Sayulita Mexico

Welcome to Sayulita

Okay people, I’m going to break down traveling to Sayulita and my time there. First of all welcome back to our page and to traveling with Annika (me). On this beautiful journey I will take you through the beautiful parts of Sayulita Mexico and the do’s, dont’s, and anecdotes in between.

To get to Sayulita you fly into Puerto Vallarta International Airport. So, make sure you have your passport. I had the pleasure of taking this trip with my two wonderful parents and we took an uber to Sayulita, beware it is about an hour to an hour and a half with traffic so make sure to use the bathroom beforehand. We stayed slightly out of town in a townhouse and depending on the time of year or what celebrations may be going on it will be loud, for us we had the pleasure of just missing the holiday of Virgen de Guadalupe and the 5am fireworks associated with it. Definitely do your research ahead of time when booking, or in my case I just make sure to always travel with some earplugs and an eye mask.

So what’s the vibe? Okay, Sayulita is a rocking surf town with beginner friendly surf, plenty of coffee shops, meditation practices, yoga, and good vibes all around. If there were a place to say “stay trippy little hippie” this would be the place. The vibes are chill aring on the side of love and acceptance. The people who travel there are looking to chill the heck out and enjoy the beautiful colors and culture of Mexico at a slower pace but still surrounded by other people. Saulita is a smaller town with a vibrant culture, you will likely see the people there multiple times so do your best to remember names, be cool, and always say hello.

Hables?

Hables Espanol? Do you speak Spanish? Spanglish? Ish? Now’s the perfect time to practice. I had the fortune of taking Spanish in school for nearly 8 years, which may sound like a lot but that was nearly 6 years ago and 8 year old children do not have extremely complex vocabulary, and not having spoken left me speaking more like a 5 year old than an 8 year old…epic. Well, no time like the present to be brave and embrace the culture. I can say after diving in I am so appreciative that I was able to get to speak to people about their hometown and their culture and get to interact with them in their own language. It left me feeling like a friend and not like a tourist that they just spoke to. After having many conversations over the course of a week I can say I feel much more comfortable speaking conversationally and highly recommend it if you have any background. Everyone is so helpful and appreciative of even just trying a little bit.

Annika’s list of Spanish words to know to get around:

-Listo: ready or finished

-La cuenta por favor: The check please

-Listo por la cuenta: Ready for the check

-La cuenta: The check

-Mucho gusto: Nice to meet you

-Buien Dia: Good day (or have a good day, say this when leaving somewhere)

-Igualmente: You too (if someone says buien dia you can reply igualmente which means same to you)

-Hola: Hello! (You will say this to almost everyone)

-Muchas Gracias: Thank you very much

-Yo no se: I do not know

-No entiendo: I do not understand

Surf's Up!

Okay party people, now that we’ve covered some of the basics. What in the world did I do? You see, this is the fun part so buckle up. First up, surfing. Yes, surfing. I’ve heard that Sayulita is not the cleanest area for surfing so make sure to check with the locals and I would definitely not recommend surfing after a storm as everything will end up as run-off into the ocean…yum. BUTTTT, it’s definitely still the place to be for surfing. Nevertheless, I hopped into an open van with some boards, an instructor, and another family and we were off to La Llancha to hit up some epic surf there with some instruction. After a 30ish minute ride we parked and carried boards to the beach, but do not be fooled this was a bit of a trek, alligators included. I’m so serious when I say alligators included, star of the show actually. After seeing many alligator signs I sure was glad they were there when about 20 yards away chilling in the inlet was an alligator saying hello. The alligator however had no intentions to surf so we were in the clear and kept on walking to the ocean. Oh yeah, do not pet them.

