Considering driving from PV to Ixtapa
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Hi, I'm new to this forum. We are planning on spending a week in Ixtapa and a week in PV in early March. We were thinking of flying into PV then driving down to Ixtapa for a week. Then we were going to drive back to PV, spend a week and fly home. It looks like it is around 300 miles between the locations. I was wondering if anyone has done this and can tell me what the road is like, if it is safe and about how long it will take. If you think we're crazy, that would be useful input as well.
We used Mexicana. I found the flight through Expedia, which was cheaper than what was offerred on Mexicana's website. I forget how much we paid, but I have heard that the prices are going down. Tourism at both Ixtap/Zihua and PV is way down due to a combination of the poor economy and all of the scary press regarding the drug wars.
The good news for us as Americans was that the exchange rate was 15 pesos to the $.
The good news for us as Americans was that the exchange rate was 15 pesos to the $.
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- PV Beachbum
- Posts:14
- Joined:Sun Oct 18, 2009 2:44 am
- Location:Banff, Canada
A bit of a late response to this thread, but I have in fact driven the road from just south of PV past Ixtapa and Acapulco all the way to Puerto Escondido.
If I had known what I was getting into prior to the trip I probably would not have driven, but it is still one of the most memorable journeys of my life.
My fiance' is from Aguascalientes, I was there visiting her when we first met and received a message that an entire group of friends from here in Banff were in Puerto Escondido. We looked on the map, saw the highway running straight down the coast and thought....why not?
Well...first off, it's not a highway...it's a road......a road with lots of twists, turns, small towns, smaller villages, speed bumps, donkeys, chickens, more speed bumps, kids playing and speed bumps.
Our rental car lost 3 hubcaps and a lot of fender paint on the way down.
So it not for the faint of heart or those in a hurry.
Also, some Spanish would be mandatory, at the time my Spanish was terrible so my future fiance' was in charge of getting directions, finding out where the closest gas station was and well......everything else that required any type of spoken communication.
The fact that we made it through that trip relationship intact was a prrof positive that we could deal with each other at our worst.
However, if you had some time on your hands, rented a jeep and had a reasonable amount of Spanish at your disposal it is quite simply one of the most stunning drives you could take in your life. Miles and miles of uninhabited beaches, banana plantations, mountains and jungle.
I live in the Canadian Rockies, and that drive was on par for scenery wow factor.
Needless to say, we made it to Escondido and had an amazing time.
I shall not describe the drive back through Mexico city on a Friday evening.
If I had known what I was getting into prior to the trip I probably would not have driven, but it is still one of the most memorable journeys of my life.
My fiance' is from Aguascalientes, I was there visiting her when we first met and received a message that an entire group of friends from here in Banff were in Puerto Escondido. We looked on the map, saw the highway running straight down the coast and thought....why not?
Well...first off, it's not a highway...it's a road......a road with lots of twists, turns, small towns, smaller villages, speed bumps, donkeys, chickens, more speed bumps, kids playing and speed bumps.
Our rental car lost 3 hubcaps and a lot of fender paint on the way down.
So it not for the faint of heart or those in a hurry.
Also, some Spanish would be mandatory, at the time my Spanish was terrible so my future fiance' was in charge of getting directions, finding out where the closest gas station was and well......everything else that required any type of spoken communication.
The fact that we made it through that trip relationship intact was a prrof positive that we could deal with each other at our worst.
However, if you had some time on your hands, rented a jeep and had a reasonable amount of Spanish at your disposal it is quite simply one of the most stunning drives you could take in your life. Miles and miles of uninhabited beaches, banana plantations, mountains and jungle.
I live in the Canadian Rockies, and that drive was on par for scenery wow factor.
Needless to say, we made it to Escondido and had an amazing time.
I shall not describe the drive back through Mexico city on a Friday evening.