MAZATLAN · APRIL · SINALOA, MEXICO
April in Mazatlan runs to 82.4°F afternoons and 64.4°F nights, with 0.16 inches of rain across the whole month, according to Mexico’s national weather service. The Pacific off the bay sits near 73.5°F. For a beach-and-old-town vacation on Mexico’s Pacific coast, that is a generous set of numbers.
The date question comes down to a few of them. March runs 2.7 degrees cooler on afternoon highs (79.7°F), and May adds 3.6 degrees (86.0°F) plus a sea at 80.1°F. April lands between the two, with a Pacific still close to March’s 73.0°F. Three nights (est.) cover the old town, a hill and a boat crossing.
THE MONTH AT A GLANCE · MAZATLAN IN APRIL
Warm, nearly rainless days and a 73.5°F Pacific make April a good month for the old town, El Faro and the beach, once the U.S. State Department’s Level 4 rating for Sinaloa has been read and weighed.
APRIL · 82.4°F / 64.4°F · 0.16 IN OF RAIN · SEA 73.5°F
Go for: dry afternoons in the low 80s, a 73.5°F Pacific, a federally protected historic center and the walk up to El Faro, 157 meters above the sea.
Think twice before: booking without reading the Level 4 ‘Do not travel’ rating for Sinaloa, or expecting bathwater-warm sea (May’s 80.1°F is closer to that).
The sea barely moves into April (73.0°F in March, 73.5°F now) and then jumps to 80.1°F in May.
Climate: SMN (CONAGUA), station 25062, 1981-2010 · Sea: Open-Meteo Marine, 2015-2024 · Daylight: sunrise-sunset.org · full sources below
On this page
- Mazatlan weather in April82.4°F highs, 64.4°F lows and 0.16 inches of rain
- Can you swim in Mazatlan in April?Sea at 73.5°F, averaged from daily maxima
- How busy and how expensive is Mazatlan in April?The 3% Sinaloa lodging tax, flying into MZT and what we could not verify
- Things to do in Mazatlan in AprilEl Faro, the historic center, Isla de la Piedra and the three islands
- Mazatlan itinerary for AprilTwo days: old town and hill first, then the water
- Mazatlan in April vs March and MayHighs of 79.7, 82.4 and 86.0°F, sea from 73.0 to 80.1°F
- Is April a good time to visit Mazatlan?Who April suits, and when March or May fits better
Sinaloa, the state Mazatlan sits in, carries a Level 4 ‘Do not travel’ rating in the U.S. State Department’s Mexico travel advisory. We read it on September 29, 2026. Read the current text on travel.state.gov before you book, because advisories change and our reading has a date.
Mazatlan weather in April: average highs, lows and rain days
| April in Mazatlan | Normal |
|---|---|
| Average high | 82.4°F |
| Average low | 64.4°F |
| Precipitation | 0.16 inches |
| Days of measurable rain | 0.4 (SMN’s own count) |
| Sunrise / sunset, April 15 | about 5:42 a.m. / 6:28 p.m. |
The air figures here come from Mexico’s national weather service (SMN, part of CONAGUA), averaged over 1981-2010 at observatory station 25062, in Mazatlan’s historic center. That is an official station, not a grid-cell reanalysis. Zona Dorada and Cerritos beach, a few miles north, are not measured separately, and we can’t say how far the hotel strip departs from the old-town readings.
SMN counts 0.4 days of measurable rain in an average April. Most beach days need no weather backup at all. The station sheet does not publish SMN’s rain-day threshold, so don’t stack that 0.4 against U.S. rain-day counts, which use a different cutoff.
Afternoon to night, the swing is 18 degrees: 82.4°F down to 64.4°F. Shorts and swimwear cover the day. Add a light layer for evenings on the Malecon, the oceanfront promenade that links the historic center to the Zona Dorada hotel strip.
On April 15 the day lasts about 12 hours 45 minutes, per sunrise-sunset.org. Sunrise falls near 5:42 a.m. and sunset near 6:28 p.m. in Mazatlan time (converted from the source’s UTC times). That is room for a morning boat crossing and a long evening on the waterfront.
Can you swim in Mazatlan in April? Sea temperature
Open-Meteo’s marine data, averaged over 2015-2024, puts the sea surface off Mazatlan at 73.5°F in April. That figure is a mean of daily maxima, the warmest reading of each day, so a full 24-hour average would run a shade lower. It comes from the marine API, a different source and period than the air normals above.
At 73.5°F the water is 8.9 degrees below the 82.4°F afternoon air. Expect a refreshing swim rather than bathwater. Zona Dorada and Cerritos, the main hotel-strip beaches north of the historic center, are where most people put a towel down.
We read no wind, swell or beach-safety source for April, so we can’t say how the surf runs on a given day. Ask your hotel about flags and currents at the beach you pick.
How busy is Mazatlan in April? Crowds and prices
We found no occupancy series and no monthly hotel-rate series for Mazatlan, so we place April on no price ladder and call no month cheap or expensive. The climate at least locates it: highs of 82.4°F sit between March’s 79.7°F and May’s 86.0°F. We also verified no holiday or festival dates for April, so check school calendars before you lock in a week.
We have no booking-window data either, so no number of weeks appears here. What we can pin down is the way in: you fly into General Rafael Buelna International Airport (MZT), operated by Grupo Aeroportuario Centro Norte (OMA), southeast of downtown. Price flights to MZT and rooms together as soon as your dates are set.
Sinaloa sets its lodging tax (Impuesto Sobre Hospedaje) at 3% under Article 27 of the state’s Ley de Hacienda, and sources we read in September 2026 confirm the rate unchanged for 2026. We found no 2027 rate. We could not verify whether a hotel folds the tax into its quoted rate or adds it at checkout, so ask when you book.
