TRAVEL AWAITS: 5 Diverse and Colorful Towns around Mazatlan

The original article was published in Travel Awaits on April 1, 2022.

We drive down every year to Mazatlan and having a car here has been handy for quick trips for shopping, eating out, and even going to the dentist. But it has also enabled charming day trips to diverse towns around the city. Since the resort where we stay also arranges tours discounted for “owners” like us, we have been to five towns in four winters here. And there are five more to discover.

El Quelite

El Quelite, north of Mazatlan and only about 30 minutes away, is one that many people rave about. Approaching it, large bougainvillea bushes of many colors and a bright yellow arch mark the entry to the lone street. Colorfully painted homes line both sides and at a plazuela, a statue of a man playing the game ulama, an ancient sport being revived, stands out.

We found all the vehicles parked around El Meson de Los Laureanos. We soon discovered why it is the town! You won’t believe the art and decor, the roosters and horses, all the colorful nooks and corners, all the thriving plants, and the warmth of the people inside. It was the energy of Mexico in a nutshell, including some of the best Mexican food you can have.

We were immediately served the traditional Sinaloan snack, coyotas. After the barbacoa de res (beef), carnitas de puerco (pork), and cordoniz (quail) a la parilla (grill) with arroz, tortilla, frijoles, salsa, and pico de gallo, we were also served with a selection of Sinaloan deserts like candied papaya, squash, and sweet potatoes and leche quemada (burnt milk).

Pro-Tip: Don’t forget to visit the small chapel to the right of El Meson!

El Rosario

El Rosario, just an hour south of Mazatlan and with a population of about 16,000, is a Pueblo Magico, one of 132 selected by the Ministry of Tourism for exemplary beauty, history, and/or culture. It’s the hometown of María Lucila Beltrán Ruiz (1932–1996), the acclaimed Mexican singer of Ranchera (popular Mexican genre) music, movie, and TV personality, best known for "Cucurrucucú Paloma."

There is a Museo dedicated to her. Just across from it, you will find Las Ruinas, what remains of the parochial temple that crumbled circa 1931 when Minas del Tajo started to mine a large silver belt they discovered right under it. The town’s faithful painstakingly transferred the beloved church, stone by stone, to this present site. A lagoon was created by flood waters from the 1935 Super Cyclone at the old entrance to the mine and near the former site of the temple. Today it’s a recreation area called Isla del Iguanero.

A visit to the Church of Our Lady of the Rosary, built from 1758 to 1771, will be a delight. See its elaborate baroque style and behold its intricately gilded altar. You will also enjoy taking souvenir photos at the colorful town sign, with the pair of huge golden wings, and the monument to Lola Beltran at her plaza!

Pro-Tip:  Have lunch at the House of Lola Beltran and do a quick trip to the Museum of Regional History of El Rosario, built in what was formerly the Municipal Prison.  You will find out that the town was one of the wealthiest in Mexico and that its mining industry led to the founding of the port of Mazatlan.

Stone Island

Technically, Stone Island is a small peninsula jutting off the southern part of Mazatlan, created in 1936 as an ejido, a communal land for cooperative farming. A road connects it to the airport road but we were told it is very bad. So we drove to the last stop of the Green Bus and boarded a panga from the Playa Sur Embarcadero for a short ferry ride.

The lack of irrigation systems ended the agricultural project so the townsfolk turned to fish. Soon they discovered that the island’s beaches were calmer and warmer because of its protected location.  Enterprising residents constructed ramadas and palapas, and today there are about 50 food establishments, four hotels, and about 8,000 residents.

As soon as we were let off from the panga, all forty of us were brought to the Playa Sur Ramada by a three-carriage contraption pulled by a tractor. My husband and I immediately rented an ATV. We were having a ball until our vehicle stopped dead in its tracks almost at the limits of where we were allowed to go. While waiting to be rescued, we marveled at the miles and miles of glorious beach running alongside a seemingly endless coconut grove, said to be one of the largest in the world.

