Mexico advice and suggestions

[gw57]

Looking at seat spy there is good business class availability to Mexico and it’s a place I have never been to. Looking end of March / April 2023 and would appreciate any suggestions for a 9-10 day trip. Wife does like to lay on a lounger by a pool / beach.

[JDB]

Mexico City and Mexico are wonderful places to visit. I am loathe to make recommendations per se, but we have been going there for over 20 years, so have done the research on the ground. For us Cancun, Cabo/Baja and Puerto Vallarta have now all become very overdeveloped and touristy/Americanised and restaurants etc cater for tourists at high prices, so there is no longer anything very Mexican about it and it’s mainly high rise big resort style. For the last five years (and booked again in Nov) we have been to Zihuatanejo on the Pacific coast which is low key, low rise and tourists are mainly Mexican, so you eat real food (notably incredible seafood), drink £3 margaritas and a good massage costs £12+ tip. It’s an hour’s flight from MEX. From the airport you either go left where there is a 9 mile fairly deserted beach (Playa Blanca) where there are waves and some undertow but we swim there with care and there are good accommodation options. Expect to see whales, dolphins, turtles etc.

Alternatively, you go into town where there is a calm bay (mainly Playa Ropa) with a nice organised beach, warm water and lots of water sports, massages, restaurants etc. If you are into surfing, Troncones just up the coast is something of a mecca. Avoid Ixtapa.

There are great wildlife tours, golf, archaeological sites etc. as well.

• This reply was modified 54 years, 4 months ago by .

[NorthernLass]

I assume you mean the J seats are to MEX as none showing to CUN (though there are some fabulous archaeological sites around the Yucatan peninsula if that’s your bag, and Merida is a very interesting city). As JDB says, from MEX you’d need to get a connecting flight to anywhere with a beach so it depends if that would fit with your plans. If you’re planning to visit Mexico City, then obviously worth it, but a lot of hassle simply for a beach break.

[memesweeper]

It’s a very long time since I have been, but Oaxaca was the stand-out city on my visit. Unfortunately it’s not a day trip from the coast, if your wife is looking for beaches.

[tblank19]

Apologies to bring up an old thread but seemed a good starting point when searching through Mexico posts.

@JDB we have recently booked to spend a week in Zihuatanejo this coming February at LCQC and it seems as if you have been visited the area a few times. Do you have any recommendations with regards to suggested restaurants for good Mexican food and also any activities/day trips in the local area?

[JDB]

@tblank – I don’t do recommendations as one never knows what other people like but places we like are:

Short walk from LCQC is Bistro del Mar on Playa la Madera – more formal Mexican with good food and wine. There’s now a walkway along the sea front from there into town which is quite lively in the evenings and easy to get a taxi back to the hotel.

In town there’s a famous place that is popular with Mexican tourists and locals – Tamales y Atoles (ask the hotel as I think it may have changed name) very lively atmosphere, music and cheap.

On Eijido street – Los Braseros, basic but good.

Mito on Av Cuauhtémoc looks quite basic but has good, more sophisticated Mexican food and good wine from their shop.

For lunch on Playa La Ropa we like La Perla roughly in the middle of the beach. You can rent seats on the beach and umbrellas and they will serve you there or at tables; we like the prized bar seats that look out to sea. Good service, huge menu. They have massages there that my wife says are very good (in an air conditioned room) or there’s a place on the beach that she says is also very good – about 400 pesos so probably a fraction of LCQC.

If you don’t have breakfast included – it’s a short walk to Espuma which has an even better view than your hotel.

For a blow out dinner – Tentaciones (same people as Espuma). It’s a set menu, quite expensive but all very good. It’s set quite a bit higher than LCQC or Espuma so has an amazing view of the bay. You want to be there for sunset so it’s an early table. The table in the far right corner as you are looking out to sea is perfect!

On the hotel road, heading back into town, on the right just before the bridge, there’s a laundry that charges by weight, cheap, same day but doesn’t iron.

Hopefully you will have a car so you can go to Playa Blanca – we like Chula Vida – the owner Jorge is a character and fishes a lot of what they serve. It’s very laid back.

The best food on Playa Blanca is at the Hotel Portofino which has two palapas overlooking the beach and a huge pool you can use. Very friendly staff but almost no English.

At the end of Playa Blanca is the small village of Barra de Potosí which has lots of ‘enramada’ restaurants which are very rough and ready but have fantastic fresh fish and seafood. It’s the most authentic Mexican experience! They generally close at around 6pm when everyone will be on the beach to watch sunset. The beach there is quite calm.

Not Mexican but Escondite on Playa Blanca lets you use their beach and pool for no charge if you eat/drink. All civilised, clean loos etc. but it’s key market is Canadians/Americans.

We like Troncones which is about 45 minutes away. There’s a beautiful small bay there with gentle water for swimming. We set up at the Inn at Manzanillo Bay – a bit Americanised but great cocktails for the non drivers, good food in a pretty garden overlooking the bay and teeming with wildlife, especially iguanas.

If you are interested in birds, a boat trip on the lagoon at Barra de Potisí is a must but you need a very early start, probably around 7am as it gets light. We have always used Abraham who will also take you snorkelling or whale watching. He’s on WhatsApp country code/area code 136 5246

Petatlán and the nearby museum and pyramid at Xihuacan are good if you are interested in archaeological sites.

Ixtapa is quite grim – we only go there to play golf, but Isla de Ixtapa is quite nice and a fun short boat trip but was spoilt for us by a plague of flies…

[tblank19]

Thank you very much JDB, that is a an incredibly helpful response and good to see you reference a few of the places which have also been suggested by the hotel. We will definitely check out a number of those restaurants and appreciate the information on Playa Blanca and other surrounding areas. Is it common to eat around 6/6:30pm in the evening to take in the sunset or is 8pm+ more typical?

Unfortunately we do not have a car booked so may need to rely on taxis and tours to get around to a few places in the day.