Hotel Playa Hermosa

For a glimpse of a relic from San Blas [1]’s recent past, head across town to the crumbling Hotel Playa Hermosa. Here, one evening in 1951, President Miguel Alemán came to dedicate San Blas’s first luxury hotel. As the story goes, the jejenes descended and bit the president so fiercely the entire entourage cleared out before he even finished his speech.

Rumors have circulated around town for years that someone’s going to reopen the Playa Hermosa—but judging from the vines creeping up the walls and the orchids blossoming on the balconies, they’d better hurry or the jungle is going to get the old place first.

To get there, follow H. Batallón toward the beach, turn left just after the Los Cocos Trailer Park, and continue along the jungle road for about half a mile.