We started our slow travel journey in Mexico, adding on to a vacation that was already planned for San Pancho, which is about a 15 minute taxi ride north of Sayulita. We stayed in a hotel in San Pancho for 5 days, and then journeyed by taxi to Sayulita where we spent 5 weeks in an Airbnb. To reach this area of Mexico you fly into Puerto Vallarta which is about an hour south of San Pancho. From there you have a few options. You can hire a private driver, take a taxi or an Uber, or take the bus. We arranged transportation through our hotel with a private driver and it cost $700 MXN or about $35 USD for a one way trip.

San Pancho

San Pancho, officially called San Francisco, is a small community with a year round population of around 3,000 people. There are a lot of expats here in the never ending search for the best beach and the fewest crowds. High end villas fill the hillsides and golf carts, the preferred method of transportation, line the streets. The “main street” is about 8 blocks long, and as you get closer to the beach it transitions from local tiendas and carnicerias to high end beach shops and restaurants.

We stayed at Marii Boutique Hotel, and we’d highly recommend it. It is less than 10 minutes to walk through town and to the beach and includes a delicious cooked to order breakfast each morning in the palapa. There’s a small pool that is great for cooling off in the afternoons. Rooms are simple with a king size bed and bathroom, with sliding doors that open to the pool area. There are only about 10 rooms in the property. They provide glass bottles of clean water that can be refilled as needed in the palapa. Service was excellent and the property has a spa like atmosphere.

We spent most of our days at the beach, of course! The walk through town is always entertaining with the local “wildlife” which means stray dogs and chickens.

There are a number of ways to enjoy the beach, and we tried them all! You can sit at a table and chairs at a restaurant and there will be no time limit or minimum order. If you chose a lounge chair at a restaurant, there is typically a minimum order of $300-$400 MXN ($15-$20 USD) per person and you can stay in the lounge chair however long you’d like. They’re in pairs with an umbrella in between. Further north on the beach you can find pairs of lounge chairs with an umbrella not associated with a restaurant. Those are typically $200-$300 MXN ($10-$15 USD). Or you can always lay your towel down for free! The food is traditional Mexican seafood. We enjoyed shrimp tacos, tostadas, ceviche, and of course Pacificos!

Like Sayulita, this is a surfing town and there are several options if you want to take lessons. We found the beach in San Pancho to be absolutely beautiful. Soft sand, clean, and long enough to find a quiet spot if you want it. We walked it each morning and soaked in the sun each afternoon! Of course being on the west coast of Mexico, the sunsets were also stunning.

Sayulita

After a blissful few days in San Pancho, we headed south to the much busier town of Sayulita. It was a short 10 minute taxi drive and cost $300 MXN ($15 USD). After being in a hotel room for a week, it was great to really unpack and spread out in our Airbnb, which was quite large for 2 people. We’d been to Sayulita about 15 years ago, when it was still a sleepy beach town, similar to San Pancho. My has it changed! Sayulita is now a bustling tourist destination. We found it to be a mix of families staying in large villas, hippy surfers, bachelor/bachelorette parties, and snow birds/expats. It is known as a bit of a party town these days, and we were happy that our Airbnb was about a 15 minute walk out of the main plaza and bar area in a quiet neighborhood. Like San Pancho, the primary form of transportation in Sayulita is golf cart and ATV. For Eric and I, who like to walk every day, we found it a little challenging to walk in Sayulita. There are not great sidewalks in most of the town and the streets are cobblestone and often wet. With the golf carts, ATVs, and motorcycles weaving in and out, its a bit chaotic!

The main plaza with golf cart and ATV parking only!

All the tourists mean lots of options for restaurants! We found our favorite taco bars (El Itacate and Tacos Tal Ivan), pizza (Tratoria Toscana), and sports bars (Public House and Sayulita Sports Garden). Tacos are cheap, we could have 4-6 tacos total for under $200 MXN ($10USD). Sit down restaurants averaged $200-300 MXN ($10-$15) for things like pizza or pasta. Our true measuring stick for prices was Pacifico, which we found ranged from $40-$80 MXN ($2-$4 USD) depending on the location.

Our biggest challenge in Sayulita though was groceries. For a town this size, we were surprised that there were no traditional super markets. There are tiendas (small markets) and fruit and vegetable markets on every street where we could find our basics like yogurt, avocados, tomatoes, onions, jalepenos and eggs. But finding fresh protein for dinners was a challenge for us. Finally two weeks into our trip we decided to take a taxi to Bucerias, a town on the outskirts of Puerto Vallarta, where we went to a massive supermarket and stocked up for two weeks! We were very happy to find good chicken, fish, and shrimp.

We didn’t like the main beach, Playa Sayulita, nearly as much as San Pancho. It was quite crowded, and we felt that the main part of the beach was a lot dirtier than San Pancho. The Sayulita River empties into the ocean on the north side of Playa Sayulita, and it didn’t feel the cleanest. That, and with reports of people contracting Norovirus after swimming on the main beach, we decided to stay out of the water. To find a quieter stretch of beach, we typically headed up to the north end of the beach where there were fewer restaurants and vendors. We’d find a quiet stretch of sand, spread out our towels, and listen to the waves for a few hours. Then we’d head back to the pool in our Airbnb to cool off!

We also went on several hikes during our time in Sayulita and found some beautiful stretches of sand! We booked a guided hike through Airbnb experiences, which took us north through the jungle and to some very secluded beaches. We also walked south of town to Playa Carricitos beach and to Playa Los Muertos. Playa Los Muertos is right outside of the local cemetery which we found to be very interesting!

We had mixed feelings about our Airbnb in Sayulita. This part of Mexico is hilly! And while we liked being a bit out of the hustle and bustle of the city center, the hills to get to our airbnb were no joke in 92 degrees and 95% humidity! The airbnb was very spacious, with a large kitchen, a large dining room table for us to work from, a big living room, and a large bedroom with a king size bed. We had 1.5 bathrooms also which was great. That said, no air conditioning in the main living areas was tough, and we found ourselves locked in the bedroom with the A/C turned on by 6:00pm each night to cool off. Surprisingly for being on the top floor we didn’t get much breeze. The pool was fantastic. But while there were screens on the windows, there were a lot of holes, which meant a lot of bugs and criters got in. We were constantly on ant patrol in the kitchen, and on the look out for the geckos in the bedroom! And the curse of airbnbs struck us with terrible pots and pans. In all, we’d probably rate it a 7 out of 10.

After 5 weeks in Sayulita we were definitely ready to move on to a bigger city and better access to walking and groceries. We were also ready to see the kids who would be joining us in Puerto Vallarta for Christmas!

So would we go back? That’s the question we’re asking ourselves after every location.

San Pancho: We’d would return for a vacation and would recommend it for a 5-7 day romantic getaway. And we’d absolutely recommend Hotel Marii. Beautiful beaches and a unique Mexican experience if you’re looking for an alternative to an all-inclusive resort. Fairly easy to get to from the US and within a reasonable budget for food and drinks.
Sayulita: We probably wouldn’t return here as nomads and aren’t sure we’d recommend if for a month long stay. Lodging is not budget, as taxes here are high on Airbnbs, and food in restaurants, other than taco stands, isn’t budget either. But, we’d absolutely recommend it for a group of 6-8 friends who want to rent a house for a week, ride around in a golf cart, and who are looking for restaurants, nightlife, and a smaller Mexican beach town.

What do you think? Would you book a vacation in San Pancho or Sayulita Mexico?

San Pancho and Sayulita Mexico

San Pancho

Sayulita

Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

Saying goodbye