Discover Mazatlán: Our Visit For A Solar Eclipse Adventure
Where better to travel for a Solar Eclipse than the sandy beaches of Mazatlán Mexico?
That’s exactly what we were thinking when we booked our tickets.
Our travel plans didn’t go exactly as planned and our quick one evening in the city of Mazatlán turned into two, allowing the romance of this city to find us. Here you can find inspiration, tricks and tips on what to do and what not to for your next trip, or enjoy some vicarious adventuring in Mazatlán, Sinaloa, Mexico!
We took the chance on a slightly suspicious festival just South of Mazatlán for the actual Solar Eclipse. By the looks of things when we arrived in Mazatlán after totality that this party city really got the most out of such a celestial phenomenon. We only planned for a single night in the City of Mazatlán, but plans are always changing in Mexico!
Getting to Mazatlán by ferry
Via the Stone Island to Mazatlán ferry we stepped foot onto the brickwork of the old port city. This charming portage only cost us 25 pesos each, from a quaint town to the metropolis of Mazatlán, it was all so surreal and intimate. Boating past the pelicans, so close we could almost touch them and the fishing boats that held true to Mazatlán’s claim to fame for the largest tuna and shrimping fleets in the world.
Mazatlán also houses the largest tuna canning factory on the Pacific. Check your cans to see if they’re from here!
After paying for the ferry we had only 30 peso left. So we promptly plugged into google maps the nearest ATM and trekked over to one only a 10 minute walk away. Unfortunately, as we got closer we saw the traffic lining up beside us was maybe due to the Mexican army having set up right outside of the bank. Yes, we turned right around and walked the other way.
Uber to Hotel Por Favor!
Uber is abundant in the larger cities of Mexico and it’s just as easy as back home. Tolls are given in local currencies and calculated in accordance with the current exchange rate, no additional charges are applied by Uber for overseas use. Just the automatic exchange rate.
So we ordered an Uber to our Hotel Las Jacarbanos and being on the beach, in the heart of Eclipse viewing zone, it was absolutely bustling and vibrant from the returned sun. Our driver dropped us off a few blocks away because of road closures for crowds. An immersive first visit.
Eclipse Festivities in a Festival City
The streets were still crawling with people as we weaved through the masses as best we could with the unfamiliar roadways and insanely erratic sidewalks (seriously, watch your toes). The beach was breath-taking even with it being so busy. Mazatlán has an amazing length of pristine sand beach and boldly blue ocean with a large walking path along it. The waves crashing below towers of hotels (some still being built), The city had an aura as though it was ready to explode with tourism.
The airport here had shut down for a brief period of time due to increased crime after the arrest of a cartel leader in January 2023. It has since opened and flights can be scene arriving and departing on the regular. Most coming from within Mexico but some from the States and Europe. It was giving me vibes of a young Puerto Vallarta. Taxi’s were abundant and rentable ATV’s blasting music in the traffic, accentuating the party vibes of this city.
For my partner and I, we were amazed at the spectacle but at the same time happy we had only planned a single night there. Our days of partying are few and further between these days, our early to bed and early to rise schedule obviously wasn’t about to line up with this cities hours.
Our First Hotel, Hotel “No Sleep”
After finding our hotel amidst the trinket and drink stands we had to wait for a group of about 25 people to check-in before us until the service counter fumbled over our reservation that I made with Expedia. I had a sneaking suspicion our reservation fell through the cracks and a last-minute room was used to fill in the gap of planning and let me just say, I was praying this room was the bottom of the barrel.
Our room was located on the ground floor with large windows that thankfully locked, a flimsy door, a window into a dark alley in the shower with cold water only, a flaking bed cover and minimal working lights. After two nights of sleeping on cement-like sand in a mango orchard at a Solar Eclipse Festival we were so looking forward to a nice room. Unfortunately it just wasn’t in the cards this time.
We ate a delicious dinner at Don Palayos which confirmed the reality that we were dead tired. Back at the hotel we put a towel over the dark-alley shower window, checked for bed-bugs and promptly fell asleep at 7:30 pm. Waking up every other hour or so from nightmarish dreams to the sounds of a party city blasting it’s way into our room.
Pre-Boarding Tourism Along the Malecón and Old Town
Very little sleep was had. We woke up way too early and decided to just pack up and walk around town before our scheduled bus trip to Sayulita at noon (you can read about our trip to Sayulita here). For a total of about an hour and a half of walking (roughly 7 km) we made it from the Golden Zone to Centro and then another 40 minutes walk back to the bus station. Plenty of time to get our energy out before a long bus ride.
The Malecón (pronounced mah-leh-kohn) meaning pier, along the ocean was our main route and during the wee hours of the morning we shared it with joggers, yogis and a small number of other early-morning commuters. The vibe was 100% more relaxed compared to last nights festivities. Makes sense considering the gravity of such an event.
Carnavales
Along the Malecón we passed a number of statues dedicated to la Carnavales of Mazatlán, originally starting as paper mache statues in the early 2000’s they’ve developed into permanent fixtures of this cities ode to a much loved event that started in 1898.
“In Mazatlán, time is measured by Carnavales”.
