Located in the northern state of Sinaloa, Mazatlan is that uncommon Mexican beach town that wasn’t originally designed to be a tourist destination. Founded in the 16th Century, the city still preserves some of its first buildings offering that attractive combination of the typical colonial town, with a paradise-like resort town.

This place has found the right balance between the modernity of world class hotels, and the traditions and folklore of Mexican culture. Here, the city has its own pulse, it’s not just an extension of the hotel zone and the tourist activities. Actually, you will find a vibrant cultural life in Mazatlan that runs all year round.

The Angela Peralta Theater is considered the center of that cultural scene, as it is an historic building from the 19th Century. A beautiful piece of architecture, the theater originally called “Teatro Rubio” became a cinema during the decade of the 1920s and later on even hosted box fights. These events deteriorated the iconic theater leading to its closure, before it was finally renovated and re-inaugurated in the 1990s under its new name.

The cultural lanscape of Mazatlan spins around two main festivals: the Spring Cultural Festival that runs from February to June, and the Mazatlan Cultural Festival from Oxtober to December. Both festivals include feature music, dance, opera and more events, at different venues but with the Angela Peralta Theater at the center of them all.

But make no mistake, this is not only a cultural town. Mazatlan is first and foremost a spectacular beach town of the Mexican Pacific coastline. It’s filled with fun activities like its world famous Aquarium, its five golf courses, the buzzing Golden Zone with its wide array of restaurants, bars and nightclubs by the beach that make for an extraordinary nightlife.

Mazatlan has over 11 miles of pristine beaches that have attracted visitors from all over the world in the last few decades. Its warm weather all year long has also become a reason for many expats from the U.S. and Canada to make of Mazatlan their retirement town.

We haven’t even started talking about the diversity of historic mining towns in the nearby area, or discussing the archaeological site of Las Labradas which holds an Equinox Festival every March, or even the most famous event in Mazatlan: its legendary Carnival.

But that is material for a future post.