Slow Baja - Travel Talk With Slow Baja Hotel Seven Crown La Paz Malecon

Episode Date: July 10, 2023

The Hotel Seven Crown is an laid-back boutique hotel beautifully located on the famous La Paz Malecon. With clean architectural lines and updated rooms, some featuring spectacular bay views. A stay at the Seven Crown puts you in the heart of the lively La Paz waterfront. We arrived as one of the many Fiestas celebrating the 488th Anniversary of La Paz was underway. With scores of street closures, Ted had to do some seat-of-the-pants-navigating to get us to the hotel. A security guard jockeyed some cars to accommodate our open FJ40 inside the secure garage. We dropped our bags and took in the carnival-like fiesta --wandering past games of chance and vendors hawking food that would be at home at any state fair, we reveled at being the only gringoes in attendance. Singer Eugenia León was on the main stage, and we listened for a few songs before our hunger had us moving on to dinner at HarkerBoard Companies' roof-top restaurant. For this Travel Talk conversation, I spoke with Faine Lara. Faine is the Community Manager of the family-owned hotel. We sat down in El Aura, their fifth-floor restaurant and meeting space. The airy terrace dining room has a friendly vibe and unobstructed waterfront views. Enjoy this relaxed conversation and consider a stay at the Hotel Seven Crown La Paz Malecon.

Hey, this is Michael Emery. Thanks for tuning into the Slow Baja. This podcast is powered by Tequila Fortaleza, handmade in small batches, and hands down, my favorite tequila. Have you asked your doctor if Baja is right for you? Do you have a prescription that you're itching to get filled? Well, Slow Baja has the answer.

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in the Baja 500. Next up, October 15th through the 20th, I am so excited to announce the Slow Baja Vintage Expedition. This first of its kind, vintage off-road gathering is for vehicles 1993 and older and bikes 1980 and older. I'm not going to tell you any more about the bikes because I've teamed up with Adam Sheard at Speed Deluxe

and the bike side is already sold out. So you can't come on a bike. You've got to come on a four-wheel vehicle. It does not need to be. four-wheel drive. If you've got a Manx buggy, if you've got a Baja bug, you've got a VW thing, if you've got a safari-style 9-11, I think you can make it, and if you can't, we're going to have somebody nearby to help you through the hard parts. It's for 1993 and older vehicles, and I'm probably going to let a few newer rigs in

if they look like a 1993. So all of you 80-ser guys, you're in. All of you Land Rover defender owners, well, no, he's probably bringing a Land Rover defender to Baja anymore. If you got a Land Rover defender, you're in. Land Rover Discovery, you're in. Land Rover Classic, Rangeover Classic, short wheel base, long wheel base, you're in. G-waggons, the older the better, but let me know what you want to bring. We've got five days of great dirt drives, lunch stops at my favorite taco stands, and when we get back to camp at night, it's cold craft beer and chef-prepared meals. We're going to watch the sunset. We're going to watch the sky go dark. There's going to be about a billion stars. We're

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Slowbaha.com slash adventures for the Slowbaha rally. Yes, we're good. It's Slow Baja. Yes. And we have a travel talk. And I'm here with Fainé Lara. And we're at the beautiful Seven Crowns Hotel on the Malikon in La Paz, beautiful beautiful La Paz. And we are outdoors,

floor balcony. You've got some street noise. You've got some restaurant noise in the background. There's a beautiful bar here and restaurant. And folks are having their breakfast. It's 9.30 in the morning on a beautiful weekend. There's a big fiesta last night. And I'm just excited to be here and tell people about this beautiful spot. So can you just tell me a little bit of the history of this beautiful hotel and a little bit about La Paz and what was happening and the history of this amazing place? Thank you. So this is a second hotel. We have another one in Cabos and Lucas. This was the second location and it has probably around 20 years. It was, I have to say it was from my grandfather's. He did this hotel a few years ago and now it's a family business. We're making some changes. We love this place. The restaurant actually where we are right now, it's probably two years old. There was a renovation of a place. We're making some changes. We love this place. The restaurant actually where we are right now, it's probably two years old. There was a renovation of. a few years ago.

And we didn't have this view before. And now I think it's a beautiful view. Our guests love it. I think it's one of the best things about the hotel. Yeah, absolutely. It's right here on the bay. It's stunning. You've got all the sailboats at anchor.

Some fishing boats are going out. Beautiful Hatteras is going by about a 50-footer. You've got the dock where you take your tour if you're going to go swim with the whale sharks. Yes. And it's all right here. right in front our our guests usually just cross the street and they're usually the boats to take to go to the island to Spirit to Santo also the whale shark

season it's not yet anymore but also for that it's a great place to take a tour yeah it's a it's a fabulous location you're in the heart of it all Ted and I left we got in late last night we left our car in the garage thank you to your your bellman he he he moved moved one car out, his car, I think. Somebody's car on the staff to put our car in. And we just walked down and took in the fiesta and then had a nice dinner at Coyote. Is it El Coyote?

