Ixtapa Hotels or Zihuatanejo Hotels? Location, location, location

The best Ixtapa Zihuatanejo Hotels? That’s a question-and-a-half. There really is no “right answer” as it depends on a lot of very personal factors. Some of the questions asked are:

• Is an Ixtapa Hotel better than a Zihuatanejo Hotel simply because Ixtapa is the resort that built up beside the town of Zihuatanejo?
• Is there a big price or service difference between the two?
• What is better for children?
• What are the beaches like?
• What is better for singles?
• What about Saladitas, Troncones, Playa Larga, Playa Blanca, Barra de Postosi, or other places in the area?
• Where is the night-life?

This is not intending to be a complete treatise on the subject, and is obviously somewhat biased as it is based solely on personal experience and comments from many visitors. However, it should help to orient you to the myriad options available in the area.

Are Ixtapa Hotels better than Zihuatanejo Hotels?

Short answer: NO!

Go to a travel agent and ask them for information or hotel bookings in Zihuatanejo and they will probably greet you with a blank stare (or perhaps refer you to a speech therapist!). Ask them for a booking in Ixtapa and they will asking for your credit card before you have even finished speaking!

Ixtapa is the resort area built specifically as a tourist destination in the 1970’s. Zihuatanejo is the town that provides services for the resort area.

In both destinations you will find world-class hotels, restaurants and a host of services. So what is the difference? Here are a few major differences:

• Price.
  • Ixtapa hotels are more expensive than Zihuatanejo hotels. For just about everything — from the price of a beer, to hotel rooms, although Zihuatanejo has it’s share of very expensive hotels too — and more are being built all the time. La Casa Que Canta and The Tides (formerly Villa del Sol) are two examples.
• Beaches.
  • The bay of Zihuatanejo and it’s associated beaches — Playa Las Gatas, Playa La Ropa, Playa La Madera and Playa Principal are much safer for swimming than the beaches in Ixtapa, or for that matter, most of the other beaches within 30 minutes north or south of town. Ixtapa is on the open ocean and thus has much bigger waves (at times) and strong currents.
• English.
  • You will find much more English being spoken in Ixtapa than in Zihuatanejo, although you will find quite a lot of English (of varying levels) in both places.
• Mexican.
  • Without a doubt, Zihuatanejo is much more typical of Mexico than is Ixtapa. The hotels in Ixtapa tend to be somewhat “anonymous”, like any resort area anywhere.
• Night-life.
  • If you are looking for a huge choice of night-life — 57 varieties of dance-and-drink-til-dawn type places, you should probably look at Cancun. Sure, there are 3 or 4 discos in Ixtapa — of the Carlos & Charlies type, but generally things are pretty quiet. Quiet, but not dead.
• Activities.
  • Apart from hanging around your hotel, the choices of other activities, such as fishing, horseback riding, snorkeling etc. all require a bus or taxi ride. Horseback riding is available for instance in Playa La Ropa (in Zihuatanejo), Playa Linda (close to Ixtapa) or Playa Larga (halfway to the airport). Your choice of hotel really needn’t be based on your choice of activities, bearing in mind of course that transportation to and from Ixtapa is always more expensive.

Got a location in mind? Move on to Choosing The Right Ixtapa Zihuatanejo hotel.