Puerto Marqués

Puerto Marqués is a small, nearly round bay on the coast just southeast of Acapulco Bay, and the old fishing village on its shore, now part of the city's urban area. The bay is framed by two headlands: Punta Bruja, the tip of Cerro El Guitarrón that separates it from Acapulco Bay, and Punta Diamante to the south. The Carretera Escénica from Las Brisas drops down to it, and it marks the start of Acapulco Diamante, the resort's newest zone. Its main beaches are Puerto Marqués itself, lined with palm-roofed seafood restaurants, little Playa Majahua, only about 150 m long, and Pichilingue, about ten minutes away by boat.

The place is older than Acapulco. Archaeologists found here the so-called Pox pottery, pocked by fibres that burned away during firing and dated to about 2400 BC, among the oldest known ceramics in Mesoamerica, and INAH researchers have identified three archaeological sites around the bay. By 1533 the Spanish had built a wharf here, named Marqués, between Punta Bruja and Punta Diamante; the place was long known simply as El Marqués. Between 1907 and 1909 La Dicha Mining and Smelting Co. put up docks at Majahua and began a railway that only reached 5 km to Llano Largo; when the First World War broke out, ships came and carried off the docks and rails. Puerto Marqués counted 3,335 people when it was absorbed into Acapulco's urban area in 1980.

The bay's water is usually calm and clear, good for swimming and snorkelling, and CONABIO recognises it for its rich plankton; it lies within the Coyuca–Tres Palos priority marine region. Since 2011 the Marina Majahua project has been controversial: UNAM studies found that it blocked the current that fed sand to the main beach, which has since eroded badly. Hurricanes Otis in 2023 and John in 2024 wrecked many of the beach restaurants and boats, and owners have been rebuilding. In August 2025 the Navy launched the Marinabús, a ferry across the bay between the Malecón in old Acapulco and the Puerto Marqués pier, though residents blocked it at the pier in October 2025 in a dispute over local works.