In Harker there, they have the tram that goes back and forth across the alley where they send the food and the drinks from one to the other. Oh, really? At Harker, yeah. Oh, Harker, yes. Did they do that? Actually, yes? They have like a big cart that's suspended in the air and they wheel the food and the drink from one restaurant to the I think the kitchen and bars in one and the seating is in the other.

So it's very fun. Yes. But what I'm getting to is you're right here in the heart. Yes. And this is a beautiful hotel, nice, nice room. And tell me about a little bit about the history and your family and how this place came together. So actually my grandfather was from Rosalia.

He spent many years there in Rosalia. He says it was his best time of his life. And then I think because of business, he has... to move to La Paz a few years later and then his father was the owner of some property properties. Yes. And he got some and he was I think he was a businessman and he had this vision for La Paz so he thought someday he was not into hospitality but he thought someday this was going to be worth it and I think he he had a good idea. He had a good vision. Yes he had a good

vision for sure. For sure. Yes. So let's get into some details. How many rooms? It's almost 60. Almost 60. Yes.

We usually keep two, we don't sell two rooms just in case something happens. We have to make sure we keep two rooms in case we need to move another guest from another. In case, Slow Baja comes along. Exactly. Begging for rooms. Yeah. No, thank you. There was a big fiesta on, as I said, four times already.

What about the noise? Was it good last night? I think, you know, it's part of. being in a city. Yes. You know, it's part of being in the city. We're not in the country here. There's excitement going on. Can you tell me about what we experienced last night? It was a huge anniversary of La Paz. Is that what I have? Do I have that right? Yes, that's right. Every year, there's a celebration for the anniversary of La Paz. And this weekend was the celebration. There was also a famous singer, Rayleigh, who came to La Paz also. They actually, there was an event on

Friday right in front of us. I mean, people are not looking, but there's a place called El Mogote, pretty famous here in La Paz. And there was a big local event. The singer came. It's nice to have those types of events because I think we have a beautiful place

and having people come from another place to promote and having something to do on the weekend, something exciting. Every time I think the tourism, it's having more type of events like this and it's it's fun it's good for us also for i mean the whole hotels and hospitality industry that's nice yeah you know my experience in coming to la pauses is usually around an event so usually a car uh off-road racing event and so the times i've been to la paise recently the town has been you know taken over to some degree the malacone anyways has been

taken over to some degree with the uh baha 1,000 Nora 1000, what have you. Last night, we were the only gringoes walking around, Ted and I. And that's what I really love about La Paz. It is a very Mexican for Mexican city. And everything is here. Whatever you need. You've got this beautiful Malaccon, which we've mentioned.

You've got incredible richness of sea life and being able to take a tour, swim with the whale sharks, see the sea lions. and take a walk here. This is an interesting place. Maybe you can help me what's happening here. This is almost the only place that I see in Mexico where the local people are walking their dogs on a leash. They're in their exercise gear. They're running up and down the malacone.

It's a very different spot. You see some of that in Ensenada. I don't spend enough time in Tijuana to be able to say. What can you tell me? about the spirit here in La Paz and the people. That's interesting. That's interesting. I've wondered the same because maybe in Calv there's a lot more people.

Here we are having more people, but you don't seem that crowded yet. It's pretty quiet, pretty local. Still, you have a lot of tourism, but just keeps being quiet and calm, and you can do that. You can go for a run. The locals, you can meet people at some restaurants, sometimes. that's interesting. I don't know what would happen, I mean, in the future, because at the end of the day, there's a lot of things growing, rooftops are opening, restaurants are opening, so who knows what's going to happen. But hopefully we kind of keep the same vibe. Yeah, the vibe and the charm.

Yes. The vibe and the charm is strong here in La Paz, for sure, the vibe and the charm. getting back to this beautiful space that we're in your rooftop restaurant bar overlooking the incredible beauty of the harbor here I know it gets hot yes so please tell me what is the high season here what is the low season and what should people plan for when they're coming to stay here or come to visit La Paz okay so September I do not recommend because of hurricanes we have hurricane season so usually can be tricky I mean not every year there's a hurricane but usually people do not want to take that risk November December January

February beautiful months if you like cold weather I think it's nice then it's changing spring break it's also nice a little bit more warm and then from July it starts to get warm if you like hot weather come from July August It's pretty hot, but some people do like, they prefer to spend a day on the boat with the sun, right, on them. So it depends what you like. This season, we had many Canadians. I was pretty surprised. On our cold weather, of course, they come from.

Yes. Snowbirds. Yes. Snowbirds. Yes. They need to get away. Yes. But I was amazed.

There were many Canadians. I was pretty surprised. They spend a lot of time here. Well, it's a nice place to spend some time, that's for sure. And it's pretty interesting because many of them, they were looking also for a place to live, which it's also, I don't know, it says something, right? We'll see how that, if we're going to have more Canadians in the future, that's interesting, I think. They're very nice people.

Yes, yes, they are. They are. Well, tell me a few things. I won't keep you for the entire morning. Tell me a few of your favorites. So obviously, people are going to come and stay in this beautiful hotel. You've got, you know, access to everything within walking distance. Tell me a little bit about the places you're going to go out.

