Six Reasons to Retire in Mazatlan

There are a million reasons to retire in Mazatlan, but why not start with just six...

Close to Home
Mazatlan is the closest resort destination south of the border.  Driving time from Nogales, Arizona is only 12 hours on the four-lane highway, although leisurely motorists tend to stop overnight.  By bus it’s only 16 hours.  By air, it’s a scant 2 hours from Phoenix or Houston, 2 ½ hours from Los Angeles, less than 3 hours from Denver or Salt Lake City, the gateway cities that serve as hubs for further travel on Alaska Airlines, U.S. Airways, Continental, Delta, Frontier, Aeromexico and Mexicana – the airlines that serve Mazatlan.

Near Perfect Weather
Just 15 miles south of the Tropic of Cancer, Mazatlan is at the same latitude as Hawaii and the southern Bahamas.  Enjoy semi-tropical conditions with dry, moderate winters and warm, balmy summers.  The average annual temperature is 77º F.

A Lower Cost of Living
Retirees find that their pensions go one-third farther than back home.  You can still get a cart full of groceries for less than $50, and household help is affordable and readily available.  And when did you last pay $3.50 for a movie ticket? Mazatlan has an excellent transportation system with bus fares running as low as 70 cents, and taxis only charging $4 or $5 for most trips around town.  You don’t really need a car.

Reasonably Priced Health Care
Quality health care is accessible and reasonably priced.  For example, Mazatlan’s Sharp Hospital, modeled after its name-sake in San Diego, is up to big-city standards in the U.S. and Canada, and is where the Mexican Riviera Cruise Lines send their ailing employees.  Some doctors still make house calls! Local dentistry is professional and affordable.  Mazatlan’s retirees have access to high-quality treatment – hospitals, doctors and dentists – at a fraction of the cost of comparable care north of the border.

Best of Both Worlds
As a popular beach resort destination with a well-established tourism industry – the employees of Mazatlan’s hotels, restaurants, nightclubs, golf courses, and deep sea fishing charter companies – are accustomed to dealing with English-speaking customers.  With the 6,000 American and Canadian retirees already living in Mazatlan, groups have formed to socialize and establish volunteer community service groups.

Culture, Tradition and Substance
Mazatlan is a several hundred year old seaport city where people trace their ancestry back 4 or even 5 generations.  Mazatlecos are naturally warm and welcome strangers with a smile and a friendly “hola”.  They passionately embrace traditional cultural festivals, street parades and particularly Mazatlan’s pre-Lent Carnaval, the third largest Mardi Gras in the world.
The Angela Peralta Theater, faithfully restored to its 1860’s glory in 1992, anchored a renaissance to the surrounding neighborhood, a historic quarter full of neoclassical buildings.  Mazatlan is the only beach resort in Mexico with an opera house suitable for all the performing arts – symphony, chamber music, grand opera, ballet, jazz and rock – all of which take place during the course of the year.