One of Mexico's most popular and beautiful seaside resorts (on three sides of its bay the towering Sierra Madre del Sur mountains reach right up to the shoreline), Acapulco enjoys a romantic and glorious history.

Acapulco was inhabited by the Nahua Indians (the predecessors of the Aztecs). Recent discoveries have surfaced in the form of Petroglyphs which may indicate even previous settlements around 3000 B.C.

There are even theories about early encounters and commerce with the Chinese culture as early as 412. Although testimonies of this exist in several Chinese records, physical evidence is scarce. The name the Chinese gave Acapulco was “Ye Pa Ti”, or the “Place with Beautiful Waters”.

The name Acapulco, although very elusive as to its origins in the native tongue of the Nahoas, means “The place where the reeds were destroyed”. There is a beautiful myth and love story behind this name which we will included shortly on this web site.


Centuries later, Acapulco was conquered by the Spaniard Hernan Cortes when the Aztec Empire fell in 1521. Conquered, but not colonized, Acapulco was turned into a big shipyard where Cortes built ships in order to conquer more territories, such as Pizarro’s incursion to Peru. Spanish settlements and colonization began in 1550 and it was until then when the Nahoa Indians were enslaved and displaced from their more than 1000 years homeland.

Since 1571, Acapulco retained its importance as the most important commerce and trading port for Europe with the Philipines and other Asian and South American ports for the next 400 years. During that time, Acapulco became a haven for pirates including Sir Francis Drake. The Fort of San Diego, now a modern museum, was built to defend the city from their attacks.

Acapulco played a key role in the Independence of Mexico from the Spaniards in 1810. There is even a recorded Independent movement from Acapulco’s native Indians as early as 1531. During the Mexican war of Independence, the Fort of San Diego was one of the most difficult positions to liberate from the Spaniards. It even became an obsession to Morelos, one of the most important Independence Generals.

Acapulco began its transformation to that of a vacation destination in the 1920's when the Prince of Wales, the future King Edward VIII, visited the bay on a fishing expedition, and the Highway to Mexico City was completed in 1931.


Wealthy Mexicans, American writers, Hollywood Stars and European jet-setters soon flocked to Acapulco. It was here that Elizabeth Taylor married Mike Todd, John F. Kennedy and Brigitte Bardot honeymooned, and Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, Johnny Weismuller (Tarzan), Harry Belafonte and Baron de Rothschild became regulars.

Today, Acapulco is one of the most exciting places in the world attracting those who love to play all day and stay up all night!