Contributing editor JLMcC, Vancouver BC, Canada: The current news isn’t good. A favorite family destination has been labeled Mexico’s murder capital. Despite the recent news of gang violence, never on our frequent visits have we ever seen any crimes. We always felt safe to walk the streets, markets and beaches day and night.

Since I retired, we spend a week almost every late autumn in Acapulco. As Canadian tourists we’ve always been treated with kindness and cooperation, including the cabbies. We book one favorite, José, for an entire day or two at a very reasonable rate, and he takes us everywhere.

We enjoy La Quebrada, the high cliff divers, Majahua Beach, the Botanical Gardens, La Roqueta Island snorkeling, fishing boats and much more.The shopping is fun, beaches outstanding and the cafés delicious. In our opinion,

You can have overpriced Malibu, Miami Beach and San Francisco. Acapulco gets our vote as a friendly place for average, middle class North Americans to afford a tropical vacation at any time of year for reasonable prices.