My wife and I have known the Bahia for years. My wife remembers when it was $25 for a five bed suite, back in the early 70s! The place is old but appears to have been recently renovated, and depending on what you are looking for could really be a nice value.
The hotel is on Blvd Mateos, which is the main drag through town, There are lots of clubs nearby, and the bar has a VERY loud karaoke which starts at around 9 pm, and continues to 2 am. When I say loud... I mean, you can hear it in every room of the place, especially near the pool area where our room was located. My wife and I were fine with the sliding glass doors closed & the A/C running, but it would have been awful if were looking for real peace & quiet (NOTE: our stay was a weekend, and it likely would be much quieter on a Sunday-Thurday night stay).
The pool area - where our room was located - was clean, and the pool itself very comfortable, heated and clear. I do not usually swim at hotel pools, but here it was fine. The hotel rooms were also clean comfortable, but the bed matress was extremely hard, and of course the pillows, like all of Mexico, were about 2 inches thick - Almost like airline pillows. Toiletries were bare minimum... tear-open packages of shampoo, no conditioner, no hair dryer. Bring your own toiletry bag and pillows!!
Still, given the location close to shops and restaurants, the party atmosphere (if you like this sort of thing), the nice bar, secured parking, and the price - I would definitely stay again! Lots to see and do here! Desk staff very courteous. It felt very secure, and in fact the entire downtown Ensenada area felt incredibly safe... no beggars, no "riff -raff" to speak of, police presence was observed, but appreciated and not hostile at all towards visitors. During the day you will share the town with cruise ship passengers (Royal Carribean & Carnival have ships in port 4 or 5 days each week), and at night the town draws locals and families, which was kinda fun experience!
But remember, this is Mexico, and is primarily a party-place, at least in this part of town.
- Bahia Hotel Ensenada
