The perfect playground

When you are travelling with your semi-retired mother and your 10-year-old daughter, there might be more obvious places to go than Acapulco. This Mexican city-by-the-sea is most famous, after all, for its frenetic, tequila-lubricated nightlife. Disco dancing was a long-faded memory for my elder companion and a joy still undiscovered for the younger. Our journey, you might imagine, was doomed from the outset.

When you are travelling with your semi-retired mother and your 10-year-old daughter, there might be more obvious places to go than Acapulco. This Mexican city-by-the-sea is most famous, after all, for its frenetic, tequila-lubricated nightlife. Disco dancing was a long-faded memory for my elder companion and a joy still undiscovered for the younger. Our journey, you might imagine, was doomed from the outset.

But isn't there something just irresistibly alluring about the name Acapulco? For me, at least, it conjures up images of the exotic. For too long it had been on my personal list of far-off destinations that had to be visited. This is the town where all those decades ago - from the 1930s to the early 1960s - Hollywood film stars would sip their margaritas and cavort into the night at their exclusive beach-front hotels.

Ava Gardner sunbathed here. Liz Taylor got married here, as well as in a few other places. Placido Domingo used to rest his voice here. John Wayne had a bolt-hole here. And you remember what Frank Sinatra, who also owned a home in town, told us in his classic song, "Come Fly with Me". "You just say the word, we'll whip those birds down to Acapulco Bay. It's perfect for a flying honeymoon, they do say."

If you read into this that Acapulco is past its prime, you are not entirely wrong. Its heyday was sometime when. Maybe it reached its zenith in 1959 when President Eisenhower dropped by for a summit with his Mexican counterpart of the time, Lopez Mateos. Today, it is a destination less for foreigners than for Mexicans themselves. And while it used to be a favourite among the elite of Mexico City - some still take the short flight from the capital to spend weekends and public holidays in the many luxury villas and apartments around the city - improved road links mean that the city is now more densely populated by middle-class Mexican tourists. There is something of Saint-Tropez about the Acapulco of today. The jet-set have mostly given way to an easyJet-style crowd.

It is perhaps eccentric, therefore, that I have visited Acapulco not once but twice in the last few months. A confession is in order up front: on both occasions I was the guest of friends with an apartment in a luxury complex a few miles south of the city proper, and on a beach as long and as wide as I have seen anywhere in the world. But there are plenty of other reasons to come to Acapulco. It may seem a little faded in parts, but faded can be attractive - think Havana. Faded can also sometimes spell "bargain". And the principle attraction that made Acapulco such an international hit just a few decades ago still applies. This, of course, is the scenic splendour of the main Acapulco Bay. No wonder they used to call this city the "Perla del Pacifico" - the Pearl of the Pacific.

After allowing my mother 24 hours to recover from the flights at our luxury HQ, on the second evening it was time to pack her and my daughter into our tiny rental car and drive north towards the city. I was headed, perhaps foolishly, to Señor Frogs, a notoriously rowdy restaurant that is part of a nationwide chain. But this was a Tuesday evening at sunset and I calculated that this particular franchise of Frogs would be relatively calm. As, indeed, it was. Perched on the main highway that descends from a high peninsula on the southern end of the bay, it has a terrace removed from the boom-boom of its sound system. With a menu of inexpensive quesadillas and guacamole, and cheaper drinks, this is not a bad location for your first glimpse of the bay from on high: a perfect horseshoe that twinkles like a string of jewels at night. Don't confuse this branch of Señor Frogs with another one on the main tourist strip in town. The street is the Avenue Costera Miguel Aleman, better known simply as the Costera, which circles the whole bay and along which most of the big chain hotels are aligned like giant, and not always attractive, dominoes.

This was by no means the only occasion in the course of our six-day stay that I cajoled my sometimes reluctant crew into making the most of an unforgettable view. True, Rio de Janeiro is hard to beat for the drama of its terrain, but in Latin America, Acapulco Bay must surely come a close second. I made them tramp up to the tranquil Capilla de la Paz, high above Señor Frogs, and to the all pink-and-white Las Brisas hotel, where we enjoyed the vista from what is perhaps the best vantage point in the whole town.

Old Acapulco - a clogged ramble of shops, bars, restaurants and a large local crafts market - is anchored by its main plaza, called the Zocalo, complete with fountain and shady trees. Nothing in Acapulco quite offers the colonial charm of many other Mexican cities, but there is history. Not far from the square is the city's fort, the Fuerte De San Diego, completed in 1783, where you will find a decent museum that traces the city's heritage.

The Aztecs first found the bay and called it Acapulco, meaning a "place of dense reeds", and archaeologists have found artefacts dating back to 2500BC. In the early 16th century, Mexico's new conquerors from Spain also discovered the bay and designated it the harbour for all future trading forays to the east and south. For 200 years, a single trading ship, the Manila Galleon, made a round trip to lands in the Orient each year. Her return to port, often laden with gold and silver, was the biggest day in the city's calendar. Not surprisingly, the ship became prey for pirates. Only after Mexico's War of Independence (1810-1821) was the reign of the Manila Galleon finally interrupted for good by the new government, sending Acapulco down into a century-long slump. Until the tourists came, of course.

