I am trying to find out information about Mazatlan and have gone over much of the talk forum and haven't found anything. Is it a great place to go for beautiful beaches, relaxation, and walking? Also, we are looking at the beginning of Dec. and I'm wondering what the weather is at that time. Any help would be much appreciated.

Dear gchan:

I can't help you with Maz, but check tripadvisor.com. They have a much more active Mexico forum.

Good luck,

MY

I've been there a couple of times (trying to catch the elusive pez espada) ... it's an OK place and the weather will be fine in early December, plus you will miss out on the Thanksgiving and Christmas crowds and probably find cheaper rates. We enjoyed our trips there but probably wouldn't go back again any time soon.

That said, it's a large commercial port city and we didn't find it as nice a vacation spot as Puerto Vallarta or Cabo San Lucas, or maybe Ixtapa/Zihua. I would rate Mazatlan above Acapulco and Manzanillo though. The part where the tourists mostly stay (Golden Zone ... but it's not all that Golden) is not all that 'authentic' but it's OK. The main town is not as scenic and quaint as Vallarta or Zihua, but OK.

We did enjoy a day trip up into the mountains, I think we went to Concordia (a place where they make furniture ... it was OK) and to Copola (or maybe Coppola), a small mountain silver mining town with a picturesque ancient church. I remember the meal we had at the Coppola Butter Factory restaurant as the best meal we've ever had in Mexico and we've spent a lot of time in Mexico.

So overall Mazatlan is OK. You can probably do better elsewhere but there are a lot of places you can do much worse.

Bill

Mazatlan is much cheaper than Puerto Vallarta and Cabo. Cabo is basically the west coast Cancun and is more like Florida than Mexico, IMHO.

I don't like the tourist golden zone in Mazatlan but Isla de la Piedra just south of the city is quite nice. The beaches are far less crowded there and it has more authentic Mexican charm than the Golden Zone.

When I was researchig Mazatlan, I gave in and ordered a couple guidebooks from amazon, because it just doesn't have the wealth of information available on the internet like you'll find for Puerto Vallarta, Playa del Carmen, Cabo, etc.

(I ended up going back to PV again instead)

Weather should be beautiful anywhere along the west/Pacific coast in December.

RBCal, (posting at the same time above) that is good information!

What are logistics to get from the airport to that area? Is it close enough to the city that you go back & forth easily? Isla de la Piedra has affordable hotels?

Even though its called Isla, I believe its actually a peninsula so you can catch a cab there.

Most people take the ferry across which only costs a buck or so. I didn't fly in, my cruise ship stopped there so don't know offhand how far it is from the sirport.

muchas gracias

Have been to Maz in December as a jumping off place for the Copper Canyon some rain beach not bad but not greatvery commercial.Cabo Cancun Isla
Mujeres tons better beaches elsewhere
in terms of quality...

Great Fish Tacos though...

Thanks to all who gave such great info. I have a timeshare to use for an exchange so was looking into Mazatlan for something different as we go to Cabo every year(love it!) and went to PV last year, so wanted to change it up a bit. But Maz. doesn't sound too great. I would love to do Ixtapa or Playa del Carmen,but everything has been all inclusive and I have too much fun trying all the restaurants to go AI. Thanks again.

Dear GChan,

I encourage you to take the recomendations here with a grain of salt. The Fodor's site doesn't have any information on Mazatlan, so anybody who likes Mazatlan is not going to participate here.

Mazatlan is a beautiful city, which has some truly fabulous restaurants, beautiful beaches, and a lot of interesting things to do. It has a touristy area (the Golden Zone) but that's only a small part of the city. As for hotels, there's a wide variety - generic beach resorts, bed and breakfasts, and a couple unique gems.

Mazatlan has a couple real advantages. One special one is that it's significantly less expensive than other beach destinations in Mexico.

Don't dismiss Mazatlan. But don't try to find out about it here. Explore more on TripAdvisor or some other Mexico travel guide site or just through Google.

Not only about Mazatlan. For Puerto Vallarta and Cabo San Lucas as well. There's loads of helpful posters over on the Trip Advisor destination forums. Just not that many participate here on Fodor's for whatever reason.