Now, I have surfed a couple of times before but I can confirm it was super nice to have an instructor just to aid in refreshing my memory and knowing where the tide goes and where the rocks are and where the heck you should go when and if you stand up. After starting on the beginner waves our instructor took us to the intermediate waves. This area was a tad more competitive and the waves were indeed bigger. Some things I learned: if you are getting slammed by a set do your best to hold onto your board so it doesn’t hit anyone else, or hold onto your leash as close to your board as you can. Always make sure to have your ID when traveling. Unfortunately, one of the other members who took the lesson with us ended up catching someone else’s fin to the face and needed stitches and a CT scan to make sure her nose wasn’t broken, having your ID with you when you pull up to the emergency room is rather quite important. On another note, if you fall off your board it’s a good idea to cover your head or at least try, especially if others may be surfing your way. Well, major shoutout to our instructor for helping the rest of us safely get out of the water and prioritizing getting the lady to the closest ER.

Oh there's more!

What else did you do? Well the beaches are beautiful and if you are willing to walk or drive and then walk you could find yourself on your own secluded beach and exploring through open rock tunnels. Whether or not you can pass depends on the tide but if you can see the hole and you can walk through it, do it. Just walk along the beach stay on the water side and RUN shawty RUN, or at least hustle if you’ve got people behind you as you pass through the epic cave and enter to your private secluded beach. Don’t hit your head as you go through though, that in fact does not rock. YOU will be rocked. Personally, I could have spent more time on this little private beach, but there was more exploring to do and I am always game for that. So after going back through the rock tunnel, and having a photoshoot moment of course, we were wiggling our way back to the trail to find some other secluded beaches. Where is this trail you may ask, it’s behind the bar. Yeah the bar on the beach, the only one over there, it’s behind that one. You hook a left and in about 15 minutes you are at some other very secluded beaches. We took one trail there and another back but the nice thing is that there are multiple paths leading to the same place! Highly highly recommend if you want some personal or more private chill time and plenty of room to yourself or for you and friends to do whatever it is you do, like make jewelry or play games or do book club.

Now, we only did a couple of days in Sayulita and what I can tell you is that despite it being a tiny town, there sure is more to do. So, what else would I have done if I had the opportunity? Well, I’m glad I asked myself and can tell you. So, there’s a vibrant night life that comes alive on the weekends with things like Salsa classes, dancing, DJ’s, and celebrations which are very worth going to. There are plenty of people who are cool and will be happy to take you in from beach volleyball to joining in on the party, the culture even for tourists from other tourists is very welcoming. I would have also loved to have done a yoga or meditation class as well. Another thing that I would have loved to do would have been to do the turtle releases once the turtles hatch and help them make it out to the water, this is dependent on if turtles hatch that day at all so check out the sign and the website to see for yourself.

You've got to go!

Places I recommend:

-My Sisters House is a killer hostel for only you lovely ladies

-Libreria Sayulita, a cute coffee shop in the used bookstore

-Bonito Cafe was my favorite coffee in Sayulita

-Pizza Venezia, yeah it’s legit, and it’s da bomb

To San Pancho you go!

Well if you’re in Sayulita you may as well take a 15 minute uber to San Pancho. San Pancho is a sleepy little town right next door and is well worth the visit. Cute little shops and fewer people, it’s worth checking it out for half a day or hey bring your suit and towel and take up some sand for a few hours and grab some food in town. I’d also check out their new community center, it is beautiful and truly is the central place for the community.

The "need to know"

Okay hold up, some necessary Sayulita info. Do. Not. Rent. A. Car. Don’t. There is no space for a car. You can drive it but you sure cannot park it. Well, what should you get to whip around in? Honestly, go for the golf cart. Some people do the ATV but on the golf cart you can put 4 people on there (or more) but the ATV is only one. Also, if there’s only one or two of you, maybe a moped or motor bike might be your style.

Sayulita, you were good to me. So good. I think I’ll go back. And if you’re a woman solo traveler or just a woman traveler in general it is a super safe place both in the day and the night. It definitely seems like the place to go if you’re interested in chilling and enjoying some local hippie culture away from the city but not away from the beautiful colors and spirit of Mexico. Well thank you for tuning in and I hope you can enjoy Sayulita like I did or have at least put it on your bucket list!

Stay tuned for part two in Puerto Vallarta!

Xoxo,

Annika

Sweet Sayulita

The beautiful places and colors of Sayulita, Mexico