How to Get Around Pacific Coast

Flying is how most people arrive: Puerto Vallarta, Huatulco, Puerto Escondido, Zihuatanejo, Manzanillo and Acapulco all have airports, and internal flights from Mexico City are frequent and cheap.

Buses are excellent between the main coastal towns — ADO, ETN and others run comfortable first-class services — though the coast road is long and winding and journeys take longer than the distance suggests.

Colectivos and second-class buses cover shorter hops and the villages.

A hire car is useful for the emptier stretches, particularly the Michoacan and Oaxaca coasts. Roads are winding with severe topes, and driving at night is best avoided both for road conditions and, in parts of Guerrero, for security.

Boats reach the villages in Banderas Bay with no road access, and the lagoons are toured by lancha.