After an awesome day in Mexico exploring volcanic craters at La Reserva de la Biosfera El Pinacate y Gran Desierto de Altar with my sister, we headed into Puerto Peñasco to unwind and relax for the evening.
Before becoming such a popular tourist destination, Puerto Peñasco started as a small fishing village. It sits at the far nothern end of the Gulf of California and the Sea of Cortez in the Mexican State of Sonora. Because of its proximity to the United States, it quickly became a popular tourist destination for people from Phoenix and Tucson looking to escape the Arizona heat. Since the desert comes all the way down to the ocean, there is no shortage of outdoor activities to do both on the water and in the desert.
Go Tequila Tasting
After checking into our hotel, our first stop was at the Tequila Factory for some tequila tasting and to learn about the tequila making process. The tequila is not actually made at the Tequila Factory. Mexican law only allows 4 or 5 states to distill tequila and actually sell it as tequila. The other states must sell it as mezcal. Sonora is not one of those 4 or 5 states. The Tequila Factory makes their tequila in the highlands of the Jalisco near Guadalajara.
A Unique Aging Process
The tequila they sell at the Tequila Factory goes through a very unique aging process. Once it comes out of the distillery, it is placed into wooden barrels that have been soaked in vanilla. The wood absorbs that vanilla. If you’ve never had Mexican vanilla before, it’s absolutely incredible, you don’t know what you’re missing out on.
As the tequila ages in these barrels, the vanilla is pulled out of the wood and gets infused into the liquor. The tequila also takes on some very subtle overtones from the wood. The reposado is aged for three to six months in these barrels. The añejo is aged from one to five years. The Tequila Factory tequila is some of the best tequila I’ve ever had.
I lost count of the number of different tequilas we sampled. After sampling the three “traditional” tequilas (blanco, reposado, and añejo), we sampled several fruit-infused tequilas as well as some liqueurs. The samples I remember most were a citrus tequila served with fresh oranges and topped with sprinkled cinnamon, as well as a tiramisu made from the coffee and chocolate liqueurs. We bought a bottle of the tequila reposado and a bottle of the tequila añejo on the way out.
Go Shopping at El Malecón
From the Tequila Factory, we headed to El Malecón to take a walk, do some shopping, and have dinner. El Malecón means “the boardwalk” in Spanish, and it’s a centralized gathering place where people can relax and socialize. Puerto Peñasco hosts many festivals and celebrations there. You can find El Malecón in many Mexican beach towns. On lazy summer evenings like the night we were there, there were some children there playing while their parents socialized. It always has a very happy, friendly, and almost festive atmosphere to it.
Puerto Peñasco’s El Malecón sits where the original fishing village was. The boardwalk is about half a kilometer long and is easily walkable. Fish markets, shops, and restaurants line the waterfront. There is a large parking lot at the west end of the boardwalk where you can park for free.
Naturally, the first thing my sister sees is two brothers selling piña coladas out of a street cart. We got a couple of them and sat on the boardwalk looking out over the ocean and watched the world go by. They were really good drinks. The brothers made the piña coladas with fresh pineapple (no mixers!) that they cut right in front of us. It tasted so refreshing on a hot evening.
Indulge in Puerto Peñasco’s World-Famous Seafood
After finishing the drinks and browsing the street vendors, we were starting to get hungry for dinner. We went into one of the little restaurants right on the water. It was a warm evening, but it was starting to cool off. We sat outside since we had the whole outdoor seating area to ourselves. It was truly a Mexican seafood feast, with margaritas, guacamole, and shrimp tacos.
Many restaurants in Puerto Peñasco’s El Malecón split themselves into two parts. The upper floor is the restaurant and the bottom floor is a fish market. They quite literally back the boats right up to the restaurants to deliver the day’s catch, so the shrimp is as fresh as you could get. The boardwalk is not too shabby a spot to watch the sunset, either. The sunset cruises are probably the only better spot. After dinner, we stopped at the fish market to buy some shrimp to take home with us.
Relax on the Beach
The next morning, we had a tasty breakfast of eggs and chorizo. We took a nice walk on the beach before beginning the drive back to Phoenix. Unlike the rest of the Pacific Ocean, which is very cold, the water in the Sea of Cortez in the middle of the summer is very refreshing. We were there in mid-July, and the water temperature was around 80°F.
If you like seafood or are just looking for a relaxing beach getaway, it’s hard to wrong with Rocky Point. While it can sometimes get a little rowdy during Spring Break, any other time of the year you will be greeted with warm, open arms. You’ll return home recharged and refreshed.