Pick your beach first
In Zihuatanejo the beach you choose sets the whole tone of the trip, because each corner of the bay has a different personality, price, and pace. The town is small enough that no choice strands you, but the walk-versus-swim-versus-cheap trade-off is real. Sort out which beach before you sort out which hotel.
Playa La Ropa — swimmers, couples, sunset people
The long, soft, calm south-side beach, and the best base if the beach itself is the point. You get boutique hotels and mid-range places set into the hillside and right on the sand, plus a run of beachfront restaurants and beach clubs you can walk to barefoot. Anchor points: the Camino a Playa La Ropa access road, the cluster of beach clubs at the north end, and the long enramadas toward the south. It is a short taxi or a fifteen-to-twenty-minute walk from the centro, so you trade town bustle for the nicest water in the bay. Lodging skews mid-range to upper, roughly 1,500 to 4,500 MXN a night (approximate), with a few splurge hillside properties well above that and simple rooms below it.
Playa La Madera — first-timers who want a bit of everything
The middle beach, and the smart default for a first trip. It is walkable to the centro along the seawall path in about ten minutes, so you get the market and restaurants on foot, but you are still on a small swimmable beach rather than in the thick of town. The hillside above it is packed with small hotels, B&Bs, and apartment rentals with bay views. Reference points: the paved pedestrian path along the water and the stairs up from the beach into the Madera lanes. Expect roughly 900 to 2,500 MXN a night (approximate) for a solid room, less for a simple rental.
Centro — budget travelers and people who want the town
Cheapest and most local. You are in the working fishing-town core, steps from the Mercado Municipal on Benito Juárez, the taco stands, the pier, and the malecon. Best for budget travelers, backpackers, and anyone who wants to be in the middle of the noise and the food rather than on a quiet beach. The trade-off: the town beach (Playa Municipal) is for strolling and dawn watching, not swimming, so you commute to La Ropa or Las Gatas for beach days. Guesthouses and budget hotels run roughly 500 to 1,300 MXN a night (approximate). Anchor points: the malecon (Paseo del Pescador) and the market.
Ixtapa — the resort-autopilot option
The separate, purpose-built strip about fifteen minutes up the coast, covered in full on the Ixtapa page. Big all-inclusives along Playa Palmar, a wide open-ocean beach, a golf-course feel, and a boulevard of chain hotels. Choose it only if you specifically want the polished high-rise package with a kids club and a buffet. You lose the fishing-town character that makes Zihua worth the trip, and you will be taxiing back into Zihua to eat well anyway.
Quick pick
- First trip, want balance: Playa La Madera.
- Couples and swimmers: Playa La Ropa.
- Budget and local flavor: Centro.
- Families wanting resort convenience: Ixtapa.
- Quiet and remote: rentals at the far south end of La Ropa, or day-trip bases like Barra de Potosí and Troncones, both on the day-trips page.
Whatever you pick, base around the bay and skip the rental car; the getting there and around page explains why. In the mid-December to Semana Santa peak, book weeks ahead; the good La Ropa and La Madera rooms sell out first.