5 Days in Mazatlan with Friends! 

Group travel is always fun.  We have had several opportunities to go with friends and one of the trips was Mazatlan Mexico.  When booking Mexico, we actually booked the wrong place to where the group was actually staying so my biggest tip is to double check especially if the hotel starts with Pueblo, which a lot of them do.   After a little group creativity and one couple making the same mistake, we ended up in a villa with its own pool with 3 bedrooms, at Pueblo Bonita Emerald Bay.  We still enjoyed the resort pool but, in the evenings, it was nice to have a hot tub and swimming spot for our group to enjoy.  It was very secluded from the rest of the tourist area but they offered a shuttle bus to town which took only about 15 minutes.  When you stay at Pueblo Bonita resorts you can travel to other resorts and use their pool and all-inclusive restaurants.  This mixed things up a bit and we loved the Pueblo Bonita Mazatlan (our original booked spot) that sat right on the beach and made for a fun day by the pool. 

Sadly, we had very overcast and wind on our pool days (except 1 day) which was super disappointing.  Never the less we came home sun-kissed and had plenty of pool time.   Pueblo Bonita at Emerald Bay has wonderful grounds, pools, swim up bars, beach access with cabanas.   The food was just okay, we didn't feel like the choice selectionwas as good as some of our other places that we have stayed, but the all-inclusivefor the pool snack and drinks was worth it.

Mazatlan is a beautiful city, the streets   The boardwalk along the coast stretches long enough for a good walk. One of our favorite things we did was climb to the top of one of the hotels with a roof top pool and get a really great evening shot with all the lights in the back drop.  The town itself has several restaurants along the main stretch of town where they had live music playing.   We loved walking around in the tourist zone seeing all the beautiful buildings and finding the taquerias.   There is a center of town plaza that is surrounded by restaurants and shops.  It’s fun to go visit the beautiful church and then walk through the market.   

Traveling with a group can be fun and a challenge at the same time.  It's important to keep an open mind about plans but also feel okay to do your own thing.  We always set a time to meet for dinner as a group, but if people wanted to do different activities during the day that works too!  Most everyone did their activities in the morning and then by 12:30 or 1:00 we were ready to chill by the pool together.   The best thing is just communicating what you want to do and be okay if you miss out on one fun thing to do another fun thing.   We went on our own date one afternoon and had a blast while the group went to a country concert on the beach which they loved!  We all then came back together at night swimming and fun together at the Villa

. Group Travel is great for bonding friendships and making wonderful memories together.  Our only regret was we felt it would have been nice to tack on an extra day or two and stay right in the Mazatlan downtown area.  Maybe next time!  Find our More