Acapulco, gem of the Mexican Riviera overlooking the Pacific, is strewn with beautiful resorts and busy nightlife choices. Alongside the glamour and hustle, there’s a tranquil side, as this tropical paradise offers a variety of ecotourism options whether you’re on your own, your significant other, or with the whole family.
Sea turtles, or "tortugas" in Spanish, are an endangered species. Fortunately, breeding grounds extend along Acapulco’s coastline. Adults and children alike will love baby turtle releases, watching baby turtle hatchlings hatch from eggs their mothers laid on the beaches and waddle through the sand to the ocean, renewing the circle of life. Two of the best beaches are Playa Larga and Playa Ventura, where you’ll find turtle camps and small nature-oriented hotels where for a small fee, used to protect the turtle reserves, you can help with their preservation while also watching them. Turtle season is usually during the end of the year, beginning in October and December being the best month.
Just to the southeast of Acapulco, you’ll find Laguna de Tres Palos, an enormous lagoon over 15 kilometers long and 5 kilometers wide stretching inland beyond the airport to Barra Vieja. It’s the paradise where the Tarzan movie was filmed, and one of Guerrero State’s best birdwatching areas, heron and other birds frolicking among the lily pads, blossoming tropical flowers and mangrove forests lining its edges. Boat rides take you where tropical fish abound, caught by local fishermen and grilled and served in small restaurants along the shore. The rich black soil here also makes excellent facial masks, and locals sell handmade woven baskets to take home as souvenirs.
To the north of Acapulco, visitors can enjoy boat trips excursions through Laguna de Coyuca, with its watery landscape similar to Laguna de Tres Palos, birds and other wild fauna flitting on the mangrove lined shores. A tour highlight is dining in the middle of the Laguna on freshly caught and grilled fish.
Other watery adventures are lunches along the Pacific coastline through Pie de la Cuesta and Barra de Coyuca, the barrier beaches protecting Laguna de Coyuca. Here, you’ll also encounter one of Acapulco’s own stars, Doña Polita's daugther, whose special beauty treatments use local mud and natural ingredients. Famous celebrities who have come to see her include Sofia Vergara, Luis Miguel and many others for skin smoothing secrets found nowhere else in the world.
Just off the coast of Acapulco’s shoreline is the Roqueta Island, a tropical forest covered island, its central mountain topped by a beckoning lighthouse. Visitors have a mini-paradise of options where they can paddle along the shoreline, or take a plunge with snorkel gear for a close look at the multi-colored tropical fishes. Nature hikes take you along the shore to the lighthouse, providing a chance to wander among tropical birds and brilliant flowers as you learn the island’s history. Relax and refresh at one of the small open-air restaurants, for freshly caught and grilled fish, smothered in local seasonings.
Ecotourism adventures wait in Acapulco, no matter the season!
