ITINERARY: THE ULTIMATE GIRL’S TRIP TO MEXICO
Sayulita is the ideal destination for a girls’ trip, whether that be a small casual trip with a few friends or a full-blown bachelorette party, Sayulita is amiable to whatever you’re looking to get into. My favorite thing about this town is that it has no large hotels or all-inclusive resorts, so you’re getting a much more relaxed and also authentic view of Mexico than if you were to stay in Puerto Vallarta, Cabo, Tulum, or Cancun. I came here for the first time for a friend’s bachelorette party and planned the trip for all ten of us bridesmaids. Check out our three-full-day itinerary below for your next girls’ trip or bachelorette party in Sayulita.
Looking for more tips for your trip? Check out my blogs for the Best Activities in Sayulita and the Best Restaurants in Sayulita.
Sayulita is a one-hour drive north of Puerto Vallarta International Airport. While you can take a taxi from the airport, I’d recommend taking an Uber because they’re about half the price. The catch? You can’t pick up the Uber right out front and instead will need to walk all the way to the left once you exit the airport and over the pedestrian bridge to meet your driver on the other side of the freeway. It’s not a far or strenuous walk at all – approximately 4-5 minutes – but if you have a lot of luggage it can be a bit tricky.
My favorite Airbnb I’ve ever stayed in was in Sayulita, called Casa Saturno on Gringo Hill. While this location has five beds (for 10 people total), the couple that owns this property also owns the two adjoining properties which are three beds (6 people total) and a studio (2 people total) and I can’t recommend them more highly. I mean, just look at this view over the infinity pool. The open concept (and when I mean open concept, I mean only one wall in the main area) immerses you into the surrounding nature and landscape and is such a unique way to see Sayulita.
If you can’t book Casa Saturno or one of the other properties, or are just looking for a different vibe, I’d recommend staying at least a 5-minute walk away from downtown Sayulita. Where we were located atop Gringo Hill was only a 5-minute walk down to downtown but felt so secluded and we were never woken up by the loud noise of the town at night.
This small, fun, and extremely safe town is consistently hovering around 80-90 degrees Fahrenheit year-round, making Sayulita perfect almost any time of year, depending on what you’re looking for. I personally traveled there for ten days in April and the weather was around 80 degrees and consistently sunny every single day.
It’s time to hit the ground running! For your first full day in Sayulita, you’re going to want to hit the town and explore a bit as well as check out some of the beaches.
Who doesn’t love a (boozy, if you’re up for it) brunch to start off a nice long weekend? My favorite brunch spots in town are Tierra Viva and Miscelenea Café. Both have the perfect vibey brunch atmosphere that you’re looking for at a bachelorette party and come with delicious food and drinks. At Tierra Viva I’d recommend getting the Bloody Mary, Chilaquiles, and Machaca, and at Miscelenea Café I’d recommend the Huevos Rancheros or the French Toast as well as the blueberry lemonade.
Downtown Sayulita may be small but it has plenty of room for activities, and the best way to get to know it is to walk it! I’d start by circling around the main square and then heading down some of the side streets and checking out the shops and art galleries. If you already opted to start your day with a cocktail at brunch then you can grab another at one of the many wooden drink carts in town – hey, it’s a bachelorette party, right?
Now it’s time to head to the beach! If you walk straight down the flag-lined street off of the main square, you’ll hit the beach. You’ll immediately come upon a handful of restaurants as well as hundreds of beach chairs available for rent. Sadly, the chairs go for 500 pesos or about $25 USD for the full day, which is a bit pricey. What’s nice is that if you set up your own towels on the sand in front of the chairs, you can still take full advantage of the waiters that will walk around and bring you food and drinks on the beach. Also, this is a great opportunity to join in on the surfing culture of Sayulita by renting a surfboard! They go for about 150 pesos or $7.50 USD for two hours and it’s a great way to feel like a local from the get-go.
