I come to Mexico often. Others can give you information on the
resorts, my report is on the small hotels in cities and towns the
locals as well as Norte Americanos use. Most of these hotels are the
ones that were popular years ago before the mega resorts. This trip, I
left Denver three weeks ago driving in and out of coastal towns. As
for large resort type cities, I liked Puerto Vallarta the best as it
has a mixture of everything. Boating, snorkeling, shopping, many bars
and retaurents, and trips to old minig towns in the mountains. My
favorite area in PV is the old Zona Romantica downtown south of rio
cuali. Mazatlan was OK as was Manzanillo. I like the beaches in
Manzanillo better than Mazatlan. The city however is very crowded with
narrow streets and some air polution.

If you want a flavor of Mexico stay a night or two in one of thewse
small cheap hotels in the downtown areas.
Suggestions--
Mazatlan- Hotel Del Rio on avenida Jaurez, two blocks from the beach.
Puerto Vallarta- Hotel Hortencia in zona romantica also Posada Lily a
half block from the beach
Manzanillo- Hotel Colonia

Small town beaches are ussually nicer than the resorts. Check out La
Manzanilla, and the towns of Barra de Navidad and Melaque on Bahia de
Navidad both areas only a half hour north of Manzanillo. San Pancho
and Guayabitis north of PV and San Blas south of Mazatlan. San Blas
has a wild life refuge where you can take a boat ride through the
jungle and see many tropical birds and crocodiles.

Now I am at lake Chapala staying in chapala and Ajijic then onto
Morelia, Guanajuato, San Migael Allende in the interior before
returning to the states.

Let me know if you have any specific questions.

Jerry B

JJ wrote:
We want to be on the beach first. And we want to find a great resort
with
all the amenities...but we also would like to be able to get into
'real'
mexico, and get away from the resorts and see some smaller towns and
things
that we wouldn't have a chance to see staying in or near a large
resort or
resort town.

We want to have access to a lot of activities...the ones you would
normally
find near the ocean (swimming, diving, etc...) plus hiking, bicycling

too....are we asking too much?

Someone suggested mazatlan... or puerto escondido...

Thanks!

J.


"Tracy" wrote in message
ups.com...
Nah. Not for a honeymoon. Manzanillo is surrounded by oil fields
and is
a FINCA "planned" resort that never quite got off the ground. Lots
of
wonderful places to spend a honeymoon in Mexico, but that's not one
of
them. Tell us what you are looking for and we can make some
alternate
suggestions :