Manzanillo is the busiest container port in Mexico and a Pacific beach city of about 190,000 people in the small state of Colima, built around two bays separated by the Santiago peninsula. It calls itself the sailfish capital of the world, has a large sailfish sculpture on the seafront to prove the point, and runs a serious international billfish tournament. The beaches are dark volcanic sand rather than white, the water is warm, and the setting is green mountains dropping to a working harbour.
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Before anything else about the place, there is an advisory you need to understand, because it governs how you are permitted to get here and not merely what to expect once you arrive.
The Colima Advisory, and the Three Permitted Routes
The FCDO advises against all but essential travel to the state of Colima, with one narrowly defined exception for Manzanillo, and that exception is conditional on how you arrive.
The FCDO does publish advised-against areas for Mexico, and being precise about them matters more here than almost anywhere, because the country is large and the restrictions are specific rather than general. It advises against all but essential travel to the cities of Tijuana and Tecate in Baja California, to the areas of Guanajuato south-west of road 45D, to most of the state of Michoacan with named exceptions for Morelia and Patzcuaro reached by toll road, to the parts of Jalisco south and south-west of Lake Chapala and eleven northern municipalities, to the state of Colima except Manzanillo reached by air or sea, to the state of Guerrero except Zihuatanejo and Ixtapa reached by air, to a 40km strip of the Guatemalan border in Chiapas, to one stretch of Federal Highway 199, and to the city of Acapulco. That last one appears on the safety and security subpage rather than in the landing page list, which is exactly why you should read both. None of those areas includes this destination. Read the current advice yourself before you travel, because the list is revised regularly.
The Colima wording is specific and worth reading slowly. The FCDO advises against all but essential travel to the state of Colima, EXCEPT the city of Manzanillo accessed by sea or air via the Manzanillo-Costalegre International Airport, and direct travel via road 200 from the airport to Manzanillo.
That gives exactly three permitted routes into Manzanillo, and they are:
- By sea. Arriving by cruise ship or by boat into Manzanillo.
- By air via Manzanillo-Costalegre International Airport. The airport code is ZLO, and it sits north of the city near Barra de Navidad.
- Direct travel via road 200 from that airport to Manzanillo. The transfer between ZLO and the city on Federal Highway 200, taken directly.
Any other overland approach to Manzanillo is travel against FCDO advice. That includes the road in from Colima city and Guadalajara, and it includes road journeys elsewhere within the state. This matters practically as well as legally: travelling against your government's advice can invalidate travel insurance, so if you intend to come here, fly into ZLO or arrive by sea and transfer directly on road 200, and do not plan a Mexican road trip that threads through Colima.
Read the current advice yourself before you book, because the wording has been revised before and the exception is defined tightly enough that a small change to it would change your plans.
Recommended Tours and Experiences
The City and the Two Bays
Manzanillo divides into the old port downtown and the resort strip around the peninsula, and they are different places.
Downtown, the centro, is a working port city: a seafront malecon with the sailfish monument, a busy market, and the container terminal immediately alongside, which is genuinely interesting if industrial scale appeals and unremarkable if it does not. This is where the city actually lives and eats.
North of it, the Santiago peninsula separates Manzanillo Bay from Santiago Bay, and the hotels and residential developments cluster along both. Playa Azul and Las Brisas run along the southern bay, Playa Olas Altas and Playa Miramar the northern one. The sand is grey to black volcanic, which heats up considerably in the sun, and the surf varies sharply by beach: Olas Altas means high waves and means it.
Inland from the city, the state of Colima holds the Volcan de Fuego, one of the most active volcanoes in North America, and the colonial city of Comala. Both are worth knowing about and both require overland travel within Colima, which is against FCDO advice as set out above. That is a real constraint on what a visit here can include, and this guide is not going to pretend otherwise.
Food is Pacific coast Mexican: pescado zarandeado, fish butterflied and grilled over wood, ceviche, and the local tuba, a fermented palm drink sold from buckets on the beach.
When to Go
November to May is the dry season and the time to come. June to October is the wet season and overlaps the Pacific hurricane window.
The dry season runs roughly November to May, with highs around 30 to 32C, lower humidity, calm seas and reliable sunshine. This is high season, with a peak over Christmas and Easter, and it coincides with the sailfish and marlin season that draws the sport fishing trade.
June to October is hot and humid, in the low to mid thirties with high humidity and heavy afternoon rain. The Pacific hurricane season formally runs from mid-May to the end of November and peaks from August to October, and this stretch of coast takes storms: Hurricane Patricia, one of the strongest Pacific hurricanes on record, made landfall near here in 2015. A storm means closed roads, cancelled flights, flooding and, for a significant one, real damage. If you travel in those months, buy insurance that covers weather disruption and watch the forecasts.
The sea is warm year round, in the high twenties, and the wet season brings the most dramatic skies and the greenest hills. It also brings mosquitoes.
Is Manzanillo Safe for Women Travelers
The advisory above is the dominant safety fact about this destination, and within the permitted area Manzanillo itself is an ordinary working Mexican city.
The FCDO position is set out in full at the top of this guide and it should drive your planning: arrive by sea, or by air into ZLO, or directly on road 200 from that airport, and do not travel overland elsewhere in Colima. Travelling against that advice can invalidate your insurance.
Within Manzanillo, the picture is that of a mid-sized port city rather than a resort bubble. Walking the malecon and the hotel strip in the evening is normal. Petty theft on beaches and around the market is the realistic crime concern, so nothing valuable stays on a towel while you swim. Use registered taxis or a ride-hailing app rather than unmarked cars, and agree fares in advance. The usual care with drinks applies in the bars, and the coast-wide Mexican note holds: do not buy drugs. Withdraw cash from ATMs inside banks or malls during the day.