Location is the one place where paying more changes the month. A beachfront room in the Zona Dorada or at Cerritos puts the sand at the door, while a room in the historic center puts the old town on foot. We have no rates for either, so we can’t say what the gap costs.
Things to do in Mazatlan in April
Dry air, a 73.5°F sea and 12 hours 45 minutes of daylight let a boat crossing, a hill walk and a beach afternoon share one day. Humpback whales are seen off the coast in winter, with whale-watching boats leaving the marina. We have no source on when that season ends, so ask the operator before counting on April.
The historic center is a federally protected zone, and the Angela Peralta Theater sits inside it. Up on Cerro del Creston, El Faro stands 157 meters above sea level. From a pier near El Faro, small pangas cross the harbor entrance to Isla de la Piedra, a few minutes each way. Farther out, Venados, Pajaros and Lobos form a federally protected natural area, reached only by boat. Informal sources disagreed on panga fares, and we found no verified fares or opening hours, so none appear.
The hill and the harbor crossing are the same in every month. What April changes is the air around them: 82.4°F on the walk up to 157 meters, against 79.7°F in March and 86.0°F in May.
Our sources carry no admission data, so we won’t label anything free by guesswork. The Malecon is an open oceanfront promenade between the historic center and the Zona Dorada, and we know of no charge to walk it, though we could not verify that.
Mazatlan itinerary for April
Day one is the old town and the hill (clock times est.). Start at 8:00 a.m. in the historic center and the Angela Peralta Theater, while the air is still closer to the 64.4°F average low than to the 82.4°F high. Climb Cerro del Creston to El Faro around 10:00. After lunch, take the Malecon from 5:30 p.m. and watch the light go at 6:28.
Day two is water. Cross to Isla de la Piedra by panga from the pier near El Faro for a beach morning, then spend the afternoon on the Zona Dorada or Cerritos sand. A full boat day to Venados, Pajaros or Lobos also fits here, though we have no trip lengths or prices. With 0.16 inches of rain for the month, a rain plan is rarely needed. If a shower does come, swap the days and spend the wet hours in the historic center.
Mazatlan in April vs March and May
| Measure | March | April | May |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average high | 79.7°F | 82.4°F | 86.0°F |
| Average low | 60.8°F | 64.4°F | 70.0°F |
| Precipitation | 0.13 in | 0.16 in | 0.05 in |
| Measurable rain days (SMN count) | 0.6 | 0.4 | 0.1 |
| Sea surface (daily maxima, Open-Meteo Marine) | 73.0°F | 73.5°F | 80.1°F |
Highs climb 2.7 degrees from March to April and 3.6 more into May. Lows climb faster: 3.6 degrees, then 5.6. Rain differs by hundredths of an inch (0.13, 0.16 and 0.05), and rain days drop from 0.6 to 0.4 to 0.1. Air figures come from the SMN station and the sea figures from the marine API, so the two sets cover different periods.
Sliding four weeks later gets you a sea 6.6 degrees warmer (80.1°F) and the driest of the three, at the price of 86.0°F afternoons and 70.0°F nights. Sliding earlier gets you cooler air (79.7°F highs, 60.8°F lows) and costs only half a degree of sea. Read our take on Mazatlan in March or Mazatlan in May before deciding.
Is April a good time to visit Mazatlan?
Yes, for anyone who wants 82.4°F afternoons, almost no rain and a swim that is refreshing at 73.5°F, over two or three nights of old town, hill and beach. No, for anyone set on warm-bath water. Every yes assumes the Level 4 rating for Sinaloa has been weighed first, since that decision comes before the month.
For warmer water, move to May: 80.1°F in the sea, with 86.0°F highs to match. For cooler nights, March brings 60.8°F lows. If neither fits your dates, our month-by-month destination picks cover other places to go.
Of the three months compared, April alone pairs 82.4°F afternoons with 64.4°F nights and 0.4 rain days, with the sea still near March’s level.
The last word
Read the advisory, pick your dates, then fly into MZT and give the old town its evening. The historic center has been a federal Zona de Monumentos Historicos since a decree published March 12, 2001, and the Angela Peralta Theater sits inside it. Sunset is at 6:28 p.m. on April 15, so be on the Malecon by 5:30.
Sources & data
- Air temperature, precipitation and rain days for March, April and May · Servicio Meteorologico Nacional (CONAGUA), normales climatologicas 1981-2010, station 25062 (Mazatlan Obs) · checked Sep 29, 2026
- Sea surface temperature, mean of daily maxima 2015-2024 · Open-Meteo Marine API · checked Sep 29, 2026
- Daylight, sunrise and sunset on April 15 · sunrise-sunset.org, converted to Mazatlan time · checked Sep 29, 2026
- Airport operator · OMA, oma.aero/mazatlan · checked Sep 29, 2026
- Lodging tax of 3% · Camara de Diputados, Gaceta Parlamentaria, Feb 13, 2024 (Article 27, Ley de Hacienda del Estado de Sinaloa), rate confirmed unchanged for 2026 by El Contribuyente and J.A. del Rio · checked Sep 29, 2026
- Travel advisory · U.S. Department of State, Mexico Travel Advisory, travel.state.gov · checked Sep 29, 2026
- Historic zone and Angela Peralta Theater · INAH, Catalogo Nacional de Monumentos Historicos Inmuebles · checked Sep 29, 2026
- El Faro height · Ayuntamiento de Mazatlan municipal tourism portal, read through search-result text · checked Sep 29, 2026
- Protected islands · SEMARNAT environmental filing · checked Sep 29, 2026 · we could not confirm the decree date, so we give none
- Boat fares, opening hours, admission prices, hotel rates, whale-season dates, wind and surf could not be verified and are left out · check operators when you book.