El Mirador, in 2007, was, as some have referred to her, like a tired old princess or queen. I had researched the hotel and read the good and bad reviews. MY review is that the rooms were very inexpensive, clean, and cool. When we arrived, we had no shower curtain and, although we had a little language problem, the staff remedied the situation quickly. The lifts spoken on in other reviews were both broken so you had to be of brave heart and lots of stamina to make the trip to one of the pools! It was a 342 step climb from my room to the lower pools but of, so worth it when I got there! The views were beautiful. We had a room overlooking the cliff diving so I could stand on the balcony and watch each evening. The restaurant was ok -- nothing special but nothing wrong with it, either, with two exceptions -- it opened late in the morning for me, an early riser and, service was slow. However, the heat in Mexico in June makes everything and everyone slow, so I was in no hurry! I had my son (28) traveling with me so he was more into the nightlife in town (a $7-8 US cabride each way) and he made friends quickly with hotel staff getting off work and got the grand tour, locals-style! The staff at El Mirador were friendly and kind. I saw several posts about staying away from the time-share salesmen -- I purposefully sought one out and got a free week for my time. I did get to see some of the renovated rooms and was happy that the hotel was modernizing but still keeping the "old" feel of the El Mirador in her heyday. As others stated, I definitely would NOT recommend this hotel for anyone with a disability or problems with climbing. As I am an early riser and there were no coffee-pots in room, I had to walk downhill a block to the XOXO for coffee each morning as the restaurant opened later. Would have preferred the modernization of coffee in-room but was a small inconvenience. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed my stay. Our first day there, the room below us was being renovated -- jackhammers and who knows what else making racket! My son got the attention of one of the workers and asked if they could work on another room that week as we would be there all week. They immediately agreed and we were never disturbed again. I loved the "old" feel of the hotel and any little issue was handled, so I would definitely recommend it. If you want a ***** hotel, stay on the strip -- GO to a 5-star. I loved the whole thing about El Mirador -- the birds, the cliffs, the beautiful plants growing out of the cliffs, the seaside pool ... it's not a dream-hotel but it was a cool place to stay, in my opinion and I would definitely go back.

I booked a week in this hotel in Expedia. I wanted to be in old Acapulco that's why I chose this hotel.
The hotel is right in front of famous la Quebrada where the divers jump into roaring sea every evening. It is a great show, and crowds the hotel premises every night, especially on weekends. The restaurant is supposed to be award wining but it is actually crappy. It has great view though.
The hotel has a very affordable breakfast buffet, and it is great for what you pay, one of my favorite things here it is a Mexican Trio that plays every morning.
The hotel is built in a cliff, it is from the 1950's (or 40's ). Back then, it was like one of the best or the best in Acapulco, so many Hollywod celebrities from the Golden Era stayed there.
But now, the cliffs are a big bummer. They have lifts some sort of diagonal elevators that are superslow and most of the times they don't work, one of them was like permanently broken.
The room was kind of ugly in furniture but we were given one of the best, we had a huge balcony if front of the ocean. The air condition was like non-existing, I think we were well in the mid 90s but horribly humid all the time, and the A/C seemed to be always like 85°. We complained and they sent us a fan!...
Although the hotel is on downtown, there is a jungle on one side and every morning we were awaken by a wonderful chorus of wild birds, it was amazing. One day we found a huge snake by one of the pools and the hotel staff tried to kill it. Most people would find this unpleasant (the snake in the premises), but we don't, i think it was great. The hotel has a swimming pool a little bit above the sea level and one all the way up the hill, they were both kind of dirty all the time., there is also a natural pool with sea water, we really loved this one, and it has fishes, this is one of the best things in this hotel. One of the worst things is that the hotel is located in some sort of very popular plaza, and people party there all night long, so, weekends are really noisy at night.

I think this hotel is for Mexicans only, most Americans complain too much about everything so, I wouldn't recommend my American friends to stay here, But for many reasons I would recommend it to Mexicans or Europeans, who love nature and wouldn't mind some things (like the A/C or the noise). IF YOU HAVE SOME SORT OF DISABILITY THAT REQUIRES A WHEELCHAIR DO NOT STAY IN THIS HOTEL. If you are traveling with very old people you shouldn't either. There are endless stairs for everything, and the lift are almost always broken.

My husband and I stayed at El Mirador in August 2008. In one word, the experience was LOUSY. The bedroom door rattled in the wind, the ceiling in the bathroom was falling down and the lighting was poor. In addition, there was mold in the curtains in the bedroom.
The wash cloths were torn and tattered. On the second night when we asked for and additiional wash cloth (only one was left in the bathroom) we were told that none were available.
The food was OK, especially the breakfast.
We would definitely not recommend this hotel

I paid $45 for a double (2 guests) during this off season time. I used it just for a stop rest on my way to Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo.

This hotel has been there for more than 75 years it used to be a high-end spot during the 50`s and 60`s. It faces La Quebrada the famous spot for cliff divers in Acapulco. No beach. A 10 minute taxi ($7-8 USD) ride to La Costera where all the bars, discos, and action takes place. It is just out of the main Acapulco bay.

Nicely kept. Rooms are clean and basic. Some details show age (e.g. old cooler left in the whole in the wall not working, it has now very modern coolers installed in a different location).

Pools are basic but nice.

Basic hotel to go to sleep after speding the day some where else.