I Think I Found Mexico’s Best-Kept Secret

I think I may have found my new favorite Mexico destination. And no, it’s not Cabo. It’s not Cancún. It’s not Tulum.

It’s Zihuatanejo.

We made this a last-minute family trip, and somehow, that made it even better. There was no months-long itinerary. No trying to squeeze 14 activities into three days. Just warm Pacific water, lush greenery everywhere you look, fresh seafood, friendly locals, and a gorgeous beachfront hotel. And here’s the part I know you really want to hear:

The trip would have cost us more than $8,200.

We paid $854 out of pocket.

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Getting There With Miles

We flew nonstop from LAX to Zihuatanejo on Alaska for just 12,500 miles per person.

For the return, we booked American using American/Alaska miles for 15K/17.5K miles per person. We ran out io American points, so we had to improvise with booking separately for the same flight.

The cash price for those last-minute flights would have been about $917 ROUNDTRIP PER PERSON.

This is exactly why I love having a stash of airline miles available.

Here is a list of airline cards that we keep to earn miles: TOP AIRLINE CARDS​

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The Hotel: Thompson Zihuatanejo

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We stayed at the Thompson Zihuatanejo, and this hotel was one of the biggest surprises of the trip.

It’s gorgeous without feeling like one of those massive, over-the-top resort compounds. Instead, it’s tucked into the greenery along Playa La Ropa. You wake up surrounded by palm trees and tropical vegetation, walk a few steps, and you’re at the beach. We fell asleep to the sound of crashing waves!

The biggest surprise to this California girl is that the Pacific Ocean here is WARM. I wasn’t expecting that!

The water was beautiful, swimmable and just the right temperature for my daughter to spend way too much time in it.

The rooms we wanted were going for about 45,000 Hyatt points per night, and the cash price for our upgraded rooms was around $4,600.

But we booked through The Edit by Chase Travel and were able to use 135,000 points for our two rooms.

That’s where knowing how to stack your benefits really matters.

The Edit is a collection of luxury hotels that comes with additional perks for eligible Chase cardmembers. Those can include daily breakfast for two, a $100 property credit, room upgrades, early check-in/late checkout when available, Wi-Fi and a welcome amenity.

And because I’m also a Hyatt Globalist, I was able to stack the hotel benefits with my Hyatt status.

For Globalists, Hyatt provides benefits including complimentary breakfast for eligible registered guests, room upgrades when available and late checkout, subject to the property’s applicable rules.

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We got:

Upgraded rooms​
​Breakfast covered through our Globalist benefits & The Edit​
​The Edit $100 property credit​
​2 Free Mezcalitas/Margaritas per room – Globalist ​
​$50 Spa Credit per room – Globalist

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Playa Las Gatas

One of the easiest ways to get around Zihuatanejo is by taxi—and taxis were everywhere and incredibly easy to grab. but one day, we traded four wheels for a boat. We hopped on a water taxi to Playa Las Gatas for $100MXN per person/roundtrip.

It’s not just transportation. It’s part of the experience.

You get incredible views of the coastline as you cross the bay, and then you arrive at this little beach tucked away from the main part of town. The water is turquoise and the beach is lined with restaurants that host you with beach chairs and strong drinks!

This is truly a local experience. You are amongst the residents and vactioners from Mexico.

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And Then There Was The FOOD

If you like seafood, put Zihuatanejo on your list.

We ate fresh seafood at La Travesia and Zihua Bay, and the experience was about so much more than just the food.

We were repeatedly offered little extras and freebies by restaurant owners. Drinks. Extras with our meals.Little treats.

It felt like the kind of hospitality you don’t always get in heavily touristed destinations and that’s one of the things I loved most about Zihuatanejo.

It still feels like a real place, where you see the fishing boats and can order the day’s catch at a restaurant and have a conversation with the people who own it.

This is probably the best way I can describe Zihuatanejo: It feels like Mexico before everybody discovered it.

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What’s The Cost?

Here’s the part that makes me smile:

Estimated cash price

Flights: ~$3,600+ for four roundtrip tickets​
Hotel: ~$4,600 for our upgraded rooms

Total cash price:

$8,200+

What we actually paid out of pocket:

$854

And remember this was a LAST-MINUTE trip!!! So you don’t always have to plan a year in advance to use points, sometimes you just need to have the points ready to go when the opportunity comes up.

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