Hotel Emporio Mazatlán

At first glance, it doesn't look like much. It's one of the many hotels in the Golden Zone of Mazatlán (the touristy "hotel district" of the city.)

I choose it for our weekend getaway with the kids because of their affordable rate on Hotel Tonight  and because of their fun looking pools and beach access.

Unfortunately shortly after we arrived, Kenton took a nasty spill that ended up requiring 3 stitches at the local Red Cross. Within minutes of the fall, one of the hotel lifeguards was on scene with first aid to assess the situation and bandage the wound. 

Numerous other hotel staff gathered around to offer assistance and help translate for us, including the hotel security manager, who provided us use of hotel transportation to take us to the hospital, wait for us while they stitched Kenton up, and bring us back to the hotel. 

(My youngest is fine, by the way. The Red Cross took excellent care of him and he's happily recuperating at home now.)

The hotel did have a few quirks. For example, the cost to rent a room directly upon arrival was around 1700 pesos, but to book online it was around 1200 pesos. Instead of honoring the online rate at the front desk (which seems like it would produce more income for the establishment) they recommended that I go online to get the reduced rate - and then wait about 20 minutes at the front desk for them to receive the confirmation from the booking mediary. 

However, overall (and despite the injury) our stay at Hotel Emporio was relaxing and fun and we would definitely come back and stay again.

Besides the fun kids pool, they had plenty of lounge chairs, hammocks and palapas to relax in poolside, as well as a nice beach area if sand and ocean breezes are more your thing.

And their food was delicious! I ordered ceviche Saturday night, which they gladly brought to our room so I could enjoy it while the kids wound down with some good old Spanish television. 

And Sunday morning they had the most amazing breakfast buffet. It was seriously the bomb-diggity, complete with traditional Mexican food, waffles with sprinkles, and mimosas  🥂 (a relatively difficult find here in Mazatlán.)

Total cost for all 5 of us to eat all we could stuff in our tummys (with an unbeatable view and unlimited beverage refills) about $36 US. 

And to make breakfast even more fun, there was a 9:00am beach wedding that took place right in front of us while we enjoyed our food and drinks.

If you are looking for a place to have a small destination beach wedding, this place would truly be amazing. I'll be getting pricing details and posting all the info over on the Be Photography Travels blog .. so stay tuned!

Thanks to everyone that prayed for Kenton and our family this weekend. Have a blessed week!