Mazatlán, Manzanillo, Zihuatanejo & Acapulco

Overview

Before Cancún and Los Cabos existed, Americans went to Mexico's mainland Pacific coast. Acapulco was the jet-set resort of the 1950s and 60s, Mazatlán was the sportfishing and spring break town, and Manzanillo and Zihuatanejo were where you went to get away from both. These towns still draw huge numbers of Mexican families and a loyal crowd of American and Canadian winter regulars, and prices are often well below the big international resorts.

They also sit in some of the states the US government rates most harshly. Sinaloa, Colima and Guerrero are all at Level 4, Do not travel, the State Department's highest level. Plenty of visitors go anyway and have uneventful trips, but you should understand what the advisory says, what the real risks look like on the ground, and what Level 4 means for insurance and help if something goes wrong. This page gives you both sides plainly.

What the advisory says, state by state

The State Department reissued its Mexico advisory on May 29, 2026. Mexico overall is Level 2, but each state has its own level. The restrictions below apply to US government employees; they are the clearest public signal of where the US government itself considers travel manageable.

Sinaloa (Mazatlán): Level 4, Do not travel

• Reason given: terrorism and crime.
• US government employees may go to Mazatlán by air or sea only.
• They are limited to the historic town center, from Avenida Gutiérrez Nájera to the ocean, and may travel along the coastal Malecón from the historic center as far as Route 503.
• They must use direct routes between those areas and the airport or the sea terminal.
• Los Mochis and the port of Topolobampo have a similar air-or-sea-only allowance; the rest of Sinaloa is off limits to them.

Earlier versions of the advisory named the Golden Zone (Zona Dorada) explicitly as permitted. The 2026 wording does not use that name; it defines the permitted area by the historic center and the Malecón. If you are booking a hotel in the northern resort areas, Marina Mazatlán, Cerritos or Nuevo Mazatlán, compare its location with that description on a map.

Colima (Manzanillo): Level 4, Do not travel

• Reason given: terrorism, crime and kidnapping.
• US government employees may travel only to the central tourist and port areas of Manzanillo.
• Between Manzanillo and Guadalajara, only Highways 54D, 110 and 200D are permitted.
• Between Manzanillo and Cihuatlán or Jalisco, including Manzanillo's airport, travel is permitted on Highway 200.
• The rest of Colima, including the state capital and the volcano country inland, is off limits to them.

Guerrero (Acapulco, Ixtapa, Zihuatanejo): Level 4, Do not travel

• Reason given: terrorism, crime and kidnapping.
• US government employees may not travel to any part of Guerrero, including the tourist areas of Acapulco, Zihuatanejo, Ixtapa and Taxco.

Jalisco (Barra de Navidad, Melaque): Level 3, Reconsider travel

• Reason given: terrorism, crime and kidnapping.
• Restrictions cover southern Jalisco near the Michoacán border (around Federal Highway 110) and Federal Highway 80 between Cocula and Lázaro Cárdenas. Highway 80 is the inland road from Guadalajara toward this coast, which is why the advisory's routes to Manzanillo matter for Barra too.

Mazatlán

Mazatlán is a working port city of about half a million people with a beautifully restored 19th-century center, one of the longest seafront promenades in the world, and a food scene built on shrimp. It is the most "real city" of Mexico's big beach destinations and, for many American and Canadian retirees, the best value.

Centro Histórico and Olas Altas

The old center, declared part of Mexico's national heritage in 2001, is full of pastel buildings, wrought-iron balconies and small plazas. Plazuela Machado is the evening heart, ringed by restaurants and anchored by the Teatro Ángela Peralta, named for the opera singer who died of yellow fever in the port in the 1880s. Nearby are the cathedral, the Pino Suárez market, and the Olas Altas waterfront where the old hotels face the surf. The Gran Acuario Mazatlán, opened in May 2023 near the Malecón and billed as the largest aquarium in Latin America, makes a good morning with children.

