Beaches in Zihuatanejo- La Ropa or Los Gatos??

[MaiTaiMary]

Sure sounds like the beaches in Zihuatanejo are nice! :D Now how in the world do I decide between the two beaches I keep reading about?? How do Playa Los Gatos and Playa La Ropa compare?

 

 

~crowds

~swimable beach

~snorkeling

~which is larger?

~place to lounge around the beach and relax!

~restaurants

~easy to get to from the ship

~somewhere to get a margarita or pina colada! :)

 

Pictures! Pictures! Pictures!

 

 

Gracias :D

[lardor]

Sure sounds like the beaches in Zihuatanejo are nice! :D Now how in the world do I decide between the two beaches I keep reading about?? How do Playa Los Gatos and Playa La Ropa compare?

 

 

~crowds

~swimable beach

~snorkeling

~which is larger?

~place to lounge around the beach and relax!

~restaurants

~easy to get to from the ship

~somewhere to get a margarita or pina colada! :)

 

Pictures! Pictures! Pictures!

 

 

Gracias :D

My dos pesos worth....

Las Gatos will be more crowded because the cruise ship is in town and a lot of cruisers go there...

La Ropa is roughly a mile long beach, with no rocks in the water, Gatos is much smaller (less than 3 football fields ?) and can be rocky in spots. Both are swimable...

Gatos is the best place to snorkel, not much on La Ropa...

Lounging is OK in both places (La Perla on La Ropa charges for their front row seats ) every other place should be free if you eat and drink there, but ask just to be sure, things sometimes "change" when the cruise ship is in town....

Both have plenty of restaurants, my favorite is Paty's on La Ropa, Otillos(sp?) on Gatos is a favorite of many...

It's an easy 35 peso boat ride to Gatos, an easy 30 peso cab to Paty's...

No problem finding booze at either place...

[melika091900]

las gatas was nice .

heres some pics

 

[melika091900]

for las gatas, right when you get off the tender from your ship,. theres a water taxi area there, on your left side, i think it was like 3$ perperson or something like that,

its real easy,

they have food, jet ski rentals, snorkeling, etc,,,

we loved it

[mspink98]

We spent a week in ZIH this winter, and two days of that at each of the beaches you mentioned. From the criteria you said are important to you, only two stand out as differences-swimmable and which is larger. La Ropa wins on both counts, IMO. Las Gatas was rocky, with some sharp coral. I ended up with some coral cuts from swimming in the shallows there. And La Ropa is definitely longer.

 

Have fun there! We fell in love with the town, and will be back.

[Willie T]

We went by taxi the first time, across the bay to one of those places. Nice. Last year we just walked to end of the shopping area and kept going for a short distance. Good beach, food, drinks, paulapas, no taxi ride. And for the shoppers, it's still all right there. We were at a place called "Ta Ta,s". Spent the day and had a great time.

[bobnsofi]

Cruise lines are not going to Zihua right now due to drug violence. Below is a copy of an earlier post we did

 

Zihua is a favorite port due to it's quaint village and bayside views/beaches. The cruise ship tenders to a pier. On and near the pier are many vendors offering tours and water taxi rides.

 

Many folks water taxi to the Playa Las Gatas bay beach for an inexpensive desolate natural surroundings beach adventure with some snorkeling.

 

Playa La Ropa is a long beautiful bay beach lined with small bars, eateries, small hotels, etc. The beach at the cruise pier is much the same, except not as long. It would be a nice safe walk with interesting sights and good exercise the walk the length of Playa La Ropa beach.

 

Playa La Ropa

 

Beach near Tender Pier

 

We rent a scooter and explore to nearby Ixtapa, a long beach with large resorts. We stop on the way to view vacation homes for sale.

Ixtapa Beach

 

We stop to view vacation homes for sale. Ixtapa Beach in the rear

[MaiTaiMary]

We spent a week in ZIH this winter, and two days of that at each of the beaches you mentioned. From the criteria you said are important to you, only two stand out as differences-swimmable and which is larger. La Ropa wins on both counts, IMO. Las Gatas was rocky, with some sharp coral. I ended up with some coral cuts from swimming in the shallows there. And La Ropa is definitely longer.

 

Have fun there! We fell in love with the town, and will be back.

 

Thanks! :D This was really more of the kind of info I was looking for; comparing the two beaches. :) Thank you! I think La Ropa is going to be the one for us!

[jones391]

Is snorkeling worth it. I lived in Hawaii and we always saw lots of fish. Will we be able to see anything at Las Gatas? Is it really worth packing and carying snorkel equipment on a cruse?

