Rosarito a magnet for Holiday tourists

ROSARITO BEACH, Mexico, Dec. 7 /U.S. Newswire/ -- This seaside city a scenic 20 miles south of the border has a festive yet relaxed atmosphere that attracts tourists during the winter holiday season.

With summer throngs gone, couples leisurely wander along Benito Juarez, searching through shops full of silver jewelry, fine leather, crafts, paintings and metal sculptures.

Many seek unique Christmas gifts, away from mall crowds and in a place where their dollars go much further.

In the lobby of the grand and historic Hotel Rosarito, a couple and their young child stare in wonder at a miniature nativity scene that fills nearly a fourth of the lobby.

Visitors are being pampered in the area's world-class spas, including those at the Hotel Rosarito and Las Rocas. Some are having the tensions of 2005 massaged away as they prepare to celebrate 2006.

Holiday reminders are most everywhere: a large tree in front at the Festival Plaza hotel; Christmas carols, in English and Spanish fill the air. Mariachis rehearse "Feliz Navidad."

Restaurants --- seafood, Mexican, even French and Italian --- are quieter but still busy. It is, after all, lobster season. A group of vacationing teachers eats at one.

The famed Puerto Nuevo lobster village is a few miles south, not far beyond Fox Studios, where people tour sets from "Titanic" and "Master and Commander."

This lovely lower-key atmosphere is featured in the government's $200,000 "Relax . . . Celebrate The Holidays In Rosarito" campaign, an annual promotion started this year.

Many hotels are offering even lower than normal off-season rates as part of the promotion.

As that campaign points out, there is more to Rosarito Beach during the holiday season than the relaxed atmosphere, stunning beauty and a still wondrous climate.

Horses stand by the roadside, almost asking (in Spanish of course) to be ridden. Several hotels offer stunning golf courses, camp sites are plentiful, the surf's up and fishing excursions abound.

Then there is the lure of spending New Year's in another country, one so close yet with a magically different atmosphere: "Prospero Ano Nuevo!"

The area's many hotels offer New Year's packages starting from $149 at the Festival Plaza, $295 at the Hotel Rosarito and $409 at Las Rocas. Dollars buy more with any of them.

Since Hurricane Wilma hit Mexico’s shores back in October resort cities have been recovering from the damage to make sure the winter travel season can go ahead. With the re-launching of the cruise port of Cozumel, and the reopening of hotel rooms in Cancun and the Mayan Riviera post-Wilma recovery has more than begun.

Now that electricity, drinking water, drainage and phone service now completely restored in Cancun, the city is working on giving the famous hotel strip a facelift. About 5000 rooms in Cancun and 13,700 in the Riviera Maya will be available by mid November and are expected to increase to 12,000 and 17,400 respectively by the middle of December.