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Day Trips From Sayulita
Day Trips From Sayulita

Day Trips From Sayulita
San Pancho, Punta Mita and Beyond

San Pancho is ten minutes up the road, Chacala and Puerto Vallarta about an hour. Where to go, how to get there, and what to do when you arrive.

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Towns Near Sayulita, and How Far Each One Is

San Pancho is the easy one: ten minutes north on Highway 200, with a long, uncrowded beach and the sunset the whole coast talks about. Punta Mita goes the other way. About 35 minutes around the peninsula, it has the calm water and the point breaks.

Further north, Lo de Marcos is twenty minutes away and still a working Mexican beach town. Chacala is a fishing cove about an hour up the coast. It feels the most like a secret.

On the road to Punta Mita, Higuera Blanca is a jungle village beside the near-empty sand at Litibú. Need a city? Puerto Vallarta is an hour south, with the Malecón and the airport you flew into.

San Pancho, Lo de Marcos, Chacala and Puerto Vallarta all sit on Federal Highway 200, where golf carts are not allowed. Take a taxi or the bus. Each town has its own page on what to do when you get there.

How we pick: every town on this page is within about an hour of Sayulita and worth a whole day. For the town you are staying in, see things to do in Sayulita.

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Things to DoBeachesSurf SpotsNightlifeShoppingShopsHidden BeachesMarietas Islands

The Sayulita Day Trip Guide

North on Highway 200: San Pancho, Lo de Marcos, Chacala

San Pancho, officially San Francisco, is one headland north and a world calmer, with galleries and a cultural center. The shore break is punchier than ours. Grab a table near the beach entrance an hour before sundown.

Lo de Marcos, twenty minutes from Sayulita, has a broad, flat beach that is one of the better swimming spots on this stretch, with whole fried fish and ceviche at the palapas. Chacala is an hour away through Las Varas, for a calm cove and pescado zarandeado on the sand. Hire a driver or rent a car.

Marea Surf School’s truck and surfboards in Sayulita

Southwest to the Peninsula: Punta Mita and Higuera Blanca

Punta Mita is the manicured tip of Banderas Bay: resorts, golf courses and some of the clearest, calmest water in the region. It feels nothing like Sayulita. When the town break is crowded or flat, surfers head for La Lancha and the other points, and the surf guide covers them.

Marea Surf School drives surfers to La Lancha in an open-top truck, boards included. On the same road, Higuera Blanca is a slow lunch stop, with the long, empty beach at Litibú next door. Bring everything you need.

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A tour catamaran under way on Banderas Bay

Out on the Water: the Marietas Islands

The biggest day out from Sayulita is on a boat. Ally Cat Tours sails catamarans to the Marietas Islands for snorkeling, kayaking and paddleboarding, with lunch and an open bar on board, and the Ally Cat Bus picks you up in town. Staying south of Sayulita? You meet the boat at La Cruz Marina.

OCEANO Dive and Surf is a PADI dive center that goes further, to Los Arcos and Yelapa as well as the Marietas, with four divers per instructor at most and transport included. Set on the hidden beach? It has its own permit rules, so read the boat tours guide before you book.

South to the City: Puerto Vallarta

Puerto Vallarta is an hour south on Highway 200, by car, taxi or bus. It runs in a different gear. Walk the Malecón at golden hour for the sculptures and the street food, then cross the river into the Zona Romántica for dinner.

It is also where the errands get done: big-box shopping, private hospitals and the airport, which getting to Sayulita covers. Catching a flight? Do Vallarta the day before, not the morning of.

Common Questions About Day Trips From Sayulita

San Pancho, ten minutes north, is the easiest: a long beach, galleries and the sunset. Punta Mita, about 35 minutes around the peninsula, has calm water and point breaks. A boat to the Marietas Islands is the big day on the water.