Mexican Riviera with 4 year old and 19 month old

[kealoha96]

We are headed to Cabo, Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta with our 4 year old and 19 month old.

 

Suggestions for beach/pool activities? I think in PV we will do the Krystal - have heard that's a short walk and great for kids. Anything similar in Cabo? I like the idea of a hotel pool/amenities but not sure where to look for that in cabo.

 

Any ideas/suggestions are welcome!!

 

Thanks!

[sharktums]

If you're looking for something in Mazatlan there's a rustic beach area called Stone Island that my nearly three year old and other kids aged 2 - 10 in our party really liked. Got to take a boat, and a cool truck to get there, and they were selling all kinds of really cheap sand toys and kites and stuff that the kids loved. There are also places to eat and the water was warm and shallow even in January.

[Tggrtoes]

Ditto to Stone Island in Mazatlan. Lots of fun for young kids. Check the Mexican Riviera boards...

 

I don't remember there being anything like Krystal in Cabo, but I could be wrong. You'll probably get your best info on the ports board.

[lglancy]

The Krystal is fabulous! If you have the opportunity to book a massage there, it is wonderful! The pool is great, but there are no "kid" type areas, and the beach, at least at the time we were there in Sept. 2009, was very sloped, with brown water and pretty wild waves. We loved the resort, but did not enjoy beach time once we saw it. The pool and massage were worth the trip, though. We don't usually go for pools on cruises, since we can do a pool anywhere at home, but this one would be great for kids because there are bridges across the water that provide shade while you're in the pool, to help avoid sunburn.

 

Stone Island in Mazatlan is right up there with one of my very favorite things we've done. You can walk to the ferry station by taking a left out of the cruise terminal shopping area and walking down the sidewalk (past razor wire and broken glass...) to the ferry hut. Just walk until it dead ends, can't miss it. For $2 pp rt, the ferry takes you to the island. It looks pretty dirty and disappointing at first, but when the island opens up to the beach, wow! Walk down to Victor's restaurant, by the lifeguard stand, grab a chair and enjoy the beach, then have lunch with Victor. Delicious, and they will let you use the chair all day for free is you eat with them. Loved it! Nice blue water and mild waves for kids, but bring a sun hat for everyone and lots of sunscreen. The vendors do drive you crazy...

 

In Cabo we did a boat tour out to the arch. There are sea lions and pelicans that might be fun for the kids. There is a nice outdoor flea market down the pier. Seems like I remember some kind of aquarium on the pier too, maybe.

[MnAsMom]

In Cabo we ended up getting a glass bottom boat water taxi to go down and see the arch/rock formations/sea lions and dropped a few people off at Lovers Beach. Then he took us to Medano Beach. We go off and ended up sitting down at a table at The Office (lots of blue umbrellas). Ate good food (steak tacos) had some drinks. The kids played in the ocean. we ended up renting a couple of jet skis and took the kids out (ages 4 and 8) and they loved it. We left all our stuff at The Office (they said it was fine and we felt safe as they kept the vendors out etc). Our Water taxi guy came back at the time we specified and took us back to the tender pier (we stopped in at the little swap meet/market building got a couple of little things.... our 4 year old HAD to have the green guitar he saw earlier) and then got back on the ship!

 

In PV we ended up going up to Nuevo Vallarta and paid for a day pass at the Dreams up there. While it was very nice we won't do that long cab ride again. I think the Krystal or the Dreams south in PV would be the way to go! I've heard the massages at The Krystal are great. they have a promo on the site that says 2~ 75 min massages for 95 dollars cash!

http://milleniumspapv.com/index.php

 

In Mazatlan we went to El Cid El Morro in the Golden Zone. You can pay for an all inclusive pass or we just ended up giving them my hubby's ID and they gave us wrist bands to get towels and use the resort. we ended up buying food and drinks at the bar anyways. The pool is big. they have 2 waterslides ... one my 4 year old was thrilled with.. little short one and we caught him at the bottom. They have a large platform that is a waterfall... you can jump off of it into the pool (my 8 year old liked this). The beach out front was nice... lots of vendors but no biggie, just tell them no gracias... done!