"Mayan Palace" Acapulco, Mexico

The highlight of the trip was the beautiful Mayan Palace resort. The fast and easy check in was a breeze and the property is huge and beautifully kept. The Tuesday night Mexican Fiesta is a must if you love Mexican food, dance, and music. It was an all-you-can-eat buffet and all-you-can-drink domestic wine/drinks. We also enjoyed seeing the Cliff Divers of La Quebrada, and also doing a little silver shopping.

We mostly relaxed around the huge pool. They claim to have the world's largest pool and I can believe it. The pool was huge, with lots of sun or shade depending on where you wanted to sit. There was also a lagoon and canals that you could venture out in a canoe, kayak, or a paddle boat, depending on how much work you wanted to do. And happy hour around the pool was always 1600 - 1700 every day!

Quick Tips:

We signed up for a snorkeling trip with the Swiss Divers Association. The snorkeling was a bit of a disappointment. The brochure said that they provided lunch, but it was just a ham and cheese sandwich and a Coke. I was still hungry and would have liked to have had more food.

Best Way To Get Around:

If you want to go downtown, the best way there is by taxi. It was around 11 pesos one way, but for 25 pesos the driver would wait for you and take you back when you where ready.

Best Things Nearby:
Downtown was a taxi drive away. A 15 minute drive and you were in downtown Acapulco. It was about 11 pesos each way, but for 25 pesos the driver would wait for you until you were ready to head back home.

Best Things About the Resort:
The grounds, pool, washrooms, and lobby all were great. The staff was very friendly and always greeted you when you walked by. I have never seen a cleaner hotel in my life. Even the "public" restrooms by the pool were spotless. Everytime I went to use the washroom there was always someone busy cleaning in there.

Resort Experience:
This was the best timeshare place we have been to yet. We had a one bedroom unit with a partial kitchen and full living room with an extra pull out bed. The kitchen had a small fridge, a two burner stove, and microwave. The bathroom was separate from the sink. The bathroom had a shower/tub and toilette. A nice treat was that at 2000 hours every night someone would turn down your bed and would leave two Hersey kisses on your pillows.

We loved this resort and are planning on staying at some of the other Mayan Palace resorts in the future. Since we are only able to visit the Mayan Palace in Acapulco once every four years, we'll just have to visit the other resorts in the meantime.

• Unit Type: 1 Bedroom
• Activities: Excellent
• Amenities: Excellent
• Unit Satisfaction: Excellent
• Family Friendliness: Excellent
• Service: Excellent

All of the restaurants at the Mayan Palace were fabulous. Prices varied. The most expensive restaurant was Cha'n Kah Gourmet Restaurant. We saved this restaurant for our last night. The meal was four courses and you just picked what you wanted from a pre-selected menu. The food was terrific and the cost of food plus two bottles of wine was around 600 pesos, which is around $60 US. We made a reservation for 1800 and asked for Table #1. We had a beautiful view of the sunset, or last before heading home the next day.

The Bakal Cafe had a themed buffet every night. Cost was around 200 pesos per person. The food was great and it was all-you-can-eat. We went for the Italian buffet and the food was great! The Tum-tah Restaurant offered fresh seafood and other Mexican treats! The food was great, whatever restaurant you went to...even the pool snack/bar Balche had a great club sandwich and happy hour was 1600 - 1700 every day! No need to head into downtown when you have such great food nearby.

It cost 20 pesos each to get in to view the divers. The best place to view the divers is to go right down to the bottom (lots of stairs to climb after the show) and go right up to the brick wall facing the cliff. Bring water because it gets very hot down there, there's no wind, and it also gets very humid. After watching the show we were just soaked and couldn't wait to get back to the Mayan Palace to dive into the pool.