El Cid Marina Beach Hotel and Yacht Club is located at the entrance of Mazatlan’s marina. It is an exclusive 720-acre, luxurious nirvana by the sea comprising a row of low-rise, colorful Mediterranean-style buildings enveloping the marina. The ambience is village-peaceful, with a small "mercado", swimwear boutique, playground for small children, small clinic with a medical doctor in attendance some days, and its own harbor master.
The resort has 210 rooms, and all have balconies with fantastic vistas of the ocean and 100-slip marina. There are pathways circling the resort and lush gardens emitting the sweet smell of jasmine. The staff is very accommodating and obliging. The location is perfect if you have no need to be in the midst of Zona Dorada. It is only a few minutes' ride by the resort's shuttle van, or catch the open-air "pulmonia".
Our accommodation: a two-bedroom suite on the second floor--really a huge one-bedroom suite and a connecting studio. Our walls were painted white, with white marble floors throughout and furniture covered with azure-blue fabric, making the atmosphere both soothing and relaxing. The one-bedroom suite has king bed in the bedroom, sleeper sofa in living room, full kitchen with gadgets, pots and pans, silverware, and china, and a bathroom with a huge shower, lined with colorful Mexican tiles. The connecting studio unit has a kitchenette, wetbar, and two double beds. Both rooms are comfortably furnished, with lots of closet space, armoires, in-room safe, several televisions, alarm clocks, radio, telephone, cable TV, and writing desks. Separating the two was a whitewashed stairwell leading outside. We had three balconies to enjoy breathtakingly beautiful sunsets. Our units also overlooked two swimming pools, complete with caverns, waterfalls, trickling pools, and a swim-up bar.
For those wanting to swim in the ocean, the resort has a fabulous, private white-sand beach just across the Marina, two minutes by a shuttle launch that's continuously available the whole day. El Cid Marina offered a fantastic selection of sports and recreational activities, with professional instructors for those yearning for brush-up lessons in golf, tennis, sailing, fishing, or kayaking.
There is a restaurant at the resort (La Marina Bar) with a panoramic view and a wonderful open-air atmosphere; however, the food was very disappointing. Breakfast was okay, and dinner was less than mediocre. During our visit, my son’s spaghetti was very soupy and very salty, my husband’s filet mignon was bordering leather consistency, and my snapper was not fresh as it should be. We complained, and our server tried very hard to please, but the food remained third-rate. The resort was in need of a better chef. However, daily lunches by the pool were fantastic--grilled chicken, beef, and hamburgesa prepared to your liking, complete with a buffet of daily prepared very delicious soups, fruits, salad, salsa, and other condiments. For dinners, skip La Marina Bar, since Mazatlan offers many choices of better comida only minutes away.