During the day, get some sun. Rest or snooze on the beach. Be casual. But when the sun goes down, the city takes on a completely different vibe, and so will you. Things don’t really get started until well after midnight.  The only reason to go anywhere before then is if you think the line to get in will be long. The clubs and bars stay lively until 4 or 5 am. Most stay open until 5 or 6 am. A few places are known as “after hours” clubs, and they don’t get started until then, continuing the party perhaps until late morning!

A few of the bars along the beach stay casual throughout the night, but most clubs will expect or require upscale styles. You’ll find that the women are dressy and usually very daring. The men usually go for simple elegance, which may mean a silk shirt and classic slacks. Designer jeans can work, but it’s not guaranteed everywhere. If you must wear jeans, make sure they’re not ripped or torn, that they fit you reasonably well, and that the shirt, blouse or jacket is fancy enough to compensate. The women often wear heels, which makes dancing really difficult. A few bring flats and switch into them for dancing.. Men, try to go for real shoes. Sneakers and sandals are unwelcome in most places, and they make dancing almost impossible. Even if you think you can get away with dancing barefoot in the clubs, don’t. It’s just not safe, especially if someone has broken a glass.

You can find a good party almost anywhere in town, but Acapulco’s main party areas are:

Condesa Beach. This region is in Acapulco's “Golden Zone,” on the bayside and among many hotels.  There are both nightclubs and bars, designed to appeal to everyone, from college crowd to the older set. Thus these places trend towards more casual, and are somewhat easier on the pocketbook than more elegant locations. Well-known favorites include the Barba Roja, the Baby Lobster, Mojito, and Disco Beach.

Las Brisas is a neighborhood along the Escénica – the “scenic highway” that connects the bay side of Acapulco with the more recent and luxurious developments in the “Diamond Zone.” The road climbs high above the beaches as it crosses the ridge, affording fantastic views back towards the traditional zone of town. This is where Acapulco’s “top-shelf” discos can be found. They are in large, interesting, modern, minimalist buildings with large dance floors, lots of glass, breathtaking views, many busy bars, and the latest in sound, video and lights. Examples of the clubs in this area are the famed Palladium, Mandara, Classico del Mar, and Sky Garden.

In Acapulco Diamante you can find other clubs with similar accents on size, style, and flair. Pure Night (usually just called “Pure”) is the latest entry – a very large and swanky club on the “Boulevard de las Naciones” near the Fairmont Hotels and the Mayan Palace.

In Acapulco’s “Golden Zone” in Costa Azul you will find several of Acapulco’s most well-known and busiest nightspots. This is the section of the Costera Alemán that extends from the traffic circle at the Convention Center to the Naval Base (where the “Escénica” starts). Club Dubai is the most recent entry, in the space where “Salón Q” used to be. Salon Q essentially was folded in with a related club, also in the area, called “Nina’s Tropical” – well-known for its salsa, cumbia and meringue nights. “Baby’O” is perhaps the oldest and most famous of the clubs in this reason. El Alebrije, which is very nearby, is perhaps the largest of them all. (An “Alebrije” is a brightly-colored pottery effigy of a salamander (or “cuica”) made by natives indigenous to the mountains around Acapulco, and a symbol of exceptionally good fortune.)

In Acapulco’s “Traditional Zone” (downtown, La Quebrada and out to Las Playas and Caleta Beach), you will also find a number of great party locales. Take the walkway that overlooks and borders the ocean. It goes from La Quebrada to the Sinfonía de Mar and past. Here you can be casual, and you can party on a budget. The street becomes alive with locals and visitors alike. You can choose any one of several small bars, but you can also just show up with your own favorite beverage. Park your car, and start celebrating.

No matter where in town you decide to go, take a few minutes to collect all the information you need to be sure the night goes smoothly for you. If you are in a hotel that has a concierge service, you might want to sit down with him or her well in advance of your outing and get as much detail as possible. Here are some important tips:

• Check with the hotel to be sure the place you want to visit is open. Nightclubs in Acapulco change and turnover frequently and they sometimes become very “in” or very “out.” Get the very latest intelligence. You don’t want to show up to a place that is closed or empty, and perhaps you would rather not join in the shoving to enter a place that has just become the hottest in town for the socialite set.
• If you plan to use a credit card, be sure the place accepts the card you plan to use. Take a reasonable amount of cash with you anyway, as the night will present lots of junctures when a tip is called for.
• If you are driving, consider where you are going and how you’re going to park. Many places have valet parking, which is really a good option if you’ll be out until very late. Don’t drive home if you’re not in good shape. The cops get up very early just to harvest fines from drunks coming out of the bars and clubs in the wee small hours of the morning.
• Take some ID with you to prove you are old enough to be there. Do this even if you think it is ridiculous. Sometimes the door people are instructed to check everybody, and if you can’t be checked, you may have to come up with a fat, extra tip. Do not take your passport with you, however, unless that is your only possibility. Passports are valuable in the secondary market, and are fat targets for thieves.

