Mazatlan, a beach town nearby hometown of narco traffic that is worth it to visit.
In the end of January 2021, during the pandemic and red status in Mexico City, the city that my husband and I live in, we felt like we wanted to go somewhere new in Mexico. My husband had an idea to visit our friends who live in Mazatlan, a beach town that is located in the state of Sinaloa.
When other people and I heard about Sinaloa, all of a sudden anything related to narco traffic popped into my head. Isn’t Sinaloa a dangerous place to go?
I was like, tried to look up any information about this place. Yes, I did find there are restrictions and warnings about not visiting the state, but in contrast there are some blogs and vlogs that showed how safe to visit Mazatlan is, both by Mexicans or foreigners. I was surprised there are also many expats living in this beach town that is located in the northwest edge of the country. Beside that, two friends that we are going to visit are foreigners. They’ve told us, that it’s true, Sinaloa is a “Narco traffic hometown”, but it also won’t stop them from living the beauty of pacific beach surrounding town of Mazatlan. They said that Mazatlan is pretty safe to visit and even to live in and beside that, they are kinda far from “the central narco traffic” in Sinaloa, about 3 hour ish. And turned out Mazatlan is a touristy place that has infrastructure that is ready for tourism.
We booked returned tickets from Mexico City direct to Mazatlan, with AeroMexico, that costs around $70 for a one hour and a half flight. Click here for more flight information :
We chose an airbnb that costs $30 per night and we booked 4 days 3 nights. Even though there are many options to stay in various areas of the spot. There are also many options from a budget to luxurious hotels based on tourists needs.
Once we arrived at the airport, which is pretty small, we gotta go to a taxi counter to take us to the central area,
which costs around $20. When I saw the beach town I could see there are many high buildings that I was sure were hotels along the way. Souvenirs shops also provide many tourist needs and offer unique stuff from Mazatlan. Key chains, mugs, bikinis, sandals, you name it!
To enjoy and do sightseeing you could simply just walk by foot. But if you want to go from one beach to other beaches, it is also possible to ride a pulmonia or aurigas, local taxis that are pretty unique and rarely could be found in other cities in Mexico.
Along the way, if you walk to the side of the beach, there are many travel agents who would offer you some activities that you could do, such as crossing the island, sports, cultures and sightseeing experiences. We decided to do our own stuff as Mazatlan offers, such as surfing, bodyboarding, sunbathing and enjoying sunset in the evening. We also had a chance to listen to the Banda, a group of local bands that play Southern and Central Mexico music genres, usually they bring big instruments and they have 4-5 people in their band. Usually it’s around 100 pesos to tip the band per song, so everyone could choose as many songs as possible.
At night on the weekend you could also experience the nightlife beach club that the town offers. So it will just like other beach towns, they have tons of beach clubs that are opened by the beach. You could dance on the sand barefoot, enjoying the ocean breeze all night long meanwhile sip your tequila.
I’m a foodie traveler, so before I visit a place, I’d always check out what local food they have.
I found a restaurant that is pretty popular on youtube and also recommended by a Mexican Traveler friend that I need to go to La Panama https://panama.com.mx/
When we entered the restaurant, it looked just like a regular restaurant. They have tons of Mexican food menu and also have types of Mazatlan culinary and they are also specialized in sweets and cakes. We ordered a bunch of stuff that was mouthwatering. The food was authentically well done and everything was affordable too.
We also checked other restaurants surrounding it, there are tons of options that we can choose along the way of Mazatlan main road. Mazatlan got many types of seafood culinary that you could find. But if you want to have other option, we also found some restaurants that have specialties in Chilaquiles, breakfast, steak, Japanese. And if you want to eat the street hot dogs and burgers, there will be many of them especially all night long to serve your late-night cravings.
My personal advice for you to visit Mazatlan is in October to November, because the rainy season in these months has just ended and the hotels prices go down. We went there in January and it was so windy and cold at the beach, but we still could enjoy the beautiful sunset.
From what I was searching online, April to May is the peak season and expect it gonna be a spring break holiday. Hotels and stuff will be so much more expensive during these months.
I'm definitely going to go back to Mazatlan again because it’s pretty safe to travel, despite the restriction and the warnings about this beach town. I think it’s worth it to be visited.
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