My wife and I, along with another couple, just returned from a FABULOUS vacation in Acapulco. The Grand Mayan is beautiful and amazing, but what really made our trip was Roberto Alarcon, the driver we hired for the week.

Roberto was friendly, knowledgeable and spoke great English. He was waiting for us at the airport when we arrived and took us where ever we wanted, whenever we wanted the entire week.

Roberto knows the best restaurants for Americans (and he can advise you where NOT to go). The highlight of our trip was the Acapulco Tour Roberto took us on. We saw some of the most beautiful cliffside homes you can imagine, the world-famous Acapulco cross atop the mountain, the flea market, fine-silver stores and the world famous cliff divers show.

Roberto is very affordable. Trips (like to the airport and back or to a restaurant and back) range from $25 to $50, which is right in line with the local cab drivers. The thing is, the cab drivers aren't all as honest/trustworthy as Roberto.

The hotel itself is very cool. The poll is hundreds of yards long and very narrow like a river at some points. There are bridges going over the "river" so I spent a lot of time under those so I wouldn't burn while drinking my pina coladas.

The beach is cool, though vendors on the beach (off of Mayan property) can get annoying trying to sell you everything from horseback rides to boogie boards. Overall, though, a polite "no thank you amigo" would send them away so we could enjoy the massive waves in the Ocean.

There's live music, several bars, buffets and restaurants on the resort itself. Then we went out to a couple restaurants in the city a couple times (Both recommended by Roberto). The first was Su Casa and the second was Linda Vista. Both had AMAZING views and great food. The food at these places was better and cheaper than the resort food (which was still pretty good).

At Linda Vista, Roberto put in a word with the restaurant manager to get us a great table right along the railing overlooking Acapulco Bay!!

We also went snorkeling one day and, again, Roberto hooked us up with an outfit that was affordable, trustworthy and knew the great spots.

We also enjoyed the Acapulco Nightlife a little. We went to La Condesa, an area of 14 bars in downtown right on the beach. Very very cool. We had no 'anti American' issues whatsoever, probably because we knew the right places to go to thanks to Roberto.

My only complaints about the Grand Mayan is that meals are a little expensive and it is a little far from the heart of Acapulco. That has its pluses and minuses, though. It's a 15-20 minute drive to get downtown, but it's also nice to be away from the crazyness and some of the unsavory element that is in certain parts of the city.

Overall I highly recommend the Grand Mayan and I can't recommend Roberto Alarcon enough. If you have any questions or want contact information, please contact me.

Prior to this trip, Acapulco was among the last Mexican cities on my list to visit. I had heard the stories but I'm here to say that it's a wonderful place to visit. Much of that is due to our stay at the Grand Mayan Acapulco. I would never recommend someone to stay in the busy downtown area of Acapulco unless it was for a day or two. The Grand Mayan is located about 20 minutes to the east of town out in the upscale area of the Diamond section. It sits on a great, wide beach not far from the Fairmont Princess Hotel. The rest of the development there seems to be condos.

As the other reviews state, it's a spectacular property. We had an ocean view which was fabulous but even the rooms on the other side had a nice view of the golf course and a bay in the distance. WIth many tropical locations, the rooms can smell musty. I now always take a solid room freshener sand spray with me. Since the units do not have a dishwasher in the kitchen, I also buy or bring along a supply of paper plates and cups to cut down on my time washing dishing. A roll of paper towels and zip locks are useful. Super Walmart is 5 minutes away and costs about $5 to get there.

One comment I would make is if you consider going there in the summer, (especially June) just know that it's a slow month for them and some things may not be open or operating. At the beginning of the week both the Mexican and Cuban shows were canceled but then they added the Cuban show back to the schedule. The waterpark was closed for upkeep from the Wednesday prior to our arrival and still was not open by the time we left eleven days later. A DJ is usually in Mondo in the evenings but that was not happening during our week. On the other hand, we could always find a pool chair and no reservations were needed in the restaurants (on or off the property).

The staff was exceptional. The best of any of the Grand Mayan properties. The people of Acapulco are genuinely friendly and very kind. Our trip was extra special with the help of the driver/tour guide mentioned frequently here in TripAdvisor by the name of Roberto Alarcon (robertoalrey@yahoo.com.mx). I had contacted him a month prior to our visit and made arrangements to use his services while we were there. All these reviews that mention him with such high regard are solidly based. He is an honest, dependable, wonderful family guy. I couldn't recommend him more. He will be the first person that I call when I return to Acapulco.

We do recommend the Shotover Jet Tour. It was a hit for the entire family (adults and teens). Roberto's city tour is not to be missed and includes the famous cliff divers. If you are a horse lover, ask for Amando on the beach in front of the property. He let me ride by myself on three occasions on his well trained horses. My husband loved his English speaking caddie at the Mayan Golf course by the name of Miguel. Be sure to check out the Mariachi Band in the lobby bar at the Fairmont Princess one evening. Our family is a tennis family and enjoyed the clay, hard and grass courts at the huge tennis facility at the Mayan complex.

Contact me with any questions that you have. It was a great trip!