Yes. We love Toros Santos. Anytime we have visits, we go to Toros Santos. We like going for a place to eat there. And tell my listeners, the Slow Barra community, about how far of a drive is that? Of course. It's around 45 minutes to one hour, depends. It's not that far. We usually recommend our guests if they can to rent a car so they can move around the beaches here in La Paz and also go to Toros Santos. It's a nice place to go. It's still pretty small. It's not that big.

It's just if you want to spend a few hours in some place different, take a road. I think that's nice to be with your friends. get your car and put some music on and go to Dos Santos, have a nice meal and then come back to La Paz. It's a good thing to do. I think in that aspect, there are many places that are we're getting here in La Paz around, not exactly in the city, but around the area. So people like to, because at the end of the day, it's a small city. So sometimes it's going to the beach or what else do we do right?

So it's nice to take a car and go to a place to eat and enjoy the road, right? Because in the cities, you cannot do that. But here... There's some traffic here. Exactly. You can do that and just enjoy the desert or the ocean view. Well, Ted and I, our last stop last night was El Triumpho, which is just a charming little town. We really love it.

But some interesting things are going on there because, you know, it's the old silver mining place. in a lot of the beautiful old colonial buildings. It's only one street, two streets, something, you know, it's very small. But some things, you can see the investments, some things have gone on there. Very nice little bakery. And I'll shout out, Consuelo at La Pasadita. She's, I think, my favorite cook, restaurant owner in all of Baja. She has such a beautiful smile and welcomes us warmly, in El Triumpho, right across from the church.

Shout out. That's right. Stop in, folks. If you're in El Triunfo, stop in and see Consuelo and tell her that Slow Baja sent you. She calls me Signor Robusto. But anyways, enough. What I'm getting to is there, there's a lot to do in La Paz. And as somebody who's doing great driving adventures, whatever you need here, you can find if you need to have your car fixed in any way, new car dealers, big box stores, all sorts of repair, great seafood. beautiful location. Yes, it's very hot in the summer, but that also coincides with some very good fishing. Yes. So some people come in July and August because the fishing is very good. Yes. Well, let's wrap it up. You have, I think, the most Instagrammed beach and all of Baja just down the way. Yes. Do you want to talk a little bit about that natural beauty here? Valandra, beautiful place. It gets pretty crowded. So take that into account when you come visit La Paz.

they usually have a capacity on high season but it's a beautiful place next to it is tecolote it's also worth it but the view in my opinion Balandra gets the best one beautiful place and you can also do hiking I don't know if you've done it before if you know about it

it's like 25 minute walk and then 25 minutes going down back beautiful thing to do either on the morning or at the sunset it, it's worth it. It's good to do that. It's a nice place to do it. Well, we're going to end it there on the view because the view here is pretty nice, folks. So I'm going to say Slow Baja approved the seven crowns in the heart of La Paz at the pier, the tourboat pier right there in front of the Malacone. And what's the best way for people to find out about this hotel? Tell me about

your social media, websites, all that. So we are Instagram, Facebook. You can find us on Google, also booking and find us at Hotel 7 Crown. We have one location in Cabos and Lucas and we have two locations here in La Paz. We have one on the boardwalk and we have another one at downtown. Downtown, it's a little bit more familiar, I think. If you like a little bit more the ocean view, you can do molycon if you like restaurants. Downtown, it's a good place. And if you want pool, we have a pool over there.

So each hotel has its own thing, right? Beautiful both. And thank you, Slow Baja for coming. We appreciate and we love that you do this with La Baja. It's so nice. We're trying to keep Baja slow. Yes, keep it that way, please. All right.

Well, thank you, Feina. It's really a lovely morning here. Nice to meet you. Nice to stay in this beautiful property. I hope we get to stay downtown next. time because we do love restaurants and we do love to see more. Yes. And I think again that there's an awful lot happening here. So seven crowns. Check it out. Slow Baja approved. And we're going to get on the road to see Sal Fish and then on to Loretto. So thanks Faini for making some time and telling us about

this beautiful property. Thank you. Thank you. We did it. Great. Easy. You're still smiling. Easy yes. Easy yes. Here at Slow Baja, we can't wait to drive our old land cruiser south of the border. And when we go, we'll be going with Baja Bound Insurance. Their website's fast and easy to use. Check them out at Bajaubound.com. That's Bajaubound.com, serving Mexico travelers since 1994. Big thanks to my new sponsor Nomad Wheels. They stepped up and sponsored the Slow Baja Safari class at the Nora Mexican 1000, and I don't know if you've seen the pictures, but Slow Baja is running a set of 501 convoys in utility gray,

and they look pretty damn sharp. They were a little shiny. I will admit that they were a little shiny when I got them installed at Basil's Garage just before the Noramexican 1000, but after, I don't know, 3,800 miles from Baja dirt, they look perfect. They really do. Nomadwheels.com. That's right. Check them out reflecting a minimalist approach to off-road travel. Nomadwheels.com. You know, I'm a minimalist when it comes to Baja travel, but the one thing I don't leave home without is a good old paper map. My favorite is the beautiful, and I mean beautiful, Baja Road and Recreation Atlas by Benchmark Maps. It's an oversized 72-page book. It's jammed with details.

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