Alegre Mar was recommended to us by friends who live i Mexico and it was an excellent choice. The apartments are right on the beach, with a patio and grassy area, beach chairs and shade, and water toys. An excelllent value.
The owner/host was available but not intrusive, and a great help at helping us find anything we needed in this great beach town.
LaManzanilla is a small village, but a tourism center for Mexicans, Canadians and folks from the US. If you want to explore any distance, a rental car is nice. But if you just want a beach front apartment, with plenty of places to eat out and things to do in the area, this works. Or you can do nothing at all and enjoy it.
This is not a RockResort, incidentally. If you want hot and cold running servants, look elsewhere. But for a really nice beachfront place to vacation, this can't be beat.

We have just returned from a great vacation at the Pacific Coast of Mexico. Of all the beatiful places we have seen one stood out: the little village of La Manzanilla, app. 60 km north of Manzanillo.

This is a relatively undiscovered, secluded and very romantic little beach village at the gorgeous Tenacatita Bay. The place we stayed at is called "ALGRE MAR", a private pension with three apartements, owned by an American, Kate Fisher. We were very lucky to find the place - we had no reservations but instantly fell in love with the village. Walking down the beach, we decided to stop for a drink at little palapa restaurant. The owner of the restaurant was able to refer us to Kate and we got the gorgeous one-bedroon apartment right on the beach.

The place is VERY clean (which is not always the case with places in Mexico), has a fully equipped kitchen, a comfortable bed, a big living room and a terace that opens to the beach. You can see the most amazing sunsets right from your terace! You can get breakfast, lunch and dinner at any of the bars and restaurants at the beachfront or in the village.

La Manzanilla is luckily still a very quiet village with only a bunch of small restaurants and bars. For those of you who need late night action, discotheques etc., this is not the right choice for a vacation. But it is the perfect romantic getaway place and ideal for people who like to take long strolls on the beach, dive and snorkle, take trips with the sea kayak, and so on. We will surely return.