Mazatlan's Travel Guide to Discover the best that Mazatlan has to offer. Plan your vacation here.
Looking for a vacation with a quiet hotel or Bed & Breakfast, some fresh seafood, a round of golf, sailing, fishing in the Sea of Cortez, or just a afternoon at the beach under a shady palapa? Su Mazatlan is your visitors guide to the city, events and activities. Browse our Food & Entertainment guide, see some of Mazatlan's tours.
Mazatlan has been a tourist destination since the 40s when businesses started building hotels at Olas Altas beach. By the 50s it became a popular playground for John Wayne and other movie stars up until the late 60s. Since then the new Zona Dorada, the Gold Zone to the north, has become the location for new resort hotels, condos and shopping centers. The old city, now known as the Centro Historico (Historical Center) lost favor with tourists and locals and the cities old 19th century buildings fell into decay.
Since 2000 Mazatlan has been going through a major facelift with the restoration of the famous Plaza Machado and many of the historic old buildings in the area.
Old Mazatlan is an attractive alternative destination
to the modern higher priced resorts that have become common all over the
world. There is a good selection of small hotels, Bed & Breakfasts
and apartments to choose from with beaches,
restaurants and entertainment nearby.
Mazatlan, unlike the modern resorts of Xtapa & Cancun, was an established port city long before tourism arrived. Indian tribes settled here centuries before a Spanish banker named Machado arrived and established commercial relations with vessels calling at Mazatlán from North & South America.
Today the area population of Mazatlan is about 400,000
with two distinctive zones, the old Centro Historico and the newer Zona
Dorado, where most of the resort hotels and new housing developments are
located.
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