"They all went to Mexico" — Willie Nelson

When Americans think of Mexican resorts they probably start with Cancun, Cabo, Puerto Vallarta and Acapulco — the usual suspects.

But there’s a new contender (really not so new) that any Mexico fan should have on his short list — Huatulco. Down the west coast below Acapulco where the coastline bends to the east, Huatulco suffers none of the overbuilding, time-share vultures or chain restaurants of the other top destinations.

Back in 1973, Fonatur — Mexico’s national trust for the promotion of tourism — selected Cancun, Ixtapa and Los Cabos for development because of their pristine beaches, beautiful coastlines and potential to attract Americans. But if you’ve been to any of those places lately you know they did a little too good of a job — at least in the “attracting Americans” part of it.

While Huatulco is also one of the developments created by Fonatur, its growth was slower, less of a free-for-all. Consequently it still has much of its original pre-gringo feeling in place. And all of the beauty.

Huatulco is actually “the bays of Huatulco” rather than a single town. It's nine bays and countless, mostly deserted, beaches with the towering San Miguel mountains in the background. Like with the other chosen spots, Fonatur put the infrastructure for growth in Huatulco — wide boulevards, clean water, a golf course and a marina — but things didn’t take off immediately.

Originally designed to spread out over nine bays, only the area around two of them has been developed. But that’s the beauty of it. There’s a small town La Crucecita that has a main square, the requisite church and only a minimum of T-shirt shops.

Restaurants come and go but in my five years of going to Huatulco, several excellent ones remain (and new ones show up all the time).

On my last trip with my friend Shaun Wymes — a Brit who is building 70 really handsome condos on a perfect beach — we sailed the bays, stopped at deserted beaches, swam ashore and generally acted wealthy. We also visited a botanical reserve, swam under a waterfall and went zip-lining — or zip-crashing.

Through the trees on a prayer of a brake

Zip-lining is one of those things I associate with Costa Rica, zipping along above the canopy of the rain forest on a line — hence the name. In Huatulco some enterprising young Mexicans had strung a cable across a big valley, built towers at each end and most importantly — printed up a nice color brochure.

Halfway across the valley several hundred feet above the ground, I thought, “Is there such a thing as OSHA here in Mexico? Are these brakes really gonna stop me?”

They actually referred to them as Mexican brakes. (Note to Miguel — the owner — if he happens to read this: Maybe call them Swiss brakes. No offense of course).

There are certainly many things to do in Huatulco (just don’t believe everything you see in the color brochures) but the beauty of the place is ... well ... the beauty. And if you can’t stay with Shaun (or buy one of his beautiful units at Cosmo) there are several really great hotels, mostly on Tangolunda Bay.

The Quinta Real Huatulco is an elegant, small hotel overlooking the water. The white buildings look like they could be in the Greek Isles, but the thatched palapa roofs remind you that you are in Mexico.

For an older hotel, the Camino Real Zaashila is nice, also on Tangolunda Bay. There’s a good restaurant on the terrace next to the beach.

All in all if you’re looking for a new place to blow out your flip-flops — Huatulco is truly hitting its prime.

Note: Don’t go if you’re looking for spring break or all-night discos, but do go if you want Mexico at its natural best.

Continental currently flies non-stop from Houston in and out of the Huatulco airport Wednesday and Saturday. Even the airport is friendlier and more authentic — a giant palapa 20 minutes from the coast.