Sayulita is the town everyone warns you about. “It used to be better.” “It is too touristy now.” “You should have come ten years ago.” I have heard all of it, and I understand the sentiment. The village has changed — more boutique hotels, more Americans on Instagram, more smoothie bowls than a Oaxacan fishing village probably needs. But here is the thing: Sayulita is still fun. Unapologetically, straightforwardly fun, in a way that many Mexican beach towns have traded for either luxury or decay. The wave is friendly. The town is walkable. The tacos are good. The mezcal is cheap. And the sunset, viewed from a plastic chair on the sand with your feet in the water, does not care how many people have photographed it before.
I came for a surf trip with friends from Puerto Escondido — we wanted something mellower, a break from Zicatela’s power — and Sayulita delivered exactly that. The main break is a left point that peels gently enough for beginners but has enough shape to keep intermediate surfers interested. I surfed it every morning for four days and caught more waves than I catch in a month at home. There is something to be said for a wave that wants you to succeed.
The Town
The centre is small — a grid of cobbled streets between the highway and the beach, lined with surf shops, mezcalerías, taco stands, and boutiques selling the kind of linen clothing that looks great on the beach and absurd anywhere else. The main plaza hosts a weekend market, a basketball court that doubles as an event space, and a church that is unexpectedly pretty. The town’s charm is in its lack of pretension: the street dogs wander everywhere, the music drifts out of every bar, and nobody is in a hurry.
Playa de los Muertos, the beach just south of the main strip, is quieter and rockier — good for snorkelling, less good for surfing. The walk between the two beaches takes ten minutes and passes through a small cemetery on the hillside that gives the beach its name.
The Marietas Islands, offshore and accessible by boat tour from Punta de Mita, have a “hidden beach” inside a collapsed volcanic crater. The tour is worth it for the snorkelling and the humpback whale sightings in winter, but manage expectations on the hidden beach — it is small, crowded, and heavily regulated.
Eating
Sayulita Fish Taco on the main drag is the anchor. Battered fish, shredded cabbage, chipotle mayo, a squeeze of lime — it is not reinventing anything, but it executes the formula perfectly and the line at noon tells you everything you need to know.
Don Pedro’s on the beach is the splurge option — seafood, cocktails, live music on weekends, and a front-row seat to the sunset. It is touristy in the best sense: it knows what it is and does it well.
The mezcal bars are the evening programme. Yambak is the local brewery, and their pale ale is the best craft beer in the Riviera Nayarit. For mezcal, follow the music until you find a bar you like — there is no wrong answer.
When to go: November to May for dry weather and consistent surf. December and January are peak season — crowded and pricier. February to April is the sweet spot. The summer rains (June to October) bring bigger surf but muggier days and occasional storms. Whale season runs December to March.