Where locals go

Where residents actually go

Locals don’t spend their days off on the Costera in front of the big hotels. On a hot afternoon families head to the calmer, bay-side beaches like Caleta and Caletilla in Old Acapulco, where the water is protected and the palapa seafood stands have been feeding the same neighborhoods for decades. It’s noisy, cheap and unpretentious, and it’s the closest thing to the real social life of the city.

Eating and drinking like a local

The old-town streets around the zócalo are where people eat: pozole on a Thursday (a Guerrero ritual), pescado a la talla grilled over coals, seafood cocktails and fresh ceviche from stands rather than resort restaurants. The public market is where cooks shop and where you’ll find the cheapest, most honest plates.

A local’s tip

What a friend here would tell you: go bay-side, not open-ocean, for a swim and a meal, eat where the parking is full of local cars, and do your exploring in daylight. The version of Acapulco worth your time is the everyday one around the old town, not the strip the brochures still sell.