So here I am in Acapulco Mexico and everyone tells me I have to see the Cliff Divers at the El Mirador Hotel. I sent an email to the hotel through thier website 3 days ago asking if we needed reservations and never heard from them. So on a Wednesday Night my girlfriend and I drive to the hotel. We planned to make a whole night of it including Dinner and the Cliff divers. To eat in the restaurant with a good view of the divers you have to pay $39 US per person. This price includes beverages, Appetizer, Main Course, and Dessert. From the minute we are seated we quickly observe bad service. We waited 15 minutes before anyone took our drink order. Then another 10 minutes to get those drinks. Now on this night there was more waiters than people eating in the restaurant. Not a good sign. After they took our order we waited more. The soup arrived and it was ok. Then the main course arrived. I had the filet mignon. I seriously almost broke the table trying to hold the steak steady while cutting through it with the dull knife they gave me. My girlfriend had the chicken parmesan. She hacked through it and had two bites and then went to the bathroom and threw up. We waited some more and finally got dessert. Again this was ok as I think it is hard to mess up 2 scoops of ice cream. At this point I had enough of the hotel and we rapidly left the place.

If I was ever to go back and well once you see the cliff divers once that is more than enough, I would only pay the $3 and watch the divers from the observation area. This is much closer to the action and then I would head back to the center of the tourist area where there are many good restaurants. I would definately not stay at this hotel. It is the farthest hotel from the airport and a good 20 minute ride to where all the good shopping and site seeing is along with the nightlife and entertainment.

So to conclude, see the divers it was awesome. Save yourself and your stomach the trouble and eat somewhere else.

The El Mirador must have been quite something in its prime. Unfortunately it looks as if not a lot in the way of maintenance, or staff training as been done since then.

Our main complaints were that basic ammenities such as purified drinking water in the rooms, and ice were not provided. The pool areas were in disrepair, and the famed salt water pool area was locked up tight. Service was either obtrusive, or nonexistent. The upper level staff at the restaurant were often just plain rude.

The hotel is in an amazing location on a rocky cliff over an ocean cove. It is convienently located: about a 10 minute walk from the central Zocalo. We enjoyed being able to walk almost everywhere. If we needed an "affordable" taxi we just walked down to the Malecon instead of catching one of the overpriced taxis that lurk outside of the hotel.

Our room, in the old section, had a great view, but the windows didn't have any screens so we ended up losing a lot of the ambience by having to keep the windows shut to keep the mosquitos out. The room itself was comfortable, but I doubt that the floors had been cleaned in months.

The restaurants were both adequate. I had read a lot of bad reviews of the La Perla experience, but was pleasantly surprised to find the food good, and with the 20% discount offered to guests, quite affordable. Service was another matter. There was an excess of staff for the quality of the service, and, as I mentioned before, the attitude of the upper-level staff stunk. Twice we were told that we couldn't sit in a certain section because it was "reserved", only to see half (if that) of it fill up.

Overall I would say we had a decent experience at El Mirador. The place has potential. Hopefully someone wil get on the ball and upgrade the service and the maintenance before the El Mirador falls apart.

Restaurant is not up to scratch and we were hit with extra charges on a set menu price, plus being asked blatantly for a tip by both the waiter and the divers. The food was not good for any of our party. Not a good experience!

If you read the reviews you will see a wide range of responses. The key is expectation and adventure. The Mirador is a unique property, one of a kind and in my opinion well worth a brief visit. It is true that the hotel is a bit rundown, where not everything works up to standard. Ours did not have a shower curtain, and the toilet could only be flushed by reaching in the tank. They would have been glad to fix it, but since we were there for only one night, I did not want most of it spent with a maintenance man wandering around. Given that, the place is extraordinary. Built on the side of a steep cliff, there are great views, and a real sense of the history of the place. I could imagine all the old movie stars wandering around in its heyday. Being able to see the cliff divers right from the hotel made the stay well worth it. We got to see several shows including the late night show where they dive with the torches. This is the old Acapulco side of town, which truthfully I liked a lot more than the rest of the week being stuck out at a Disney type resort on the Diamond beaches out by the airport. It helps that I speak Spanish, but everyone we encountered at the hotel spoke pasable English to my daughters and wife. They are doing some vacation club stuff there and offered two more breakfasts for my kids if we attended. We declined and they did not bother us at all again. I would recoomend that you look at your room before having them haul the luggage, and don't be afraid to ask for a different room if yours is not OK. We did not eat dinner at the restaurant as I had heard it was quite expensive and not very good. Instead, we had our driver from the airport stop at a local restaurant where we picked up food to go and ate it on our patio with a fabulous view. Breakfast was included in my reservation (made through a Mexican version of Hotels.com) and it was wonderful. They even had strolling musicians.

All in all, it is a great experience for a couple of nights if you are at all adventurous. If you like your Holiday Inn experience, then this is not for you.