The Carnavales in Mazatlán is like Mardi Gras and is the third largest in the world after Rio and New Orleans. With Traditionally Christian origins it is held before Ash Wednesday when Lent begins (a 40 day fasting period, which is now commonly dedicated to volunteer work or giving up something for this period rather than fasting). Lasting 6 days, it is held from the Thursday to Tuesday of early February every year.
Perhaps we will plan our trip to include this massive festival as by the looks of the Solar Eclipse celebration, this city knows how to throw down.
Centro
Along the Malecón anglers of the human and aerial type were snatching the early morning fishing opportunities. As we neared Centro, Icebox Hill (Cerro de la Neveria) starting to clear through the haze. This hill, now supporting a cluster of radio towers, was aptly named for it’s use as a way of storing ice within the honeycombed limestone caves imported from San Fransisco in the mid-1800s.
As we got closer to Centro the history of Mazatlán began revealing itself in crumbling buildings seemingly standing forever, painted over in stunning arrays of colour and vines growing through the cracks. Remnants of the solar eclipse celebration were still littered about with art and the “cherry bombs” of stray dogs and cats, the cleanup after such an event had yet to begin.
Seeing this part of the old town made me curious of what stories it’s walls held and I was inclined to take part in one of the tour busses patrolling the streets. Something to keep in mind on our next visit for sure. I wished at that time to have had more of it in Mazatlán but as the old saying goes – be careful what you wish for.
First Attempt at Leaving
We walked back along the pier to meet our appointment with the transit system of Mexico (if traveling by bus in Mexico you should research and mentally prepare before-hand, here’s a link to read about our experience). We arrived early only to discover that our bus was late, and then later found that it had already left. Were we led astray? Was our minimal Spanish getting the best of us? Or is this just how the transit system in Mexico operates? We’ve picked up a new saying from all of these questions, generalizing our answers with the fact that it’s just all very fluid.
Defeated, we ended up booking another night in Mazatlán to take a rest and try again tomorrow. Hopefully less chaotic with more passing since the eclipse.
Our Second Hotel, Hotel “Fancy” and What Even is a Star Rating?
My partner booked our hotel, not by star rating, but under the notion that the dinner we had at this hotel restaurant last night was good, so the hotel must be good also. Well, he was in fact correct.
Perhaps the powers that be had taken pity on our souls as we were absolutely blessed on our second night with a beautiful sixth story balcony facing the ocean, with room service and a pool bar, we were completely aghast of our silver-lining. How could this be when the star rating of this hotel was lower than the first?
This was when we learnt about the Star and Diamond rating system of hotels and how Google has severely screwed visitors as well as hotel business owners in that it is sorely wrong. Our first hotel was rated as a 4 star hotel and our second ocean-view hotel rated as a 1 star on Google. France has even won a lawsuit against Google making them pay a 1.1 million dollar fine for loss of business due to false poor ratings.
At the Hotel Don Pelayo Pacific Beach we were escorted through the lobby, shown the dining area, pool and taken up the elevators to our room where we were demonstrated on how the A/C functions and pointed to the free bottled water for our coffee in the morning. After the attendant left we stopped pretending to be cool about it and let our ecstatically excited freak flag fly! The view of the main drag and rolling ocean gave us peace and space we needed to step away from the hustle down below and digest the fact that we had missed our bus.
Aside from loosing money on new bus tickets and a hotel, was it really all that bad?
An Unplanned Evening in Mazatlán
A couple Pacifico’s later we embraced our newfound calm and another tour down the Malecón was attempted. Walking down to the beach and back to Pancho’s, a highly rated restaurant with ocean-front real estate that was too busy yesterday during the eclipse madness to appreciate. Well, it was once again too busy despite the streets taking on a different hue the day after.
There was much more room to navigate the sidewalks and stop every once in awhile to breath in the moment. But choose your stops wisely…some breaths are better held in in places…perhaps the Solar Eclipse left in it’s wake a monstrous cleanup but we were often knocked down by some stale piss smells. Remember, you have to pay to use the bathrooms here, and pay for toilet paper in some cases! Stay prepared with change.
We were unable to locate any traditionally authentic Mexican cuisine on our walk which I’d assume was at Pancho’s but we did opt instead for a chain taco joint, semi buffet style. Our gringo tastebuds were put to the test here with some salsa verde that was exceptionally hot! Haven’t had a sinus cleanse like that for some time.
Fitting Finale
The sun was just setting as we made our way back to the hotel. Obviously we made the hustle back to our balcony to capture the sun falling underneath the horizon just in time. No green flash, but yet another beautiful display of colours, abundant since the day we got to Mexico.
Dos Pacifico beer (originally brewed in Mazatlán in 1900 by German immigrants) and a Flan was ordered with room service and our bus ticket booked once again for our second attempt to move along with our journey to Sayulita.
Oh Mazatlán, a beautiful port city on the Pacific with kilometres of sandy beaches and a passion for enjoying the festivities of life. Perhaps we will return one year for Carnavales but for now we will journey South for quieter nights and restful sleeps…Or so we thought.
[…] After the eclipse was over and our hotel enjoyed, we made our way to the Mazatlan bus station. The building was unique in that it’s modern station was attached to the remaining historical “central de autobusus”. Quite fitting for this old city, where the Centro of town is filled with historical building, restored and maintained for Mazatlán’s long history. Read about our Mazatlán experience here. […]
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