2 Best Shopping in Ixtapa and Zihuatanejo, Mexico

Shopping in Ixtapa lacks traditional Mexican energy. Most stores are relegated to strip malls across from the hotels on Paseo del Palmar. There are boutiques, restaurants, pharmacies, self-service laundries, and grocery stores, but everything seems to blend together. A ban on street and beach vendors restricts small merchants to a large handicrafts zone, Mercado de Artesanía Turístico, on the right side of Boulevard Ixtapa across from the Hotel Barceló. It's open from 10 to 10 and has some 150 stands, selling handicrafts, T-shirts, and souvenirs.

Downtown Zihuatanejo has a compact but fascinating Mercado Municipal with a labyrinth of small stands on the east side of the town center, on Avenida Benito Juárez between Avenidas Nava and González.