Zihuatanejo is a fishing town of about 120,000 people on a deep sheltered bay on Mexico's Pacific coast, in the state of Guerrero. Four kilometres north sits Ixtapa, a purpose-built resort strip developed from the 1970s, and the two are usually spoken of together as Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo. Zihuatanejo kept its working waterfront, its fish market and its narrow streets; Ixtapa is hotels along a beach. Most people prefer Zihuatanejo and the bay is the reason.
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Before the destination itself, there is an advisory that governs whether and how you can come here, and it is narrower than most. It needs stating in full rather than summarising.
The Guerrero Advisory, and Why Arriving By Air Is the Whole of It
The FCDO advises against all but essential travel to the state of Guerrero, with a single exception for Zihuatanejo and Ixtapa, and that exception applies only if you arrive by air.
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 Guerrero wording is this: the FCDO advises against all but essential travel to the state of Guerrero, EXCEPT the town of Zihuatanejo and Ixtapa accessed BY AIR. Separately, on its safety and security page, it names the city of Acapulco, also in Guerrero, as advised against.
Three consequences follow, and none of them should be softened.
You must fly in. The exception is conditional on air access, into Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo International Airport. Arriving overland, by bus or by car, from Acapulco, from Mexico City, from Michoacán or from anywhere else, is not covered by the exception. It is travel against FCDO advice.
Travelling against that advice can invalidate your insurance. Most travel policies exclude claims arising in an area your government advises against travelling to. If you take the bus in and something happens, whether medical, an accident or a theft, your insurer may decline the claim. This is the practical reason the routing matters and not a technicality.
Do not plan overland excursions within Guerrero. That includes Acapulco, which is separately advised against, and it includes the inland routes. Stay within Zihuatanejo and Ixtapa, and leave the way you came.
Read the current advice yourself before booking, because this exception is tightly defined and has been revised before.
Recommended Tours and Experiences
The Bay, the Beaches and the Town
Zihuatanejo's bay is sheltered enough that the swimming here is genuinely calm, which is unusual on this coast.
The town wraps around the inner bay, with the Paseo del Pescador, the fishermen's walk, running along the waterfront past the fish market where the morning catch is sold straight off the pangas. The small archaeology museum at the end of it covers the coastal cultures and takes half an hour.
Four beaches ring the bay and they differ. Playa Municipal, in front of the town, is the working one with boats. Playa La Madera, a short walk around, is calm and shallow with restaurants along it. Playa La Ropa is the long one, the most attractive, with beach clubs, gentle water and the best swimming in the bay. Playa Las Gatas, reached by a short panga ride from the town pier, has a rock barrier offshore that makes it almost a pool, with snorkelling and no road access at all.
Ixtapa's Playa El Palmar, by contrast, faces the open Pacific with a heavier break and stronger currents, and that difference is worth knowing: the bay is the calm option, Ixtapa's main beach is not.
Offshore, Isla Ixtapa has four small beaches and good snorkelling, reached by panga from Playa Linda. Sport fishing is the other local speciality, with sailfish and marlin in season.
Eating is the town's strength. The fish market, the seafood restaurants along La Madera and La Ropa, and the taco stands in the centre are all straightforward and good, with tiritas, a local raw fish dish cured in lime and served with onion and chilli, as the thing to order.
When to Go
December to April is the dry season and the time to come. June to October is wet and overlaps the Pacific hurricane window.
The dry season runs November or December through April, with highs around 30 to 32C, lower humidity, calm seas and reliable sun. This is high season, with a peak over Christmas and Easter, and it coincides with the sailfish season and the best snorkelling visibility.
May through 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 August to October. This coast takes storms, and a significant one means closed roads, cancelled flights and flooding, which matters especially here because flying is your only permitted route in and out. If you travel in those months, insurance covering weather disruption is essential rather than advisable.
The sea is warm year round in the high twenties. The wet season is green, cheap and quiet, and the bay is at its calmest in the dry months.
Is Zihuatanejo Safe for Women Travelers
The advisory is the dominant safety fact here, and within the town itself Zihuatanejo is a relaxed and walkable place.
The Guerrero position is set out in full above and it should determine your plans: fly in to Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo International Airport, stay within Zihuatanejo and Ixtapa, do not travel overland within the state, and do not go to Acapulco, which is separately advised against. Travelling against that advice can invalidate your insurance.
