Sayulita is a small town in Mexico at the southern end of the state of Nayarit along the Pacific Ocean. It has a population of approximately 5,000 inhabitants and serves as a beautiful tourist destination most of the year. Enjoy my photographic journey along with preparation and travel tips from my own experiences and an excellent resource on Facebook.
Why visit Sayulita?
Sayulita is the perfect, little paradise for anyone who enjoys sun, sand, art, music, shopping, and delicious Mexican food. If that isn’t enough of a draw, you can plan your trip around everything from jungle hikes, whale watching cruises, snorkeling, and fishing trips to zip lining, sailing and surfing lessons, and excursions to hidden islands and other nearby beaches. Whether you are the adventurous type or just want to read a book in a hammock and listen to the waves, you will find yourself in the type of heaven your mind can return to on your most stressful days.
My adventures include nearly a week in Sayulita, a day trip to San Pancho, a whale watching and snorkeling trip to the Marietas Islands with Chica Locca Tours, exploring the beaches of Sayulita, Los Muertos, and Carricitos on foot, then an additional two night stay in Puerto Vallarta before flying back home to Kansas. This trip was partly an expansion of my photography business into travel and destination photography. It was also a vacation for myself, my daughter who turned 13 while in Sayulita, and a good friend who I cannot thank enough for taking leading on the planning and keeping track of expenses.
What will I need for my trip?
When planning your trip to Sayulita, start with a passport and plane tickets into Puerto Vallarta. Flying into Puerto Vallarta, you might not need to worry too much about getting stopped in customs, but expect the return home (especially to the United States) to hold you to every rule. I found out the hard way that even if you purchase something from the duty free shops in the Puerto Vallarta airport, if they aren’t packaged properly, they will be subject to the 3.4oz (100mm) liquid rule for checked bags.
Sayulita is about a one hour drive from the Puerto Vallarta airport. We took the public bus, which was a crowded, long, and bumpy ride for only 60 pesos each. For the bus, turn left as you exit the airport. Take another left at the corner and you will see the overpass bridge. Go over the bridge look for Compostela buses, which are usually white and green with “Sayulita” on the windshield. The bus comes about every 20 minutes. We got some great street tacos while we were waiting!
If you have more than just a couple carry on items or more than 2-3 travelers, I recommend calling an Uber driver. That will cost around 600-1000 pesos ($30-$50USD) depending on time of day, how far in advance you book the driver, and how big of a vehicle is needed. We used Uber for the trip back to Puerto Vallarta mostly because we were exhausted by that point and did not want to navigate the bus system to get to our next hotel. If we were going straight back to the airport, I might have opted for the bus to save money.
Speaking of money, how should I prepare?
One of the most frequent questions on the Sayulita Facebook group is how much money should you bring and what currency. In some parts of Mexico, you can get away with using foreign currency and your credit cards. There were some places in Sayulita that accepted cards, but many shops and restaurants only take cash. You will likely get a terrible exchange rate if you use foreign currency, and it can also be considered disrespectful to put that burden to exchange currency on others.
There is a bank with safe, partially-enclosed ATMs on the outskirts of Sayulita (Intercam Banco). Plan on making a couple visits to withdraw pesos and/or bring enough with you for your whole trip. But, plan ahead! If you request pesos from your local bank, it can take weeks for those to arrive. I actually ended up putting out a request in a local group asking if anyone had leftover pesos to sell, and got a great exchange rate. I did not use ANY of the American cash I brought.
The food in Sayulita was more expensive than I was expecting. Actually, everything was. I’ll go into more detail about shopping tips in a separate blog post. But, generally speaking, meals run about 150-300 pesos per person. Overall, I recommend budgeting between 2,000-5,000 pesos ($100-$250) per person per day unless you want to skip the excursions and souvenirs. More on the shopping post!
Do I need to speak Spanish?
No, you really don’t. Sayulita is a very touristy area and you can get away without speaking any Spanish. That said, I’m someone who likes to experience culture as much as possible on my trips. That and I took Spanish through my entire childhood. Use it or lose it, though, right? I think it is polite to at least attempt to learn the local language anywhere you travel. But, honestly, there were only a small handful of locals who engaged in conversation when I was speaking in Spanish. Most could tell I was English-speaking and immediately switched to English. There were really only a few people who indicated they did not speak Spanish during my 9-day trip to Mexico.
