We recently (April 2005) spent a week at the Grand Mayan Palace in Acapulco, Mexico. Had I known some of the things I learned while I was there, I would venture to guess that my stay would have been more enjoyable.
I’ve made a list which corresponds to each paragraph below. This will allow you to avoid wading through my montage of events and get the information that you want. I do suggest to all the potential readers that they at least peruse No. 9.
1. Location
2. Money Exchange
3. Taxis/Tours
4. Making Tour Reservations
5. Deep Sea Fishing
6. Buses
7. Food/Dining In or Out/Restaurants
8. Casinos
9. Airport Travel (Acapulco and Mexico City)
10. Review of the Resort
(1) The Grand Mayan Palace is not located near downtown, so if you are into the party scene, you may want to reconsider and take a look at another property. I would suggest the Crown Palace (RCI Property) located in downtown Acapulco. The Mayan is a short ($10) cab ride from the airport. Ignore the ladies screaming; this is the only place you can get a ride and just walk outside of the terminal.
(2) When we where there, they were charging 7%. So you may want to change your dollars in the States or at your local airport. If you must obtain funds to get you downtown, use the ATM located on the premises of the hotel. The ATM will use the current exchange rate that your bank has posted. There is an American Express Money Exchange downtown and it was always offering the best rate.
(3) If you decided to do the taxi tours, ask at the hotel for a taxi that is affiliated with The Grand Mayan Palace. They are insured through the hotel. This means that if you leave or lose something in the cab, you will get it back. Also, I noticed that those affiliated with the hotel had larger taxis, the air conditioners worked and they tend to have a better grasp of English. Try Jose Ruben Genchi, Taxi No. 720. There was also a fellow named Felix ("Spaghetti") for whom you can ask by his nickname, out front, when hailing a cab. The difference between the taxi tour and the regular tours is that for a predetermined fee (in our case, $30 per person), we were able to tour all the places in one day at our pace rather than pay for each tour and be required to follow their time frame. Our tour consisted of the usual.
(4) Try not to make reservations at the hotel for the various tours in Acapulco. Being a resident of the Grand Mayan has its advantages. Go downtown ($8.50 to Wal-Mart) and walk down the street. You will see podiums with individuals trying to get people to tour The Grand Mayan. Look around and compare the prices on the various activates before you spend money on the tours at the hotel. You will see a major mark-up at the hotel, compared to what they will charge you if you book a tour with the individual(s) downtown.
(5) The hotel has a couple of fishing tours and they are quite expensive. I would suggest you contact Laura Basque at 4857990 for a day of deep-sea fishing; he was charging $200 for a whole day. If you can’t get him on the phone, take a taxi to the Amigo Miguel Restaurant (see 7a below) and ask for him there.
(6) If you are on a budget but still want to be downtown every day or night, take the taxi to Wal-Mart and hop the local bus. You can ride the entire strip for $.50. There are two blues, one with air-conditioning and one without, and a yellow one. Since I didn’t ride the yellow bus, I can’t tell you anything about it other than it goes to the old side of Acapulco. Pay the driver your fee (he makes change) and hop off as you wish. Although they have bus stops, I noticed that if you just stand up and holler "aquí" (here), they just pull over and let you hop off.
(7) We don’t particular care for buffets and since the hotel was mainly buffets we regularly took the cab downtown and ate. There are a zillion restaurants and bars, but our recommendations are as follows:
a. El Amigo Miguel: Located at the opposite end from our hotel of downtown Acapulco ($15). Not only was the food fantastic, but it was also cheap. If you love seafood, try the Miguel Fillet. It looks nothing like a fillet, but it is fantastic, chock-full of seafood wrapped in bacon with a chipotle sauce. Ask for the waiter who goes by B&B. He doesn’t speak much English, but he's by far one of the nicest in there. This place is more for the locals, hence the fantastic food for the price. Their Margaritas SUCKED.
b. Paradise: Yes, it is a tourist location, but their food was also very good. Unfortunately, being a tourist location, they are little more expensive, but not nearly what you would pay in the States.
c. La Gamba: The best part of La Gamba are their pina coladas, the coconut and rum drinks, and the margaritas. They use fresh coconut juice - walk down the stairs to the beach, and you will see them breaking the coconut for your drinks. The food is good. We ate there once and used it more as a stop-in for a drink location after that.
d. The hotel: The breakfast buffet. If you plan to stay for a week and don’t want to spend a lot of money on food, then the one-week breakfast buffet package at the hotel is a good deal. Of course, you know how buffets go - it is the same every day except Sunday. They do offer an omelet/egg bar and a pancake/french toast bar. We had the buffet dinner in the restaurant located in the lobby of the Grand Mayan – it was the prime cuts buffet. Beef is not to be eaten in Mexico. My fiancé said that is all that needs to be said about that.
(8) What casinos? There are none. RCI needs to update its brochure to reflect this. There is a bingo parlor downtown, as well as a sports book. But other than that, there was no gambling.
(9) No need to get to the airport in Acapulco 2 hours early--45 minutes to an hour is ample time. It's something that you may want to keep in mind, if you fly Mexicana Airlines (through American Airlines) and are going through Mexico City. They will only issue your ticket from Acapulco to Mexico City. If by chance the AA counter is open, you may want to see if they can issue your remaining tickets. Otherwise, you will have to find the American Airlines ticket counter when you get to Mexico City. We were thankful for the 2-hour layover we had, since nobody seem to know where we needed to go. In the event you find yourself in the same boat:
To get to the AA counter, you will need to go through "customs" (just before gate 18). Then take the stairs at gate 12 down to baggage claim and walk all the way to the very end (opposite of where you landed) of the airport to the American Airlines counter. They will issue your tickets, and you will then walk all the way back to the other end of the airport to get on the plane. Basically, you are walking in a complete circle around the airport.
(10) At the time that we went to the resort, they were remolding, and there really wasn’t much to do. The one pub was closed, as was the Italian restaurant. That left you with a jazz quartet in the breezeway and a piano bar in the lobby of the hotel. Also, in addition to the kiosk at the pool, there were two places to eat (7d. above). They do not offer Internet in the rooms, but they do have an Internet café ($1.50 for 15 minutes). They do have a large swimming pool, but unfortunately, there is no swim-up bar or shade around the pool. There is a water park located on the premises, but that costs an additional fee and is swarming with kids. There are the usual for fee rentals: jet skis, boogie boards, and horseback riding on the beach. There really is nothing to do at night. No club, no disco, the pool is closed, and the beaches are dark. We made it a habit of hopping a cab downtown for dinner and partying.