The Malecón and El Faro

The Malecón runs about 5 miles (8.5 km) from the lighthouse area north along the city beaches, and it is the city's living room, with joggers, families and banda musicians at all hours. Ride a pulmonía, the open-air golf-cart taxi invented here, for part of it. At the south end, a steep trail climbs Cerro del Crestón to El Faro, a lighthouse working since 1879 and set about 515 feet (157 m) above the sea, one of the highest natural lighthouses in the world. Go early; there is little shade.

Since June 2026, sinkholes have opened in parts of the seawall: along sections of Avenida del Mar, around the Monumento a la Mujer Mazatleca, near the marine sciences faculty and on the road to El Faro. The state says full repairs should begin in mid-November 2026, so expect fenced-off stretches and detours this winter.

The Golden Zone and the north

The Zona Dorada, built from the 1970s north of the old town, is the classic hotel strip, with beaches such as Gaviotas and Sábalo, bars, shops and boat trips to the islands just offshore. North of it, Marina Mazatlán, Cerritos and Nuevo Mazatlán hold newer condos and large resorts. These northern areas are farther from the old center and from the historic-center-and-Malecón area the advisory describes for US government staff.

Isla de la Piedra

Stone Island is a long peninsula of sand and coconut palms across the harbor channel, reached by a short ride on small passenger boats from the docks near the historic center, or by road past the airport. Its beach restaurants are a classic Sunday outing for local families. It is also outside the advisory's permitted area for US government staff, which tells you how narrowly that area is drawn.

Carnaval

Mazatlán's Carnaval is one of the biggest in Mexico. The first Sunday parade draws more than 600,000 people to the Malecón, there are coronations of the Carnaval queens, a "burning of bad humor," and the Combate Naval, a fireworks reenactment of a battle against French ships, all set to Sinaloan banda music. Carnaval ends the night before Ash Wednesday, which falls on February 10 in 2027, so the main events will run in the days just before. The 2027 edition, themed "Amamos nuestras tradiciones" (We love our traditions), kicked off in October 2026 with the presentation of candidates for the Carnaval crowns. Hotels fill and prices jump; book months ahead and confirm dates with the city before you buy flights. See Festivals.

Mazatlán safety on the ground

Since September 2024, a war between two factions of the Sinaloa Cartel has driven a surge in violence across the state, centered on the capital, Culiacán, about 135 miles (220 km) north. Mazatlán has not been spared. In one week in October 2026, local press counted at least 13 homicides and two femicides in the city, nearly all in residential neighborhoods away from the tourist zones, although one man was shot in a shopping-plaza parking lot in the Marina Mazatlán area.

Two 2026 cases stand out for visitors. In January, ten employees of a Canadian mining company were kidnapped in Concordia, the inland municipality next door, and nine were later found dead. On February 3, a visiting Mexican family riding rented off-road vehicles was intercepted by armed men on Sábalo–Cerritos Avenue at the north end of the resort strip; a woman and a child were rescued the next day, and four brothers remain missing.

Against that, tourists, cruise passengers and a sizable community of foreign retirees still fill the historic center and Golden Zone, and most visits pass without incident, although the city's restaurant association has asked the government for tax relief to help businesses stay open. A sensible approach:

• Arrive by air, cruise or the La Paz ferry rather than driving through Sinaloa.
• Stay in the historic center or Golden Zone, and use the advisory's boundaries as your own map.
• Skip off-road vehicle rentals and tours that leave the city, and inland day trips to the mountain towns.
• Use hotel-arranged taxis or apps at night, and avoid isolated beaches after dark.
• Check local news before you go; the situation changes week to week.
• Save 911 and the location of the US Consular Agency in Mazatlán, which offers limited services to citizens, and enroll in STEP.