Upon our return and after lunch, there were many things to do besides swimming and snorkeling: horseback riding, jet skis, banana boats, and kayaks, napping in hammocks, snacking on fresh oysters, shopping for local crafts like bags, jewelry, clothes, or colorful ceramic art, hiking the inner island or the coconut grove, playing volleyball or soccer, or having a massage. But at 2:30 pm a horn signaled the trip back home.

Pro-Tip: Don’t forget to play with the large iguanas. They are, they say, harmless.

La Noria

Last month we won two seats at the Tequila Tour that goes to the small town of La Noria, population 725, just 35 minutes away. On the way there, we stopped at a very small village called Puerto de Canoas where the fascinating Mexican dancing horses are housed, trained, and taken care of. They belong to the Azteca breed and have become mainstays of the Carnaval de Mazatlan.

This was followed by a trip to La Vinata de Los Osuna, the 130-year-old and only tequila and mescal distillery (with the largest blue agave plantation) in the state of Sinaloa. Its product is labeled “100% Blue Agave” because the term tequila is legally reserved for the nearby state of Jalisco where the plant grows best.

Our last stop was La Noria, a lovely colonial village founded in 1565. Some mines are still operating; but it is better known as home for many traditional crafts, most especially pottery-making and leatherwork, including saddles, sandals, and belts. A plazuela features the colorful town sign and the antique church of San Antonio.

Pro-Tip: If you want to bring home a bottle of “tequila,” take the Extra-Aged one. It is so smooth.

Durango

Of the many discounted tours offered by the resort, we chose to buy the tour to the city of Durango even though we had to wake up at daybreak and return long after sundown. The driving time to the mountain city, at an elevation of 6,168 feet, is two and a half hours. With a population of almost 600,000, it is the capital and the largest metropolis in the Mexican state of Durango.

The trip goes through the Carretera Interoceánica (Interoceanic Highway) that begins at Reynosa, just west of the Port of Brownsville, Texas, and ends near Mazatlán, connecting the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean. It shortens the time between Durango and Mazatlan by 6 hours, crossing the Sierra Madre Occidental through 63 tunnels and over 115 bridges. The Baluarte Bridge, a cable-stayed bridge stretching 3,688 feet with a span of 1,710 feet at the center, is the most spectacular. With the road at 1,322 feet above the valley below, it is the highest cable-stayed bridge in the world, the highest bridge in the Americas, and the third-highest bridge overall. It opened to traffic in 2013.

A hospital designed in 1899 was restored and transformed into the Bicentennial Convention Center, and a series of huge murals were created by 20 artists depicting moments in the history of Durango on its grounds.  At the entrance are two statues: one of Pancho Villa and the other—of John Wayne! He is their other folk hero who filmed many Western classics in two villages with dusty streets, teeming with cowboys, saloons, sheriffs, and dancers.

With close to one thousand historic buildings, in architectural styles ranging from neoclassical to Baroque to Gothic, Durango’s Old Historic District is like a huge open-air museum, earning the distinction of being a World Heritage Site of UNESCO. The Plaza de Armas at the center leads to the Catedral Basílica de Durango built from 1685 through 1787 in a blend of architectural styles and with many outstanding features, making it one of the most beautiful landmarks in northern Mexico.

But the highlight of our tour was the Pancho Villa Museum. The Museum gives an ample peek into the abandoned child born in Chihuahua, Mexico, who became a mountain bandit and then a revolutionary hero, robbing the rich to give to the poor. The Museum is housed in a magnificent 18th-century building which was the Government´s Palace in the mid-19th century.

Pro-Tip: If you have the time, ride the Telerifico, a cableway (one of only four in Mexico) that connects two hills, at a length of 750 meters and a height of 82, for a stunning view of the city’s mountainous terrain.

We have been treated to a variety of amazing experiences around Mazatlan and we have yet to visit five others. La Concordia, Copala, Cosala (another pueblo magico), and the villages of Chicayota and Barras de Piaxta. They will be the subject of a sequel to this article.

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