Manzanillo is quickly becoming one of Mexico’s top tourist destinations. The city of Manzanillo is located in the state of Colima on Mexico’s Golden Riviera, between Puerto Vallarta and Acapulco on the Pacific coast. With it’s laid back beach attitude, traditional pueblo feel, beautiful weather, and tranquil settings, Manzanillo is still an undiscovered jewel of a city.

Really though the true beauty of this area is reflected in the friendly faces, inviting smiles, and genuine laughs of the locals. The ocean and beaches sparkle a little different here. It’s not just the iron pyrite in the sand from nearby volcanoes, tt’s the undefinable spirit the pervades this city. Manzanillo may be growing very fast with a population of well over 100,000 and an expanding port, but it still retains it’s small-town feel.

The year-round average temperature of 27 degrees °C (80 °F), Manzanillo has the best climate of the West Coast, dryer than Puerto Vallarta and cooler than Acapulco. The restaurants, hotels, and nightlife in Manzanillo are top notch. We are surrounded by exotic tropical vegetation, plantations of coconuts, bananas, limes, mangos and papayas, and the most beautiful unpopulated beaches in the country.

Travel Info

• Best time to go: December-February (high 85º, low 68º, temp is cool, water is still warm)
• Average annual temperature: 82º
• Hottest months: June-September
• Coolest months: December-March

Hotels:

Manzanillo proper features many high class, beautiful resorts. Choices abound, from the sprawling Las Hadas, to the exciting Hotel Tesoro, the family oriented Club Maeva, and the enchanting Barcelo Karmina Palace. These resorts offer all the amenities you can imagine, and even a few you wouldn’t expect. (Did you know you can ice skate at Club Maeva?) See our reviews of the Manzanillo Resorts.

If big resorts aren’t your style you can also find plenty of beautiful boutique hotels for tremendous prices. We will be adding our recommendations soon. Check our blog for upcoming reviews on Manzanillo Hotels.

Food:

First, what you generally won’t find in Manzanillo are big franchises and chain restaurants. The Manzanillo food scene can be as laid back as it’s people. What you will find are many family owned restaurants serving delicious fresh seafood, steaks, tacos and cervezas.

Restaurants range from the come-as-you-are and relax variety to spectacular cliff side dining. We will be adding the highlights of restaurants here in the future. For now check the blog for more information on Manzanillo restaurants.

Shopping:

There are plenty of places to shop in Manzanillo. Downtown Centro offers a variety of local arts and crafts, as well as silver jewelry stores, and of course tequila shops.

In the neighborhood of Santiago you will find a nice large market where you will discover tons of local goods at great prices. And on Saturdays Salagua has a cool market set up in the West side of the boulevard just South of Juanitos. Prices are already low, you may be able to haggle, but we don’t bother since most of the locals try to keep the prices as low as they can, often only making a 1 or 2 peso profit on goods.

Activities:

The beaches around Manzanillo can be walked to and are perfect for a variety of water-based fun. One of the most popular swimming beaches is La Audiencia on the far side of the Santiago peninsula and San Pedrito. This beach has an interesting history, but it can get a little crowded on the weekends, so a lot of people prefer heading a few minutes North to Mirimar or a few minutes South to Las Brisas. In downtown Manzanillo there is even a hidden volcanic black sand beach like nothing you’ve ever seen, the swimming there is incredible. If you are adventurous and want to head a little out of town there are many undiscovered, gorgeous beaches that you can lay claim to.

For Manzanillo surfing and boogie boarding, head to the Santiago Bay on the north side of the Santiago peninsula. Miramar beach and Olas Altas (literally “tall waves”) are the favorite surf spots for locals. The best break is next to Bora’s Restaurant. You can even rent boards from our friends there, and they will give you excellent lessons for a very reasonable price. You will see surfers there early in the morning, and from 6-9 in the evening catching the best waves of the day.

Among Manzanillo’s many well-kept secrets is its world-class diving. Several exceptional dives are within meters of the shoreline, offering tons of magnificent coral and exotic sea life like seahorses, giant puffer fish, moray eels and even tremendous (but harmless) whale sharks. And don’t miss the thrilling sunken frigate only 28 feet below the surface off of Playa La Boquita. There are other Manzanillo ship wrecks to discover as well. Scuba Shack in Santiago is probably your safest, most knowledgeable, and well equipped outfitter for gear and tours.

Manzanillo has earned the title of “World Capital of Sailfish” for its abundance of these magnificent trophy fish. Every year in November, the town hosts an international sailfish tournament. The sailfish season is from November to March, conveniently in synch with the region’s best weather and peak tourist times. Expect to pay around $200 for a four-person cruiser with professional guides. Recently though the quality of the fishing has been diminishing. To increase your chances you will have to head out of the main Manzanillo area by boat, possibly a good ways from the coast. Shark Hunter is one of your best bets, they are extremely knowledgeable and offer some very good deep water fishing and shark hunting opportunities.

There is also world class golfing, horse back riding, hiking, ATVs, rock climbing, mountain biking and kayaking to be found in this area. Check back for our recommendations.

Nightlife:

The Manzanillo scene changes completely after 10PM. The night clubs, bars, and dance halls open their doors to locals and tourists alike. The doors usually stay open tell well into the next morning.

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