But over time, the luster faded from this one-time celebrity mecca as Mexican officials developed places like Cancun and Los Cabos. Then, in 1994, the town launched a blitzkrieg cleanup effort to catapult the resort into the new millennium. And by the look of things, they've done a good job. Today, the water is cleaner. Hotels have undergone multimillion-dollar renovations and are world class.
Restaurants offer a range of nouvelle cuisine and the night life is dazzling, to say the least.
Even during the height of the winter months, you won't bump into only Americans. But some things never change, and that's to be grateful for. The La Quebrada cliff divers still thrill with their death-defying plunges into the sea from heights that make onlookers gasp. The best place to take in this decades-old spectacle is from the terrace of the restaurant at the Hotel Plaza Las Glorias El Mirador. The Mexican-tiled eatery is studded with photos of the rich and famous from decades past, including a very young Julio Iglesias, who dropped in for the same exhibition.