Getting to Mazatlán, where to stay, what it costs

Mazatlán's airport (MZT), south of the city, has nonstop flights from the US and Canada, with more routes in winter, plus domestic service. Cruise ships call at the port next to the historic center. Baja Ferries runs an overnight car and passenger ferry from La Paz, which makes Mazatlán a natural add-on to a Los Cabos and La Paz trip; check the Baja Ferries schedule. Driving down from Arizona is long and takes you through Culiacán; most visitors are better off flying. See Border crossings if you are set on driving.

Food and transport are among the cheapest of any big Mexican beach city. Tiers are per night for two: $ under MX$1,500, $$ MX$1,500–3,500, $$$ MX$3,500–8,000, $$$$ over MX$8,000.

Manzanillo

Manzanillo is Mexico's busiest container port and, on the other side of its peninsula, a resort town of two big bays, Manzanillo Bay and Santiago Bay, with golden and volcanic-gray beaches. It is a weekend escape for Guadalajara families and a winter base for Canadians and Americans who like it quieter than Puerto Vallarta. The Las Hadas resort, with its white Moorish domes, became famous from the 1979 film 10, and billfish fishing is a long-standing draw.

The calmest swimming is at sheltered beaches such as La Audiencia on the Santiago peninsula. Open-ocean stretches can have strong shore break, so follow the flags.

The advisory is the hard part. Colima has had one of the highest homicide rates of any Mexican state in recent years, with violence tied to the fight over the port and drug routes, and the US limits its own staff to Manzanillo's central tourist and port areas. Most visitors stick to their resort, the beaches and the downtown waterfront, and arrive by air or on the toll road from Guadalajara in daylight.

• Getting there: Manzanillo's Playa de Oro airport (ZLO) is north of the city toward Barra de Navidad, with limited, mostly seasonal international service. Many travelers fly into Guadalajara and drive about 3.5 hours on toll road 54D, the route the advisory permits.
• Where to stay: resort hotels on Santiago Bay and the Las Hadas peninsula ($$–$$$$) or the hotel zone along Manzanillo Bay ($$–$$$).

Barra de Navidad and Melaque

Just over the state line in Jalisco, a short drive north of Manzanillo's airport on Highway 200, are two small towns that have quietly hosted North American snowbirds for decades. Barra de Navidad sits on a sandbar between a calm lagoon and the ocean, with seafood restaurants on stilts, water taxis across the lagoon to the Isla Navidad resort and golf course, and boats to the restaurants of Colimilla. Melaque (San Patricio Melaque), a couple of miles around the bay, is a low-rise Mexican family beach town with gentle water at its western end and long beach walks.

Both are in Jalisco, Level 3, and outside the advisory's restricted areas, but the inland road from Guadalajara, Highway 80, is restricted for US government staff, and during the February 2026 unrest after the killing of the Jalisco cartel's leader, blockades and burnings lingered for a day around Cihuatlán and Autlán. Come via the 54D toll road to Manzanillo and Highway 200 north, in daylight.

Lodging is simple and inexpensive ($–$$), with one big luxury resort on Isla Navidad ($$$–$$$$). Many winter visitors rent by the month; see Long stays.

Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo

These are two towns about 4 miles (7 km) apart that share an airport and very different personalities. Zihuatanejo is an old fishing town on a deep, sheltered bay, the place Andy Dufresne dreams of in The Shawshank Redemption. Fishermen still land their catch on the main beach in the morning, the waterfront walk is lined with cafés, and the bay beaches are calm: Playa La Ropa for a long swim and beach restaurants, Las Gatas for snorkeling behind an old rock reef, reached by a short boat ride. Ixtapa next door was built from scratch by the federal government's tourism agency in the 1970s, with a row of big hotels on an open-ocean beach, a marina, a bike path, and boats from Playa Linda to the snorkeling coves of Isla Ixtapa.

