Playa La Ropa

Playa La Ropa is the main swimming beach of Zihuatanejo Bay, a curve of pale sand on the bay's eastern shore, beyond Playa La Madera and a few minutes by car from the town centre. It runs for roughly 1.2 km, and behind it the land climbs steeply into wooded cliffs scattered with hotels, villas and guest houses. The name, "Clothes Beach", goes back to the colonial era: a merchant ship sank near the bay, and its cargo of fine fabrics, muslin, shawls, ribbons and stockings from Bombay and China washed up on this sand.

The bay shelters La Ropa from the open Pacific, so the waves are usually small, often one to three feet, which is why locals and guides call it the best swimming beach in Zihuatanejo; on a normal day you can bodysurf, and the calm water suits paddleboarding. In winter, sailboats anchor off the beach. Small hotels, inns and a row of seafood restaurants with palapas and sun loungers line the sand. La Ropa was awarded the international Blue Flag in 2020 and recertified in 2022, and the municipality lists it among its certified beaches for environmental management, safety and services.

Several beachfront hotels support a sea-turtle conservation campaign: from August to December they gather eggs laid along the beach, protect them in fenced nests and release the hatchlings into the sea at sunset, often inviting guests to help. A small fenced estuary on the beach has long been home to a few crocodiles, which are wild animals even though they are used to people. At the end of the beach, in a parking area, a plum tree where many people say an image of the Virgin of Guadalupe appeared on 27 November 2006 has become a small shrine with candles and flowers, and a mass and candlelit vigil are held there every 12 December. From the far end of the beach a rough, rocky footpath continues along the coast to Playa Las Gatas.