Who's been to Mexico?

[uspolymer]

My wife and I will be going on a 7-day cruise to Mexico. Our destinations include Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan, and Cabo San Lucas.

Any recommentions on places to visit? Places to eat? Things to do or not do? And lastly, any good charter recommendations?

Thanks!

Alan

[duckboy]

Never have and never will,

Why should I when mexico will come to me?

[Corkie Monster]

We just got back from Cabo san Lucas last week, Had a great time. We kept ourselves quite busy for the 5 nights we were there. I would recomend checking out the big mall at the Marina and book a trip with Redrum Sport Fishing ([non-sponsor link removed]). They were recomended by somebody from Ifish, and I will recomend them as well, they did a great job with us. Mostly just relax and soak up the sun :grin:

CM

[Last Cast King]

It's been a while but I've been to all three of those places. Cabo probably has better fishing than the other two places, another fun activity in Cabo is the glass bottom boat trips. Puerto Vallarta has a great steak house(Rincon de Buenos Aires) on the marina that features beef from Argentina, it's not Mexican food but it is VERY good. In Mazatlan I would make a point to get outside of the gold section(tourist area) and explore the old sections of the city, also check out the big semi open-air market in the old part of town.

[Bonita]

When I go to Mexico, I usually go native-style (even though I'm not)... But I did spend about a week in Puerto several years ago. Unfortunately, I can't personally recommend any local attractions - but I can offer some general pointers and such.
First - I HIGHLY recommend eating at street stalls or in the mercado! Use your common sense and choose a vendor that is clean and friendly, but don't be paranoid. I've never had a food or water related health problem in Mexico, and it really is the best, most authentic food experience. Some of my favorite dishes are carne asada (grilled beef served as tacos usually), camarones a la diabla ('deviled' shrimp are spicy and delicious), and elote (corn on the cob, Mexican style).
Other helpful hints for Mexico travel are pretty standard - Ask around to find out what usual prices are for things like taxi rides and fishing trips before dealing with the taxista or 'guide' on the beach - hotel employees, store owners and the like should give you the straight scoop if you are friendly. Ask the locals what restaurants they recommend - if your spanish is fair they'll appreciate your effort and be more than happy to point you towards a local favorite.
Most of all - HAVE FUN! Do everything you get the whim to do!
This is a great time of year to visit that area of Mexico!

And check out the website tomzap.com for some personal accounts and discussion boards on the different areas of Mexico - organized by state. There isn't lots of direct info on PV because they focus on smaller pueblos, but there are good links and always friendly people to chat with and learn from.

Buen Viaje!
-VC

[uhmw]

fish in cabo its a blast donate your catch to a resturaunt and they will cook up the best meal you have ever eaten for free. We just walked around the marina the day befor and asked boats about what type of deal we could get-for 300$ we had a nice boat to our selfs (two of us)and caught mass fish -(mostly tuna 10-40lbs )-marlin-dorado-wahoo, till we got tired and wanted to come home. The coolest thing I did there was scuba for the first time -never did it befor. watched a vidio then boarded a boat and they took me down to 40 ft twice for about 30 min for about 130 dollars-it was really easy and we dove on a ledge that droped 1200 ft. like diving on a cliff( landsend diving) near the mall on the marina side. I will be back to do that again.

[MacFish]

Mazatlan is the shrimp capital of the world, make sure you get some of the freshest and best shrimp you've ever had. Try "El Shrimp Bucket" or any of the other restaurants in town.

[Dan in Alaska]

I spent a week in PV last month. It was GREAT! The best and cheapest way to get around is by bus. You can hop a bus for 4-1/2 pesos (about 45 cents) and you can ride it as far as it goes. Their destinations are printed on the front window. Hop on the "Centro" bus to head into the city, get on the "Hotel" or "port" bus to get back. You can also catch a cab for about $5.

We ate at a couple of great restuarants in PV. The Brazilian steakhouse in old town was great. They have an all you can eat meal ($19 for guys, $16 for women) where the waiters bring 12 different skewers of meat to your table. Just tell them what you want, heck, I tried them all! Pipi's (also in old town) has the BEST guacamole! They make it fresh, right at your table. They also have outstanding shrimp fajitas, and their margaritas are HUGE!

You can also take a bus down to Mismaloya. There is a tequila factory there you can tour, and there is a GREAT tequila tasting place with over 200 kinds of tequila for you to taste. Try the Cava Antigua Reposado!

There is a truly outstanding restaurant in Mismaloya. It is directly up the hill from the tequila tasting place, and looks like a little tree house in the jungle canopy. Their menu is simplu a tray of fresh seafood - pick what you want! It was the BEST meal we had in Mexico.

Have fun on your trip!

[MacFish]

We rode one of the blue busses in Puerto Vallarta.....haven't had that big a thrill since Six Flags :grin:

[high_arc]

My wife and I did that cruise a few years ago. One thing we did was to go and listen to the people on the cruise ship talk about the different things they offered, such as snorkeling. Once we found out where they went, we took a cab there and did it on our own. Once they did some shoping and then got to use a pool in some hotel in Mazatlan. We just took a cab there and blended in with the group.