[lardor]

Sure sounds like the beaches in Zihuatanejo are nice! :D Now how in the world do I decide between the two beaches I keep reading about?? How do Playa Los Gatos and Playa La Ropa compare?

 

 

~crowds

~swimable beach

~snorkeling

~which is larger?

~place to lounge around the beach and relax!

~restaurants

~easy to get to from the ship

~somewhere to get a margarita or pina colada! :)

 

Pictures! Pictures! Pictures!

 

 

Gracias :D

 

The only advantage Las Gatos has is the snorkeling, You have many more choices on La Ropa for the rest of your requirements....

[lardor]

Is snorkeling worth it. I lived in Hawaii and we always saw lots of fish. Will we be able to see anything at Las Gatas? Is it really worth packing and carying snorkel equipment on a cruse?

 

Snorkeling IMO, around Zihuatanejo is fair to poor, I wouldn't drag my stuff there

[mag]

Can you rent jet skiis at both beaches?? Thanks for all the info so far!

[jones391]

Thanks thats what I was thinking

[harryfat1]

Sure sounds like the beaches in Zihuatanejo are nice! :D Now how in the world do I decide between the two beaches I keep reading about?? How do Playa Los Gatos and Playa La Ropa compare?

 

 

~crowds

~swimable beach

~snorkeling

~which is larger?

~place to lounge around the beach and relax!

~restaurants

~easy to get to from the ship

~somewhere to get a margarita or pina colada! :)

 

Pictures! Pictures! Pictures!

 

 

Gracias :D

 

Hi,

 

We were on the Spirit in December 08 and we went to Paty's at Playa La Ropa. Highly recommended.

 

Have too many pictures to post, but you can look at my photo album link below:

 

http://family.webshots.com/album/569410263OcXbjh?start=336

 

And if anyone is really bored, they can follow my signature below to read my extremely long cruise review - or at least just skip to the section on our experience at Zihua.

 

To the extent I can still remember (way too many brain cells have died since then), you can ask any follow up questions from my pictures/review.

[lardor]

"""We were on the Spirit in December 08 and we went to Paty's at Playa La Ropa. Highly recommended."""

 

I know it's really minor but you met Paty's mother, Paty speaks very good English.

[harryfat1]

"""We were on the Spirit in December 08 and we went to Paty's at Playa La Ropa. Highly recommended."""

 

I know it's really minor but you met Paty's mother, Paty speaks very good English.

 

That's correct, she said the restaurant is named after her daughter.

[mag]

But what about the jet skis? Can you rent them at both or either of these beaches? help!

[lardor]

But what about the jet skis? Can you rent them at both or either of these beaches? help!

 

I know you can rent them on La Ropa....I'll check about Los Gatos...

[lardor]

But what about the jet skis? Can you rent them at both or either of these beaches? help!

 

Unfortunately, there are a few to rent on Las Gatos...(unless you're on one, IMO, most people hate them, noisy, smelly, and dangerous to swimmers)

[harryfat1]

But what about the jet skis? Can you rent them at both or either of these beaches? help!

 

Here is a picture of the vendor at La Ropa with his jet ski to rent. He asked me if I wanted to rent one as I was walking by, but I passed, so I couldn't tell you the cost to rent one. But it was available as of last year.

 

http://family.webshots.com/photo/2544554360074173156UvJitl

[mag]

Thank you for the info!

[wisteria1019]

Thank you for the info!

 

When did the cruiselines stop going to Zihua and have they resumed - it is my favorite port on the Mexican Riviera?

[lardor]

When did the cruiselines stop going to Zihua and have they resumed - it is my favorite port on the Mexican Riviera?

 

The way I heard it, this past season, it was a combination of bad PR crime in ACA and the cost of gas to get there. If you don't go all the way to ACA then it made no sense to go as far as Zihuatanejo. The only "regular" stop now (I think) is on NCL's weekly 8 day trip....But I have been known to be wrong once or twice a week and the week has just started.....

[gargoyle999]

When did the cruiselines stop going to Zihua and have they resumed - it is my favorite port on the Mexican Riviera?

 

I'm planning on being there on the Carnival Spirit this fall. But the Spirit won't start it's Mexican itinerary until Oct...so we'll see...

[harryfat1]

As of last year, NCL stopped doing the 8 day cruise that includes Acapulco and Zihua. Now they do the traditional 7 night like everyone else.

 

NCL also have the 11 night to Mexico from my neck of the woods in San Francisco, but doesn't go as far south as Acapulco, but goes to La Paz instead.

 

Princess used to do a 11 day cruise to Mexico as well from SF, but not this winter.

 

Radiance of Seas goes to Zihua & Acapulco, but it's a 10 night trip.