Today thousands of visitors pour into the city from aboard the gigantic cruise ships that tie up close to the Zocalo, before heading north on their way to Puerto Vallarta and San Diego, or south towards the Panama Canal. But this means they miss out on cheap but charming three-star hotels in Old Acapulco, which include the 19th-century Hotel Mision with its rooms surrounding a central courtyard. Upmarket travellers will prefer the impressive Fairmont Acapulco Princess, which lies beyond the southern end of the bay. The main building is styled like a Mayan Pyramid around a massive atrium.

The Mayan Palace Hotel, a little further south along the same beach, has grandiose thatched pavilions surrounding an enormous reflective expanse of water. But this vision does not prepare you for the guests' swimming-pool. Running parallel to the beach, it is 1km long. If you don't stay, at least visit and enjoy one of the decent and surprisingly cheap buffet dinners in the hotel's open-air restaurant.

If you are searching for a sense of Acapulco's Hollywood era, take a look around the Las Brisas Hotel, just a little up the coast road from Señor Frogs. For honeymooners it is an absolute must. A collection of 250 rooms (each with a private swimming-pool), the place is a vision of pink and white, even down to the markings on its roads. It feels like Beverly Hills in the Fifties. Time it right, and you will be able to sip a piña colada at the outdoor sunset bar.

For something a little more energetic try waterskiing, which is best experienced on the lagoon just south of Acapulco - the biggest in Mexico and where, incidentally, Rambo was filmed. Or you could dance. Acapulco is the Ibiza of the Pacific, with clubs for all tastes. You can salsa at Nina's or go nuts with all the disco kids - as we did - at the Palladium, perched on the hillside above Frogs. With a blasting sound system and a floor-to-ceiling glass wall overlooking the bay, it can accommodate 8,000 people.

Acapulco's foremost tourist attraction, though, is one to watch, not to take part in. The cliff divers of La Quebrada seem a remarkably cheery and sanguine bunch given their precarious profession. They are immensely courageous, or possibly deeply deranged. Four or five times a day, in the afternoon and evening, they climb the steep wall of rock rising above a narrow gulch of water that rises and falls with the ocean's swell. When they have the attention of the crowd that gathers on a facing promontory - and, more importantly, once they have crossed themselves and prayed for a safe landing at the small shrine at the top of the cliff - they open their arms like wings and plunge 40m into the Pacific. The more talented among them will execute a flip or two on the way down, and the climax involves diving with flaming torches - a sight worth crossing any ocean for.

TRAVELLER'S GUIDE

GETTING THERE

With no direct flights between the UK and Acapulco, the obvious way to reach the resort is on a US airline. Continental flies from Gatwick via Houston or from Birmingham, Edinburgh and Manchester via Newark. In July, discount travel agents such as South American Experience (020-7976 5511; www.southamericanexperience.com) have return fares of around £770 in July, £520 in November.

STAYING THERE

Some hotels quote their rates in dollars and others in Mexican Pesos. For a place in the heart of the busiest section of La Costera, but set back a little from the road, consider the mid-range Hotel Elcano (00 52 744 435 1500; www.hotel-elcano.com), at Costera Miguel Alaman, with its shocking aqua-blue columned lobby and beach-side pool. Double rooms start at 1,345 Pesos (£64) per night, room only. Las Brisas (00 52 744 469 6900; www.brisas.com.mx) at 5255 Carretera Escenica, has double rooms starting at $248 (£155) per night, including breakfast. Hotel Mision (00 52 744 482 3643) at 12 Felipe Valle has double rooms from 300 Pesos (£15) per night, room only. Fairmont Acapulco Princess (00 52 744 469 1000; www.fairmont.com/acapulco) 20km away at Playa Revolcadero has double rooms starting at $228 (£140) per night, room only. The Mayan Palace Hotel (00 52 744 469 6000; www.mayanpalace.com) has double rooms starting at $399 (£249) per night, room only.

WHAT TO DO

La Quebrada is located behind old Acapulco, at the northern end of the bay, and the dive site is not especially easy to find. There is a $2 (£1.25) entry fee - otherwise go there on a tour. All the major hotels in town will offer trips, along with other sightseeing opportunities. One popular option is the Mexican Fiesta, a night of dancing and music downtown on certain nights of the week, with a buffet dinner and drinks as part of the package.

EATING THERE

The Elcano's restaurant, right by the beach, is an option for a good-value dinner. For a high-end meal in an outdoor setting more romantic than even Frank Sinatra may have imagined, make a reservation at El Olvido (00 52 744 481 0214) again just off the Costera right adjacent to the Diana roundabout, at Plaza Marbella, Costera Miguel Aleman.

Compare Travel Insurance - 5 day Euro cover from £4.33 and Annual worldwide policies from just £43.08