After spending a few days in Zihuatanejo and a couple of days in Ixtapa I wondered whether there might be a really quiet little beach community anywhere nearby. Not that I didn’t like Zihuatanejo or Ixtapa; they’re both great in their very different ways, it’s just that I really fancied hanging out on a beach with really few people in a more relaxing atmosphere. So I asked the locals, and the immediate and unanimous answer was ‘Go to Playa Troncones!’, so I did. 
It’s about forty kilometers north of Zihuatanejo and you can get there by taxi, or by bus and then a local ‘colectivo’ (much cheaper), or if you are feeling flush and want to explore all the local beaches then renting a car in Zihuatanejo or Ixtapa is no doubt the best option. In my case I took the bus and the ‘colectivo’ and it was fine. Troncones was just what I was looking for; a small beach community set on a beautiful, long white-sand beach (three miles long), with a great, laid-back, slightly bohemian ambiance and very few people. It’s the kind of place that makes you just want to lie in a hammock with a good book and contemplate the ocean and the beautiful sunsets.
Not that there aren’t plenty of things to do, it’s just that once you get there you suddenly feel that you can take your time doing them, if you get around to it – a great unwinding that is difficult to imagine when you are at home or in ‘livelier’ destinations. The swimming is good, though, as always with the open sea, you must be alert for hard-breaking waves and strong rip-tides. Boogie-boarding at Troncones is great fun, the surfing is good (particularly for beginners), there are some excellent spots for snorkeling and scuba diving, you can go kayaking, and it is easy and relatively cheap to rent out the equipment for any of these activities.
Horseback riding along the beach was probably my favorite activity, and I loved the nature all around. Bird watching is very popular, and you can also see turtles, dolphins, and I even got to see whales, though I think that’s only possible in the winter months. Talking of winter, the sea is noticeably warmer in Troncones than in destinations further north like Puerto Vallarta or Mazatlan. Other activities I enjoyed, and which seem to fit in perfectly with the surroundings, were yoga and meditation. Sometimes you can walk along Troncones without bumping into anyone, but there are other even quieter beaches in the vicinity, like Manzanillo Bay, Majahuas Beach, and La Saladita Beach, which is renowned for good surfing. Not a fisherman myself, but as well as all this I’m told that the sport fishing is excellent.
As far as accommodations and restaurants are concerned it was just perfect. I was on a budget so I loved it that I could get a bed in a dorm and meet other travelers; but in the same place I could have rented out an apartment, and there are also vacation villa and vacation home rentals on the beach. The restaurants were just simple beach places with great prices and excellent food, and, in that small community kind of way, they sometimes show a movie, have folk dancing, or some other kind of performance. Playa Troncones was the great discovery of my last visit to Mexico’s Pacific coast.
