Help and advise wanted
 

I'm a 24yr old female looking for a relaxing place to blow away 5 days. I live in Seattle and don't want to spend much more than 7 hours traveling each way. I'm also on a very tight budget. I don’t like touristy places at all. Any recommendations for places to go? I will be traveling alone, so safety is also an issue. I speak no Spanish.

I usually go to Puerto Vallarta (from Seattle) and stay in the Old Town. You might consider it a touristy place, but it is also a normal working Mexican city. I like it because it is safe for solo women traveling and enough people speak English that is also not a problem. You can find local hotels that are basic but nice for $25-30USD.

La Paz on the Baja is another place I've spent two weeks solo and enjoyed. It is less touristy, which also means less people who speak English and less budget accomodations readily available.

Cabo and Puerto Vallarta are probably the best bets from Seattle. Check the air fares to each, I think the Alaska Airlines flight is either direct or has one stop in LA.

Suze probably can help you with the budget spots in Vallarta ... most of the Cabo hotels are expensive but the Mar de Cortez is relatively cheap and a favorite of US surfers and fishermen and budget travelers ... safe and quiet, yet a few hundred yards from party spots Cabo Wabo and Giggling Marlin (but not on the beach).

If there's little difference in flight costs I'd probably recommend Vallarta but if the flight to Vallarta is substantially higher I'd probably say Cabo.

In the unlikely event you are a golfer or aspiring big-game angler then Cabo is a better bet :)

Bill

Direct flights to Zihuatanejo.
PS Suze ya got to come down one of these years. PV 40 years ago!

Thanks Stewbear, you're *absolutely* right about that! It's just I've got a Hawaii thing going on recently. Plane tickets south are quite a bit more expensive plus no nonstops. Seattle to Oahu is so easy and dirt cheap. I would have recommended it for bubblywine's request, except for her comment about disliking touristy places... because Waikiki is where I stay, and it doesn't get more touristy than that!

I've been keeping an eye out for flights to Hawaii...but Puerto Vallarta is looking really nice.