Day trips from Ixtapa
The best “trip” from Ixtapa is barely a trip at all – Zihuatanejo is fifteen minutes away and is where you should be spending your evenings anyway. Beyond that, a short list of genuinely worthwhile outings sits close by. Here they are, ordered by value.
Zihuatanejo – 15 minutes by combi
Not really a day trip, more the other half of your stay. The real town: a working fishing bay, the Mercado Central, cheap seafood and tiritas, the calm beaches of Playa La Ropa and Playa Las Gatas, the archaeology museum on the malecon, and actual nightlife. Getting there is a few pesos on the combi or a short taxi. Absolutely worth it – do it most days you are here, and eat dinner there rather than on the strip. See Zihuatanejo for the full picture.
Isla Ixtapa – 5-minute boat ride
Pangas leave from the Playa Linda pier just north of the hotels; the crossing takes only a few minutes. A small island with four sheltered coves – Cuachalalate, Varadero, Coral and Carey – with snorkeling over a small reef and beach restaurants grilling whole fish. Half a day, easy, and a real break from the manicured strip. Worth it, especially with kids or a snorkel mask. Go earlier for calmer water and to beat the midday boat crowd.
Playa Las Gatas – via Zihuatanejo bay
A protected, shallow beach reached by a short water-taxi from the Zihuatanejo pier (roughly 10 minutes across the bay). A rock barrier keeps the water glassy and calm – calm enough for small children – with snorkeling and simple seafood palapas. Legend says the barrier was built for a Purepecha king’s daughter to bathe. Worth it for a lazy swim-and-snorkel day, and it pairs naturally with a Zihua afternoon.
Troncones – about 45 minutes to an hour by car
A low-key surf and beach village up the coast on Highway 200, the antidote to Ixtapa’s polish: dirt roads, yoga, near-empty sand, tide pools at Manzanillo Bay, and better, more serious waves. You need a car or a taxi arrangement to get there and back. Worth it if you want a taste of the un-resorted coast and you have more than a single day; skip it if you are on a one-day Ixtapa visit – spend that day on El Palmar and in Zihua instead.
Barra de Potosi – about 40 minutes south by car
A quiet fishing village on a long lagoon south of the airport, past Petatlan, where the draw is birdlife on the estuary, a wide empty beach, and rows of enramada palapas serving fresh seafood with almost no crowd. A boat ride through the mangroves is the local thing to do. Worth it for a slow, un-touristy beach-and-seafood day if you have a car; a calmer, more local alternative to the Ixtapa strip. For getting around to any of these, see getting there and around.