For our group, a few of us were also scuba certified so we scheduled for them to do a dive tour of Las Marietas Islands with Sayulita Entourage. The six-hour tour includes two tanks for two dives in Las Marietas, which is a Mexican National Park, and only costs $150 USD for the gear, tanks, boat tour, and lunch. For those who aren’t certified, you can also obtain your scuba certification via Sayulita Entourage for about $400 USD, which my boyfriend did during our time in town.
For dinner, I’d head to Barracuda on the main flag-lined street. The food and drinks are delicious, and the location provides you with endless entertainment throughout dinner as fire dancers and bands will be performing in the street throughout the evening.
Now that we know our way around a little more, for your second full day in Sayulita, you’re going to get to know the broader areas a little more. But of course, we’ll save time for a little pampering during your trip, too.
Today, I’d recommend skipping over a traditional breakfast or brunch and heading straight to Mary’s Tacos for lunch to start your day. Mary’s Tacos is known as the best taco restaurant in Sayulita, and it did not disappoint. Their tacos are stuffed to the brim full of juicy and tender meat and local vegetables, such as peppers, beans, and other local favorites. I’d recommend checking out the taco specials – my favorites were the Mary, the Emilio, and the Oleo.
Since we’ve already seen the main beach in Sayulita, Playa de Sayulita, today I recommend taking a short 10-15 minute walk to Playa de los Muertos, a much smaller and more relaxed beach to the left of Playa de Sayulita. To get there, you’ll simply walk to the end of the flag-lined block (but not all the way to the water), take a left, and then follow the road to the right until you hit a graveyard and eventually the beach. This beach has everything that Playa de Sayulita has except for the surfing (I believe…) and is a nice reprieve from the heavy crowds you might find at the main beach. I also find it to be even more beautiful with the rocks on both ends of the beach.
Who doesn’t love a little pampering? Next, head to Nirvanna Spa (above Barracuda restaurant in town) for a relaxing massage. You can contact the spa in advance to reserve the terrace where they’ll also provide you with complimentary sparkling wine and snacks while they pamper you with a wide variety of services. However, to be honest, the street below was so loud that I couldn’t enjoy the wonderful massage they were giving me. I did see that to the left and right ends of Playa de Sayulita there are a lot of massage parlors offering the same experience but on the beach, so I would recommend checking out the various options before you decide.
Since this is our main going out night, we need to start it with a bang at dinner. Head to Alas Blancas Restaurant on Playa de Sayulita for a fantastic dinner with an amazing view of the sunset (just make sure your reservation is during sunset). The cocktails are amazing and so is the ceviche, and the vibe of the restaurant is really unmatched.
Now it’s time for a night on the town! After cocktails at a handful of bars including Yambak, El Barrilito, and Escondido Bar, I recommend heading to Don Pato, which is a dancey bar above Yambak. They play some of your favorite early 2000’s hits and have three stories for whatever vibe you’re in the mood for.
Now for my favorite day of the trip, boat day!
We reserved a full catamaran through Ally Cat Sailing, which included free drinks all day, a stop at Las Marietas islands for snorkeling, and whale watching along the way. This is the most ~bougie~ (as well as expensive) activity of the whole trip but it’s worth every penny. I lived on the coast of California for 16 years and never saw a whale breach until this tour! Plus, the amazing guides let you plug your phone into the aux so you can make the party whatever you want it to be.
I expected our group to be pretty unwell after our boat day so I didn’t make any dinner reservations for our final night. But the great thing about Sayulita is that most of the restaurants don’t even take reservations, so you can have your pick if your group is feeling up for it. Our group was surprisingly okay after the day we had so we got a table at El Itacate, one of the most talked about restaurants in town. El Itacate is a laid-back lunch & dinner restaurant with seating spilling into the street on the east side of town. They have a pretty straightforward menu: pick your meat, fish, or vegetable and either put it into a taco or their famous, you guessed it, El Itacate burrito, which is a massive burrito with fried cheese instead of tortillas as its wrap. I’ll warn you, though, the Itacate is massive and that much cheese might upset your stomach, but it’s worth it.
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