The physical hazards are the surf and the sun. This is an open Pacific coast with a strong shore break and rip currents, Playa Olas Altas is named for its waves, lifeguard coverage is limited, and people drown on this coast every year. Swim where others are swimming, obey any flags, stay out of rough water, and never swim after drinking. Black volcanic sand gets hot enough to burn bare feet by mid-morning. Mosquitoes carry dengue in coastal Colima. And on the port roads, heavy container traffic makes walking and cycling near the terminal genuinely unpleasant.
Private hospitals in the large Mexican cities are good and expect payment or a direct insurance guarantee up front, so carry your policy number where you can reach it rather than in the bottom of a bag. Public clinics will treat an emergency. Tap water is not drinkable anywhere in the country: drink bottled or purified water, which every hotel and restaurant supplies as a matter of course, and take the same care with ice and raw salad that you would with the water itself.
The Manzanillo Packing List
Base layers, for humidity and air conditioning
Not for warmth. The use here is the cycle of 32 degrees and Pacific humidity outside, then hard air conditioning in a room, a restaurant or a transfer, several times a day, plus hours damp on a boat if you fish. Merino keeps regulating while damp instead of clinging cold and resists odour across days when nothing dries in this climate. Our merino base layers are 100% Australian merino at 17.5 micron and 160gsm with no synthetic blend, and a lightweight merino wool base layer for women is the right weight for the tropics, not a heavy one.
Sun protection, the priority category
A wide brim sun hat, high SPF sunscreen, sunglasses and an insulated water bottle. Black sand reflects less light than white but absorbs far more heat, and the combination of humidity and a tropical sun dehydrates people faster than they notice. A loose long sleeved top is better protection than lotion on a fishing boat, which is a long day with no shade.
Rain, for the wet season
A packable rain jacket for women from June to October. Rain here is torrential rather than showery, and it doubles as a wind layer on a boat.
Footwear, and the sand matters
Sandals you can walk in, because black volcanic sand becomes too hot for bare feet by mid-morning. Walking shoes with grip for the malecon, the market and the rocky sections between the bays. Merino wool socks, which resist the fungal problems constant damp causes.
On the water
A swimsuit, a quick-dry towel and a waterproof dry bag for any boat trip, which will take spray and has nowhere dry. Motion sickness tablets if you are going out for billfish, which is hours in open Pacific swell.
Insects and the small things
A DEET based repellent, because dengue circulates in coastal Colima and mosquitoes are worst at dusk and in the wet season. Cash in pesos alongside cards. And your flight and transfer details saved offline, because the permitted routes in and out matter and you may need to show them.
Essential Resources for Women in Manzanillo
Emergency numbers: 911 for police, ambulance and fire, the single national number, free from any phone. English-speaking operators are available in the tourist states but are not guaranteed everywhere.
Non-emergency police: the Manzanillo municipal police and the Colima state police. A theft must be reported in person to obtain the denuncia your insurer will require.
Tourist police: Manzanillo deploys a tourist-facing police presence along the hotel strip and the malecon in season, and the state runs a visitor assistance line alongside the federal 911.
Main hospital or clinic: Manzanillo has a general hospital and private hospitals used to treating cruise passengers and foreign residents, with emergency departments. For anything requiring specialist care the realistic destination is Guadalajara, which is a flight rather than a drive given the advisory position on overland travel in Colima. That constraint is a strong reason to hold insurance covering air evacuation.
Official health authority: the Mexican Secretariat of Health, gob.mx/salud
US State Department travel advisory: the Mexico advisory. Read the current level there directly rather than relying on a figure printed in any guide.
UK FCDO travel advice: gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/mexico, and read the safety and security page rather than only the landing page, because that is where the substance sits.
Official tourism authority: the Mexican Secretariat of Tourism, gob.mx/sectur
Solo women safety assessment: The advisory is the dominant fact here and it should shape your trip before anything else. The FCDO advises against all but essential travel to the state of Colima, with a narrow exception for Manzanillo reached by sea, or by air via Manzanillo-Costalegre International Airport, or directly on road 200 from that airport. Those are the only three permitted routes; any other overland approach, including the road in from Colima city or Guadalajara, is travel against advice and can invalidate your insurance. Plan accordingly and read the live advisory before booking, because the exception is defined tightly. Within Manzanillo itself, this is an ordinary mid-sized port city rather than a resort bubble, and it is straightforward for a woman alone: the malecon and hotel strip are normal in the evening, petty theft on beaches and around the market is the realistic crime, registered taxis or an app are preferable to unmarked cars, the usual care with drinks applies, and the coast-wide rule holds that you should not buy drugs. What is most likely to hurt you is the Pacific. This is an open coast with a strong shore break and rip currents, Playa Olas Altas is named for its high waves, lifeguard cover is limited and people drown here every year, so swim where others swim, obey the flags and never after drinking. Black volcanic sand burns bare feet by mid-morning, dengue circulates, and container traffic makes the port roads a poor place to walk.
Reading On
For the country-level picture, start with the Mexico travel guide for women. For why merino beats cotton in tropical humidity, read the guide to merino wool base layers for women. Every destination we cover is indexed at the travel packing guide for women, and the base layers are at the Roman Trail collection.
If the outer journey is calling you, the inner one usually is too. Explore SoulMap at romantrail.com/blogs/soulmap.