[clacksteel]

Haven't been to Mazatlan or Cabo in a while, but we went to PV in November. I would suggest the canopy tour S of town. You ride zip lines through the trees and over a river valley and is real safe (even by US standards). N of town is a little surfing village called Saylulita (sp?). It has a great beach, great food and a lot of fishing boats to choose from (one guy from Tillamook, Oregon runs a fishing guide service there).

PS-Watch out for Brazils (the steak house in town someone was talking about)...got a bad case of food poisoning from there.

[flapbreaker]

I would suggest eating on the cruiseship. I hear it's pretty good and you paid for it.

[The_Duck_Master]

Be careful of the flavored tequilas. They are GOOOOOD!

[foxer]

Dan, that restaurant in Mismaloya, was it just up a hill from the resort there on the beach? If so, what a shack, but good eats!. In PV, if you like night life, you cant miss Carlos Obriens..

[FireCat]

We were on that same cruise 8 years ago, we , for some reason fell in love with Mazatlan, so we ended up buying a place down there. We stay there between 12 and 14 days in late Febuary every year. Each city has its good points and bad points. Cabo and Cancun better take some money and alot of it, Mazatlan and pureto vallarta you can get by pretty reasonable, cheeper because they dont have to rely on tourist. And these cities are Mexico not some glorified maped out tourist trap, Cabo is beautiful dont get me wrong but. $200-$350 or more for a round golf is a little steep for me.....When you on the cruise ship you get a lotted amount of time in each town, if you shop till you drop
you will not get to enjoy the town sights.
here is a pic from our balcony at 7:30 pm feb 17th

[garyk]

From the comments, you might be getting the idea that there are 'two Mexicos' in that region - and there are. The famous tourist cities, with mega-resorts which I understand were developed in partnership with the government attract tourists and their dollars. And then there's everywhere's else.

I prefer the everywhere's else (after entering the country legally, of course :grin:.)

This cruise though will be an introduction, and if you enjoy it, you might want to take notes and collect information so you can do your own self-guided trip some winter down the road.

[steelhead22]

I'm not a huge fan of Mazatlan, but then again, I went during spring break my sophomore year in college. Wow, CRAZY! But, they do have some of the BEST shrimp burritos in the world! Got mine at the Coral Reef. A nice little bar right on the ocean that's great for nursing your hanging away with $5 bucket-o-beer (Dos Equis) . Live music most days (just a guy and his guitar) and the owner is the coolest guy you'll ever meet. Just don't let him buy you a "Paralyzer", almost didn't make it home after I drank that thing .

[ICHTHYDEMON]

My wife and I went to Cabo on our honeymoon in '96. The first 2 days were great,but then the hurricane hit. We had 115-120 mph winds and 15" of rain.

Even though we were newlyweds :grin:,being locked up in our room for 3 days kinda ruined it for us.

I'd like to go back and try Mexico without all the wind and rain,but she says no way.

[Dan in Alaska]

Foxer, I looked at the photos from our trip. The name of the plae was "La Chosa Tono". Which translates to "Tony's Place"?

Anyway, here's a photo of the restaurant, looking up hill from the street outside Mr. Tequila's. It looks like a little tree house in the jungle.



Here's their menu!

[fishbait]

The market in Matazalan, great food.

The port in Mazatalan for fresh prawns, cheap

Some of the countryside in PV if you have the time. Some great tropical forests.

Enjoy

[elkslayer]

Been to Mazatlan there was a restaurant on the main drag next to the bay kinda thing, where the big white rocks are, it was called "Taco Loco" or something like that, they had great food and service, pretty cheap also. There was also a pretty good booze cruise where they took you out to some island and feed you and there was some things to do.

[Get Bit]

Here's of few observations I've come up with for PV and Cabo....

*****Watch out for the timeshare sharks!!!!**** They are everywhere including the grocery store.

Here are my to do lists. There are more but with your limited time in these towns you probably won't get through a fraction of it. Have Fun.

Cabo Must do list
1.Romeo and Julietta's Italian-Great table side Caeser Salad
2.Cabo Wabo Cantina - Sammy Hagar's place
3.Giggling Marlin-Hang upside down like a Trophy Marlin
4.Felix's-Awesome Salsa Bar
5.4 Wheeler trip to the old Lighthouse
6.Marlin Fishing Trip

PV Must do List-South of the river is cheaper for anything.
1.Brasil Restaurant-Meat,Meat,Meat!
2.Machi's BBQ-Awesome food for a great price.
3.El Brujo-Awesome seafood
4.Bus Ride or cab ride - Better then Disneyland!
5.Booze Cruise on the Geronimo or Cielito Lindo. Both of these are catamarans. Great fun!
6.Memo's Pancake House

Get Bit

[Corkie Monster]

Here's a report on our trip/Honeymoon.

Cabo San Lucas

CM