If you’d like to put that effort into speaking Spanish, I recommend a conversational approach. Duolingo is a great app, but doesn’t do a wonderful job prepare you to jump into a conversation. Leading up to my trip, I primarily followed Qroo Paul on YouTube. As soon as I arrived and took that first leap into the language, I felt fairly comfortable with simple conversations. I was actually pretty frustrated when locals kept speaking in English when I was doing my best to speak Spanish!
Is Sayulita safe?
Short answer is YES! I found the people to be very nice whether locals or other tourists. With the state of American politics, I was a little worried at how I might be perceived. I have consistently found no matter where I travel, if you treat people with kindness, they will do the same in return. I was walking around in cute dresses sporting expensive camera gear for most of my trip. At no point did I feel that my safety or my gear was under any kind of threat. There were always plenty of people around even at night.
The streets, on the other hand, were a little scary! Leave your cute shoes behind. The roads are poorly paved, sidewalks falling apart, and sometimes they just disappear and leave you navigating uneven cobblestones and drivers in a hurry. Night and day, you can expect cars, trucks, motorcycles, motor bikes, golf cars, scooters, and bicycles to be competing for space on the narrow streets. Many of those drivers are not used to Sayulita, so whether you are on foot or some type of vehicle, I’d say that is where the danger lies in this beautiful, little town.
Where should I stay in Sayulita?
As with anywhere, if you plan enough in advance, there will be plenty of hotels and AirBnb‘s to choose from in and around Sayulita. We stayed at the Nomada Wellness Hotel about a five minute walk from the Plaza. It cost about $100/night and was perfect for the three of us. We didn’t take advantage of the yoga offered just steps from our downstairs room, but we did enjoy the gardens and the new rooftop pool. The views were incredible!
Sayulita is a party place!
One thing to keep in mind as you plan your lodgings is how much noise you can tolerate. This is a bit of a party town! We were far enough from the plaza that we weren’t kept awake by the celebrations during Sayulita Days, but it was still very rare that things were quiet enough to hear the ocean waves just a block away. Even after those Flag Day festivities, there was music playing pretty much around the clock. Regardless of where you stay, I recommend waking up early or perhaps taking a hike outside of Sayulita if you are in need of some peace and quiet. I personally loved the nonstop music and activity.
One of the highlights of our trip was when my daughter and I went for a nighttime walk to the Plaza. We were watching a group of women dancing to drums when we got pulled into the fiesta. We danced together for a few minutes before a girl about my daughter’s age pulled her aside and danced some more. My girl received the warmest hug before we meandered over to a Mexican street corn vendor. “Mom, I really hope I never forget that,” she said with the biggest smile on her face. I know she won’t.
Here’s a fun series of pictures from one of the groups performing at the Flag Day festival on February 24th.
So cute! And here are some more pictures from the Sayulita Flag Day festival we were lucky to enjoy.
The carnival was in its final days during our trip, as well!
What if I want to go on a whale watching cruise? Snorkeling? Fishing trip?
There are countless tour companies providing whale watching, snorkeling fishing, and much more. After realizing that most of the trips required a drive to be at the initial meeting spot, we decided to pick a company that met in Sayulita. You can learn more about the whale watching and snorkeling trip we took to the Marietas Islands on this blog post.
What else can I expect in Sayulita?
If you go during November to April, you can expect beautiful weather. It will be warm during the day and cool in the evenings. You’ll be facing hot temperatures, high humidity, torrential rains, and lots of bugs during the summer months. December to March is when the Humpback whales are best viewed. There is a cut off day in March for whale watching cruises for their protection. We saw lots of whales on our trip, but I was surprised and disappointed that we never got to see any dolphins or sea lions. Plenty of boobies, though!
In addition to the abundance of yellow and blue footed boobies on our whale watching trip, there were some amazing birds in Sayulita. I was most impressed with the Magnificent Frigatebirds that looked like pterodactyls circling overhead. The pelicans and seagulls put on quite a show whenever they were feeding, which was quite frequently. We also saw some parrots and a chachalaca while on a forest hike.
The coolest critters we saw were the iguanas. Be sure to visit the Iguana Tree just a short walk from the plaza. We got to look for these awesome lizards every time we left or returned to our hotel, which was less than a block away.
We also loved all of the dogs roaming the town. I got a kick out of the vendors who were interrupting our meals on the regular to try and sell us fancy dog collars. We were clearly tourists, so I’m wondering if they were hoping we’d adopt one of the many strays. Are you more of a cat person? Make sure to visit Isla Cuale if you get any time in Puerto Vallarta!
If there is anything I didn’t cover, head on over to the Sayulita-San Pancho Facebook group and run a search. I’ve found the people in that group to be super helpful and always kind!
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