There is little I love more than a warm vacation right when the weather starts to turn in Vancouver, and recently, I got to spend a whole week soaking up the sun and surfing in Sayulita, Mexico. This place will always hold significance to me as my partner and I got engaged on our trip (Eeeeeeeeeeee!), but putting those sappy emotions aside it was all around an amazing spot to check out.

I couldn’t find a whole lot about Sayulita before our trip, so I wanted to share the gems I found on here and in a short YouTube video. Feel free to comment below or on the vid if you have any questions and I will do my best to help you out!

How to Get There

Fly into Puerta Vallarta International Airport, then take the bus, taxi or an uber to Sayulita. I would highly recommend Uber as it’s cheaper and you can be sure of the rate before you get into the car. It was about 300-400 Pesos for the 1-hour drive to our Airbnb. From my understanding, Uber just became legal in Puerto Vallarta and is not the most welcome by the taxi industry. You have to leave the airport, head to the far left and cross over a pedestrian bridge above the highway, then call your Uber from there.

Get your Uber driver’s info and ask if they will pick you up on the way home as there are not many Ubers in Sayulita.

Where to Stay

We picked this Airbnb just a block or two away from the action in town. It ended up being awesome – far enough away from music and partying at night (we are old and grumpy now apparently) but within walking distance of everything.

My number 1 recommendation would be to choose a place that has a pool.  We seriously went in 5+ times a day since it was so humid and you got hot walking literally any distance. Airbnb was very affordable and our place was great!

Where to Eat

Breakfast

Orangy $ – Cute little juice bar with delicious Acai bowls, smoothies, etc. This place is always busy so be prepared for a short wait, but we had a lot of great chats with the owner while he was making our food.

La Rustica $$ – Lovely interior and amazing brunch if you want eggs benedict or something along those lines. It also serves lunch and dinner, and they are known for their pizza. Brunch was our fave meal here though!

Miscelenea $$ – Instagramable cafe with beautiful space and outdoor patio. Try some of their unique coffees and stick around for a bite to eat. I wish we had found this place earlier on our trip.

Lunch/Dinner

Itacate $$ – Amazing guac, and burritos that had fried cheese instead of a tortilla…drool.

Don Pedro’s $$$ – The beet ravioli was delicious, seafood was just okay. Great view and nice to sit right on the beach though.

What to Do

Surfing

Surfing was our main activity during our time in Sayulita. My fiance has been obsessed with going on a surf trip since he tried in Tofino this spring so we went every day. We first signed up for a lesson with El Punto Surf School and then rented the equipment for the remainder of our week. It was around $2,400 pesos for a semi-private lesson (went out with a group but everyone had their own instructor) and a 4-day rental. The lesson also came with 5 hours of rental so we used that the 5th day.

We brought our own rash guards and water shoes as there are some rocks/sea urchins if you go into the bigger waves. We mainly stayed in the smaller ones which are on the sandy part of the beach.

There were certainly always a lot of people out swimming or surfing which made me a little nervous, but everyone was super friendly and most people were also beginners.