Acapulco is close to Mexico’s main silver-producing region. Taxco, a colonial city in the mountains between Acapulco and Mexico City, is the historical center of this time-honored craft. You will be able to buy Mexican silver in several places in Acapulco, and at very reasonable prices. This article describes what to look for so as to be sure to get what you pay for.

All well-established stores will be open and honest about the quality and silver content of the pieces they sell. This is not always true with transient vendors. To be a good shopper for silver you should bring a magnifying glass, or loupe.

Content. In Mexico you should encounter only one of two types of silver. Either it will be “sterling” or it will be “Alpacca.”

• Sterling is 92.5% pure. In Mexico, the remainder is pure copper, added to give the alloy tensile strength. In Mexico, all pieces of sterling are stamped “925” somewhere, usually next to the artisan’s hallmark, if there is one. On jewelry this can be exceedingly tiny, which is why you brought your loupe with you. If you can not find the “925,” do not buy the piece. It might be genuine sterling nonetheless, but it probably is not. Certainly it was not produced by a qualified silversmith in Mexico.
• Alpacca is also called “nickel silver” or “German Silver.” Its natural finish is similar to that of pewter. Local vendors may tell you that Alpacca contains silver, but it does not. It is an alloy of nickel, copper and (usually) zinc. Frequently pieces of Alpacca will be silver plated, so they look as shiny as sterling. Many sales people think the name is “alpaca,” like the Peruvian beast of burden. In fact, the word (with two c’s and a capital “A”) was a trade mark created by Berndorg AG, a German silversmith, to describe this non-silver alloy. All pieces of Alpacca produced by qualified silversmiths will be stamped “MEX” in the same place where you would find “925” on a piece of sterling. If the item is silver plated, the word “plate” or “plat.” should appear somewhere. The specific gravity of Alpacca is considerably lower than sterling’s, so it will always be notably lighter than an equivalent piece of sterling silver.
• Fine Silver. If someone offers you “fine silver,” be suspicious. This defines silver that is at least 97% silver, up to about 99.9%. It is too soft to be of practical use for jewelry or for household items. If you can almost dent the surface with your finger nail, it may be true “fine silver.” More likely, it will look and feel like sterling or Alpacca. This should tip you off that the vendor is either dishonest or uninformed.

Mexican silversmiths are highly organized and work hard to maintain the discipline and rules of practice so as to maintain consumer confidence. The “925” or “MEX,” if placed on the piece by the craftsman, is probably reliable. Be alert, however, for signs of tampering with the stamp. On very rare occasions a salesman may try to talk you into believing that “MEX” is actually “925.” This is where the magnifying glass comes in handy.

The term “Mexican Silver” historically referred to an alloy with 95% silver and 5% copper, but the product was thought too soft for modern applications, and so sterling has been adopted as the standard for many years. Nowadays, this term just means any silver piece made in Mexico.

Where to Go Shopping. Inside Parque Papagayo there is a jewelry factory and outlet called B & B Jewelers. It is a great place to go to see jewelry in the making. Be sure to see the fire opals. At Taxco Exporta on the Costera Alemán in the Club Deportivo area, you can find not only jewelry, but artistic items of home décor, including trays, vases and the like. The several Sanborns outlets in town also provide well-priced items of genuine Mexican silver articles and jewelry. If you are downtown, across the side street (Juan Escudero) from Sanborns is Linda de Taxco, a shop that specializes in the artistic output of these world-famous artisans. Nearby you can visit Joyería Bonita Margarita where lots of silver and gold crafts can be found.

Minette is a high-end jewelry store in the Fairmont Princess Acapulco hotel, offering one-of-a-kind pieces of designer jewelry and very elaborate decorative pieces for the home. In Las Brisas, Tane Orferes offers unique works in gold and silver jewelry by well-known designers and artists. Torzal Joyeros, on the Costera near the Diana traffic circle, offers hand-crafted jewelry items of all sorts. One specialty is unique, matching wedding rings.

About Author: Bernal Castillo writes for RealAcapulco.com, the most complete and reliable source of information about Acapulco, in English and in Spanish. To reach him, go to Acapulco and navigate to the contact page.