Within the permitted area, Zihuatanejo is a small tourism-dependent town with a visible police and naval presence and a long history of foreign visitors, particularly Canadians and Americans who return every winter. Walking the Paseo del Pescador and the town centre in the evening is normal, and La Madera and La Ropa are quiet residential beach areas. Petty theft from beaches and rooms is the realistic crime concern. Use registered taxis, which are plentiful and cheap, and agree the fare before setting off. The usual care with drinks applies, and the Mexico-wide rule holds: do not buy drugs.
The physical hazards are the open-coast beaches and the sun. The bay beaches are calm and are among the safer swimming on the Mexican Pacific, but Playa El Palmar at Ixtapa and the beaches outside the bay have a strong break and rips, with limited lifeguard cover, and people drown on this coast. Obey flags, swim where others swim, and never after drinking. On a panga to Las Gatas or Isla Ixtapa, check life jackets are aboard. Tropical sun and humidity dehydrate faster than people expect, and mosquitoes carry dengue in coastal Guerrero.
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 Zihuatanejo Packing List
Base layers, for humidity and air conditioning
Not for warmth. The use is the cycle of 32 degrees and Pacific humidity outside, then hard air conditioning in a room or a restaurant, several times a day, plus hours damp on a boat if you fish or snorkel. Merino keeps regulating while damp rather than clinging cold, and it 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.
Sun protection, the priority category
A wide brim sun hat, high SPF sunscreen, sunglasses and an insulated water bottle. Las Gatas and Isla Ixtapa have limited shade and expensive drinks, and a cold bottle is the difference between drinking enough and not. A rash guard is better protection than lotion on a snorkelling day.
Rain, for the wet season
A packable rain jacket for women from June to October, when rain is torrential rather than showery, and it doubles as a wind layer on a panga.
Footwear
Sandals for most of the time, plus walking shoes with grip for the town's steep back streets and the rocky path around to La Madera, which is uneven and slick where spray reaches it. Merino wool socks, and water shoes for the rock at Las Gatas.
On the water
A swimsuit, a quick-dry towel and a waterproof dry bag for the panga rides, which take spray and have no shelter. Your own mask if you have one that fits, since the rental quality at Las Gatas varies.
Insects and the small things
A DEET based repellent, because dengue circulates in coastal Guerrero and mosquitoes are worst at dusk and through the wet season. Cash in pesos, because card acceptance at the market, the taco stands and the beach clubs is patchy. And your flight details saved offline, because air is your permitted route and you may want them to hand.
Essential Resources for Women in Zihuatanejo
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 Zihuatanejo municipal police, under the Zihuatanejo de Azueta municipality. A theft must be reported in person to obtain the denuncia your insurer will require, with the caveat that a claim arising from travel against FCDO advice may be declined regardless.
Tourist police: Guerrero deploys a tourist-facing police presence in Zihuatanejo and Ixtapa, and the state runs a visitor assistance line alongside the federal 911.
Main hospital or clinic: Zihuatanejo has a general hospital and private clinics used to treating foreign visitors, with emergency departments. For anything requiring specialist care the destination is Mexico City, which is a flight rather than a drive given the advisory position on overland travel in Guerrero. That constraint is a strong reason to hold insurance covering air evacuation, and to confirm your policy is valid given how you arrived.
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 governs this destination and it should be settled before you book anything. The FCDO advises against all but essential travel to the state of Guerrero, EXCEPT Zihuatanejo and Ixtapa ACCESSED BY AIR. That exception is conditional on flying in: arriving overland by bus or car, from Acapulco, Mexico City or anywhere else, is travel against FCDO advice, and travelling against your government's advice can invalidate your travel insurance, so a medical claim, an accident or a theft may be declined. Acapulco, also in Guerrero, is separately advised against on the FCDO's safety and security page. Do not plan overland excursions within the state. Within Zihuatanejo and Ixtapa, the town is relaxed and straightforward for a woman alone: a small tourism-dependent place with a visible police and naval presence, a long-standing winter community of North American returnees, and an evening waterfront walk that is entirely ordinary. Petty theft from beaches and rooms is the realistic crime, registered taxis are cheap and plentiful, agree the fare first, take the usual care with drinks, and do not buy drugs. Physically, the bay beaches are calm and among the safer swimming on the Mexican Pacific, but Ixtapa's Playa El Palmar and anything outside the bay has a strong break, rips and limited lifeguard cover, and people drown on this coast. Check life jackets on any panga. Dengue circulates, so use repellent at dusk.
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.