My husband & I stayed at Grand Mayan May 25th- June 1st. It was our first time to Acapulco and we will be going back! We hired Sebastian Hernandez as our driver. We told him we liked more of the "local" scenes than "touristy" and he definitely set us up. He took us to a restaurant called Restaurant Esmirna Del Mar. It was about 20 minutes from Grand Mayan and usually a day hang out but we had wanted to go for dinner so he arranged for the restaurant to stay open for us. Had a table set up right on the beach. The food was AMAZING and very decently priced. He also took us out to the countryside for the "pozole festival" where he takes his family. There was live music & local families having fun. We enjoyed the food and the shows & danced to the music. The food is cheap and great. If you have him take you there, go with an open mind as the show is a bit unique. We also saw the cliff divers...a must...and went to dinner at Los Flamingos. The view was absolutely beautiful and once again we were impressed by the food, people and price for the amazing experience. We went to Paradise which is by the bungy jump for dinner and loved the food. Late night it turns into a local disco on Fridays. We stayed and danced until 3am. Sebastian also hooked us up for deep sea fishing. We couldn't believe how reasonable the price was and it was just the 2 of us on a 40 ft boat. We didn't catch the big one but we caught a few spanish mackerel and tuna. Great time and the captain and crew were the best. The Grand Mayan is a beautiful resort and everyone is nice. There's happy hour 2 x a day with 2 x1 drinks so that helps with the $$. There's also a lady and some younger guys that will stop by the cabanas on the beach to see if you want fish. We ordered grilled shrimp and red snapper from them and it was excellent. They brought it to us on the beach served with grilled veggies and rice. We never had a problem getting a cabana. The servers don't come down a lot, but if you want them to, talk to one server, tip them well and tell them to come back and they will. Next time we go to Acapulco we will probably stay by the bay so we can experience more of that area. Sebastian Hernandez eskp_rsh@hotmaildotcom was great and we wouldn't of had such an amazing experience without his direction and help.

Just got back from a week at the Grand Mayan. June is the rainy season but we lucked out and had no rain at all. We arrived on June 13 and departed on the 20th. We had our original reservation at the Mayan Palace but after reading TA we decided to listen in on the time share presentation and get upgraded to the GM. They told us the presentation would last 90 minutes and they were right. Not much pressure we just stuck to our guns and said not interested they didn't bother us at all.
We got the upgrade immediately upon check in and got all settled in. We originally had a 2 bedroom suite at the MP but since that building has been tore down they gave us 2 one bedroom suites at the GM. What a pleasant surprise, we had two familes traveling under the same reservaton so they had to give us each a room. We had exchanged through RCI and had never stayed at a Mayan resort before. The grounds were absolutely beautiful and the weather was perfect, always an ocean breeze. Several restaurants were recommended on TA so we gave a few a try. SuCasa and El Zoritto. I thought SuCasa was okay as long as you ordered the red snapper, it was delicious. HOwever the chicken was raw, we sent it back after cutting into it and were surprised when they brought it back cooked on the same plate the same piece of chicken. I don't think they have a clue about customer service, in America, you send something back you get a whole new plate with new food cooked correctly. Dissapointed at their customer service. We found it quite odd that you just get your entree, no salad to speak of. Ice tea was terrible and we sent it back, tasted like dirty socks. If you order a coke or ice tea anywhere in Acapulco don't expect free refills, you get charged another $3 that includes the resort as well.
El Zorito was okay but again, we ordered mexican food and no garnish at all, what's that all about. They did have great guacamole though.
We were disappoined that you couldn't wake up in the morning and go sit either by the pool or the ocean and get a cup of coffee. If you wanted coffee you had to order the $30 breakfast to go along with it. Definetly stop at Walmart and get plenty of drinks and snacks otherwise you'll be broke when you leave. The food at the resort was very average and mostly over priced. The lunch menu by the pool was priced fine, about $10 for a hamberger and fries or club sandwich and fries. They were both pretty good.
The maid service was great so make sure and tip the gals they work very hard. We did take advantage of the 2 for 1 drinks but were disappointed they were not what you would expect a frozen drink to be, they were barely frozen, mostly melted. The ice and water at the resort was fine, we all drank ice tea's and never had a problem.
We played sand volleyball about 4 hours a day and got to know quite a few people, it was a blast. The beach is great, no seaweed or even s s for that matter, very clean.
We hired a driver named Roberto who was fabulous, he speaks great engish since he actually lived in the states for 5 years. He took our group of 8 on a city tour and even the 4 teenagers we had along with us really enjoyed the trip. We saw the cliff divers which was good but after reading all the reviews we thought it would be better. We also used Roberto for the drive to and from the airport and he was very prompt and we really enjoyed him. If you need his info contact me and I'll make sure you get it. Since Roberto was extremely busy on two occasions we contacted Felilx we was also a delight. Great english and drove a very comfortable lincoln that he takes a lot of pride in. I can get you his info as well. Both drivers were great and made our trip even better.
While on the beach we enlisted the services of Captain Jesus Hidalgo Sanchez for a bottom fishing trip. We were warned that he is known to over promise and under delivering and we only wish we would have listened. When we got to the boat he collected the remainder of the fee and set us on our way with his boat and a captain. Of course he was a complete liar, he told us bottom fishing would be great this time of year because he thought that's what we wanted to hear. Once on board they told us that bottom fishing isn't good this time of year because of the moon but they would take us bottom fishing but were certain we wouldn't catch anything. They didn't even have bottom fishing poles on the boat. The boat was outfitted for sail fishing. We have been sail fishing and specifcailly told him that's not what we wanted. We made the best of the boat ride and vowed to have words with Jesus Sanchez when we spotted him on the beach again. Of course the man who had been on the beach everyday with a different colored pant suit was no where to be found for the remainder of our trip. Don't use his services because he is a liar and totally misrepresented what they could do.
We all really had a great time and loved the Grand Mayan, rooms were beautiful and we didnt smell any must at all.