The International Society of Ecotourism tells us that ecotourism is "responsible travel to natural areas.” It is travel that helps to “conserve the environment and improve the well-being of local people." Acapulco, on the southern curve of Mexico’s Pacific Coast, is a superb base of operations from which to explore all the wonders and beauty of the tropics.

Here you will find a profusion of plant and animal species especially adapted for one of two different climactic zones. The Southern Sierra Madres brush the coastline right at Acapulco. Up in the mountains you will find deciduous forest and temperate climates. Many of Mexico’s indigenous peoples still live in villages that dot these mountain ridges. Down near sea level, the terrain is a tropical savannah, which is very moist during summer months and dry in the winter. Here you will find jungles, fresh water lagoons, and – along the unpopulated areas of the rocky coast to the south of Acapulco – small virginal beaches, some of which you can only reach by watercraft.

Many ecotourists simply rent a rugged car in Acapulco, pack the gear and the camera, and take off for places where the roads turn to dirt paths. Others prefer the organized excursions and guided tours. Either way is fine. The only rule is the well-known caution: “Take only pictures; leave only footprints.”

Barra de Coyuca & Coyuca Lagoon. To the north and west of Acapulco a few kilometers, along the coast is the Laguna de Coyuca, a large body of fresh water separated from the ocean by only a narrow strip of land. It covers about 30,000 acres (over 12,000 hectares).The nearby pueblo is called “Embarcadero.” Lots of freshwater wildlife prosper in the lagoon. Motor craft are not forbidden, however. In the lagoon you will find four small islands, which comprise a bird sanctuary. (One of the islands is called “Pájaros,” which means “Birds”). Pelicans, ducks, storks, heron and many songbirds can be seen there. You can rent a small boat or take a guided tour.

Tres Palos Lagoon is on the other side of Acapulco, near the airport and on the way south along the coast. This, too is a very large fresh water lake. It is so wide and so close to the ocean that many people think it’s an inlet from the sea. But it is not. Here, too, you can rent your own water craft or take one of several guided tours. One of them is in a hydroplane boat. Those who have been in a tropical river bed (such as the Amazon) will recognize the narrow, open channels that the water naturally makes in the lily pads and other aquatic vegetation, so you can quietly approach the wildlife. Many local ecologists are pressing to have the Laguna de Tres Palos declared a nature preserve. So far, the politicians have not been interested in the cause, and as civilization encroaches, the lagoon is threatened with contamination.

Barra Vieja is an extended stretch of beach about 20 miles south and east of Acapulco. It does attract its share of tourists, mainly because of the many wonderful seafood restaurants you can find there. But the beaches are not overwhelmed with condos and vendors. You can find a palapa (a palm-thatched cabaña), perhaps with a hammock, and just lie back, if you like. Or stroll along the sand looking for shells and signs of sea life. Near Barra Vieja there is a sea turtle refuge that raises hatchlings and releases them into the sea at the right moment. Sea Turtles have become endangered because of poachers, who value their eggs. You can also find a place to arrange horseback riding – even up and down the beach, if you like.

El Veladero National Park is Acapulco’s main ecological preserve. The high mountainous area above and behind Acapulco creates a “geological amphitheater” that cradles the city and the bay. In 1980 the government protected 8,000 acres of this high land along the “El Veladero Ridge.” A few sites in the park are of historical significance, dating back to the time of independence. But most people come to see the petroglyphs (rock engravings) left by the Yopes – Acapulco locals from the era 200 BC to 600 AD. Here you can find sea eagles and virtually every other indigenous species of bird, mammal and reptile. If insects are your interest, you’ll find them here, too.

Other Excursions include Acapulco's Botanical Garden (Jardín Botánico Esther Pliego de Salinas) located near the Loyola Campus on the east side of the bay, just off the Carretera Escénica. Native tropical species are on display, together with desert plants, trees, shrubs, vines and more. You may wish to take a boat from Caleta Beach across to the Isla Roqueta, which is a nature preserve. There you can hike through a small tropical forest. The lagoon at Puerto Marques also offers a glimpse at mangrove forests. It’s called the “black lagoon” because the mangroves render the water unusually dark.

In short, Acapulco offers many options for those looking to explore the natural wonders of the tropics. It is not just a haven for beachers, brides and Spring breakers.

About Author: Bernal Castillo writes for RealAcapulco.com, the most complete and reliable source of information about Acapulco, in English and in Spanish. To reach him, go to Acapulco and navigate to the contact page.