Zihuatanejo-Ixtapa is possibly the most peaceful of all the tourist destinations in Mexico, certainly one of the most peaceful. Zihuatanejo is a true oasis. You could ride the banana, go on a sunset catamaran cruise, maybe take a day trip to a snorkeling spot, ride some ATVs, horseback ride. Enlist the services of a guide to take you further afield to ride horses on remote trails or go bird watching near lagoons.

Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo are not party towns, yet they do still offer some great options for the people looking to have fun. Many of Ixtapas resorts stand steps away from the shoreline, so you can easily enjoy dips into the sea and your hotels pools. Pull up a chaise lounge by the infinity pool, order a margarita and basking in the pristine oceanfront beach views. The hottest months are July and August. It gets very humid during that time and the local people from Mexico are there then. Try to plan a trip in November thru May. There are over 6000 hotel rooms in Ixtapa. Several large hotel corporations maintain properties in Ixtapa. To really get away from it all, visit the fishing settlement of Barra de Potosi.

Zihuatanejo, for all its growth in recent years, has at least retained something of the look and feel of the traditional fishing village it once was. In stark contrast to Ixtapa, what building there has been is small-scale, low-key and low-rise, and the town looks over an attractive bay, ringed by broad, sandy beaches excellent for swimming. Despite the proliferation of luxury hotels, though, there are at least a fair number of small, reasonably priced places to stay as well as some inexpensive restaurants. For some, Zihuatanejo is the ideal compromise quiet by night, yet with the more commercial excitements of Ixtapa nearby. The centre of Zihuatanejo, a region of barely ten small blocks hemmed in by the main roads into town, the yacht marina and the beach. Sit at an outdoor table in the shade of a palapa or beach umbrella and dig your toes into the sand. Outfitters and hotels offer tours to Isla Ixtapa, where seafood shacks share beach space with stands renting snorkeling equipment. Whether you play golf or tennis, prefer lap swimming or scuba diving, devote yourself to sport fishing or surfing, you will find your activity in Ixtapa.

The long 2.5km sweep of Ixtapa’s main, hotel-backed Playa de Palmar is fine for volleyball or long walks. Powered watersports are also in the beach in Playa Quieta, some 5km north of Ixtapa, which is dominated by Club Med and seemingly of Spring-Breakers. The water here is wonderfully clear and the surrounding vegetation magnificent.The next beach along, Playa Linda is a huge sweep of greyish sand, with a cluster of enramadas at the pier end where the bus drops you off. You can hire horses or rent jet skis and surfboards at the shacks along the beach. To find all the space you need, keep walking away from the crowded pier end: the restaurants are supplanted by coconut groves, which in turn give way to small cliffs and an estuary with birdlife and reptiles. Boats leave from the pier at Playa Linda for Isla Ixtapa (9am–5pm), a small island a couple of kilometres offshore with two fine swimming beaches, a spot reserved for diving and a few restaurants, but nowhere to stay. You can also get there on a daily launch from Zihuatanejo, which leaves at 11am and returns at 5pm (1hr).

Four main beaches surround the Bahía de Zihuatanejo. Playa Principal, in front of Zihuatanejo, is an interesting place to people-watch the fishermen haul in their catch here early in the morning, selling much of it on the spot. A narrow footpath heads east from the end of the beach across the normally dry outlet of a drainage canal, then winds around a rocky point to the calm waters of Playa la Madera, a broad, moderately clean strand of dark sand that shelves softly into the ocean, making it a good option for kids. There’s a handful of restaurants and hotels on the hill behind, as well as some expensive condos. Climb the steps between these to get to the road if you want to continue a kilometer or so over the headland, past the mirador with great views across the bay, to Playa la Ropa which takes its name “Clothes Beach” from silks washed up here when one of the nao de China (trading ships from China) was wrecked offshore. This is Zihuatanejo’s finest road-accessible beach, palm-fringed for more than a kilometer, with a variety of beachfront restaurants and hotels. For absolute peace and quiet, the best thing you can do is to take a day trip out of Zihuatanejo to Barra de Potosí, a tiny community situated at the southern end of the expansive, postcard-perfect, golden sandy beaches of Playa Larga and Playa Blanca, which curve steeply round the bay and keep going as far as the eye can see. To get there, board a Petatlán-bound bus from the station on Calle Palmas and ask the driver to drop you off at the village of Los Achotes. From here, pick-up trucks leave when full to run the final bone-rattling twenty minutes to the beach: you’ll be dropped off at one end of the bay where a bunch of enramadas sell delicious seafood for half the price of the restaurants in town.