Other venerable hotels have been spiffed up. The Fairmont Pierre Marques, built by John Paul Getty at Diamond Point, has recently renovated bungalows and palm-shaded restaurants that serve foie gras. And at the legendary Las Brisas hotel, the pink-and-white Jeeps that once shuttled the Kennedys up its steep, hibiscus-carpeted slopes now ferry honeymooners, recovering power couples and celebrities like Enrique Iglesias and Sandra Bullock to their pink-and-white casitas - all 251 of which have been newly made over, with a freshened-up spa on the way.
But if Acapulco's revamped hotels haven't given the glitterati an excuse to go out, the city's reinvigorated night life has - and often until dawn. Forget your sunglasses? Club workers are known to pass them out at daybreak at Classico del Mar, a new nightclub that stands like a fortress above the Carretera Escenica. At 1am on a recent Wednesday, a young and sexy crowd was dancing to Latin hits on the rooftop floor, their spaghetti-strap dresses and slim-fitting T-shirts writhing against a backlit wall of water.
Over at the megaclub Palladium, the techno music, smoke machines and other special effects drew scattered Americans and Europeans among a more international crowd. Overlooking the city's sparkling waterfront, the club's enormous glass wall lit up in a kaleidoscope of reflected flashes at around 3:30am as a man dressed as an Aztec warrior took to the stage, beaming lasers from his costume into the smoke-filled expanse. The crowd went wild, jumping on banquettes and pumping their fists into the air.
But in true Acapulco style, the most exclusive club is also the longest-running. Baby'O erected its first velvet rope more than 30 years ago, and at 2am on a recent Monday, the well-heeled and well-primped were still arriving, ready to sweet-talk their way past the hard-to-please bouncers.
Inside, the club looked like the set of Barbarella, a primitive-futurist cavern of artificial vegetation and faux-rock walls, all swirling beneath a field of undulating video screens. Men in tailored shirts and women in swishy camisoles gyrated on the sweaty dance floor, marking the spot where Madonna, Naomi Campbell and Bono were recently sighted.
"Acapulco is magical," said Joe Nizri, a strikingly handsome 21-year-old from Mexico City, as he worked his way toward the dance floor. He had been at Baby'O until 7am the previous night and was back for more. Never mind that his parents used to go there, too. (In fact, they still do.)
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