Zihuatanejo in particular has a devoted community of returning American and Canadian winter visitors, and its small scale makes it feel manageable. But Guerrero is Level 4, and the US government bars its employees from the entire state, tourist zones included. Reported crime on this stretch of coast runs below the state average, with most incidents in urban Zihuatanejo rather than the tourist beaches, and the state deploys extra police and patrols along tourist corridors in winter. Still, organized crime and extortion are widespread in Guerrero, and the coastal highway to Acapulco runs through areas you should avoid. If you go, fly in, stay in the two towns, and do not drive the highways.

• Getting there: ZIH has seasonal winter nonstops from a few US cities and year-round flights from Mexico City.
• Where to stay: small hotels and guesthouses in Zihuatanejo and on La Ropa ($–$$$), boutique hillside hotels above the bay ($$$–$$$$), and the large resorts of Ixtapa ($$–$$$).

Acapulco after Otis and John

On October 25, 2023, Hurricane Otis went from a tropical storm to a Category 5 hurricane in about a day and came ashore at Acapulco with winds near 160 mph (260 km/h), far stronger than forecast. Officially 52 people died and 32 were missing. It became the costliest Pacific hurricane on record, with damage estimated at US$12–16 billion, and about 80% of the city's hotels were damaged.

Less than a year later, in late September 2024, Hurricane John made landfall to the east as a Category 3 and then stalled, dropping about 57 inches (1,442 mm) of rain on Acapulco. Floodwater filled dozens of neighborhoods, reaching 5 to 6.5 feet (1.5 to 2 m) in parts of the Diamante zone, and damaged at least 206 hotels. The federal government announced an 8-billion-peso reconstruction plan for the city's tourism and public services.

Recovery has been real but incomplete. By Easter 2025, about 15,000 rooms in 274 hotels were back in service, roughly three quarters of pre-Otis capacity, and the city reported 92% occupancy over Holy Week. The city's big ATP tennis event, the Mexican Open, has carried on each February. Still, expect construction, closed buildings, and uneven services in places. Before booking, confirm your hotel is fully open, look at reviews and photos from the last few months, and ask whether the pool, restaurants and beach access are working.

Acapulco's other problem predates the storms. It has been among Mexico's most violent cities for more than a decade, with a homicide rate cited in 2026 at about 70 per 100,000 residents, more than ten times the US rate, and Guerrero is Level 4 with no travel at all permitted for US government staff. Some Acapulco beaches have also been flagged at times for high bacteria levels. Visitors today are overwhelmingly Mexican, many driving down from Mexico City on the Autopista del Sol in four to five hours. The classic sights carry on: the cliff divers of La Quebrada, the calm family beaches of Caleta and Caletilla, sunset at Pie de la Cuesta (look but do not swim; the open ocean there is dangerous), and the nightlife strip along the Costera Miguel Alemán.

Which one suits you

If the Level 4 states give you pause, the same coast offers lower-risk options: Puerto Vallarta and Riviera Nayarit, Los Cabos and La Paz, and the Oaxaca coast.

Getting there at a glance

Cruise passengers stopping in Mazatlán, Zihuatanejo or Acapulco now pay a federal per-passenger fee added to the cruise fare, introduced in 2025; see Cruises. For flights and connections, see Flights.

Hurricanes and when to go

The dry season from November to April brings sunny days in the 80s°F (about 27–32°C) and the calmest seas. Summer is hot, humid and rainy. The eastern Pacific hurricane season runs from May 15 to November 30, and this coast has taken some of the strongest storms on record: Patricia came ashore in Jalisco between Manzanillo and Puerto Vallarta in 2015, Otis and John hit Acapulco in 2023 and 2024, and in October 2026 Hurricane Simon killed a man in Guerrero while Hurricane Trudy passed off the coast near Manzanillo.

• Between June and November, buy travel insurance that covers hurricanes and trip interruption, and book refundable rates.
• Follow the National Hurricane Center and local Protección Civil, and do what your hotel tells you.
• Expect dangerous surf for days even when a storm stays offshore.

Month-by-month detail is on When to go, and swimming safety on Beaches.