November 9, 2004 -- There are two sides to Mexico. The serene but tourist heavy east coast with its newly built resort destinations close to the continental United States, and the wild west with its coastline on the roaring Pacific with surfing-size waves and old school resorts that date back to the 1950s. Towns like long-time vacation capital Acapulco and more recently the emerging Puerto Vallarta offer excellent travel deals to compete with the country's eastern resort packages.
Let's start with Acapulco, a long-time honeymoon and family vacation destination for east and west coast Americans. The city has plenty of large and comfortable art-deco hotels that went up along the large beachfront strip. Fun Jet (tel. 888/558-6654; www.funjet.com/specials/fs0174.asp?referrer=J10) has an air-inclusive package leaving out of Detroit for a seven-night stay starting at $799 for the first person and going down to $399 for your companion's travel. Accommodations are at the three-star beachfront Continental Hotel. On the Condesa beach, Acapulco's main stretch, the 1962-built Continental has a large pool. This package includes no meals, but food at the attractive in-house restaurants and snack bar are inexpensive ($10 to $25 dollars for breakfast, lunch and dinner). Travel must be booked by November 27, 2004 and is good through March with the following February Friday departure dates available: February 4, 11, 18.
Just down the street on the same stretch of sand, the El Presidente Hotel offers some excellent deals on large rooms with gorgeous ocean views. Stay in the old building if possible as the rooms are reminiscent of old Acapulco and not newer and typical of other generic hotel rooms. Rates through December 18 are very inexpensive with rooms with large king-sized bed or two double beds going for $69. The hotel's lively lobby bar offers mariachi music and Mexican folk bands. The two for one happy hour is a nice place to down Margaritas. Rooms for this price can be booked through Bestday.com (www.bestday.com).
Fares from Chicago to Acapulco are on sale by Mexicana Airlines (tel. 800/531-7921; www.mexicana.com) through December for $385 roundtrip. The site is also offering 20 percent off of round-trip airfare to Mexico from the United States if travel is purchased by November 12 and completed by December 9. Air tax and departure and security fees are not included.
For Puerto Vallarta, a slightly less touristy area than busy Acapulco, travel can be even less expensive. Best Priced Travel (tel. 800/566-1856; www.bestpricetvl.com) has a seven-night package to the quieter, mellower Puerto Vallarta for $599 per person, air and hotel inclusive. If you reserve online, you can save five percent on the above price. This offer expires January 7, 2005 and travel is good from December 16, 2004 to March 31, 2005. Departure dates are good from most major U.S. gateways. Expect higher prices around the holidays. Air and hotel taxes are not included.
Quincy's Discount Travel (tel. 800/323-6347; www.4discounttravel.com/specials/featured.php?id=208) has a seven-night air-inclusive trip to Puerto Vallarta starting at $699.99 per person. You need to book this super deal quickly; the book by date is November 10. You'll be glad if you do as all meals, drinks and water sports are included along with accommodations at the Marival resort and Suites Nuevo Vallarta. The 646-room four-star resort is known for its huge buffets, great beach and water activities. Located 20 minutes from downtown, the hotel guarantees some quiet time. The $699.99 cost is for travel from Chicago. Travel from Denver, $729.99 and $1,069.99 from Philadelphia.