February 12 – 25, 2016.
We left Mazatlan on February 12th, 2016 and drove along the Pacific Coast into the state of Nayarit. We stayed on the coast also called Riviera Nayarit in Santa Cruz de Miramar, Sayulita and Puerto Vallarta. Mexico has 31 States plus Mexico City’s Federal District. Nayarit is our fifth state after Baja California, Baja California Sur, Sinaloa and Chihuahua.
Santa Cruz de Miramar
Our first stop in Nayarit was the village of Santa Cruz de Miramar located on the Pacific coast just south of San Blas. We found a little slice of heaven at the Paraiso Miramar Hotel & RV Park.
We stayed four nights, the first couple of days were a bit busy because it was the weekend but the last two days we had the place to our selves and enjoyed the pools, the restaurant and the incredible views of the ocean, the sunsets and the magnificent gardens throughout the property.
Perfect setting to celebrate Valentine’s Day ♥. We paid $250 Mexican pesos (about $14 USD) per night.
We find ourselves so lucky to be able to experience an ocean front “resort” in the middle of nowhere surrounded by nature and kind, discrete people and be able to sleep in our comfortable bed every night and cook our own food for $14 a night!
This is why we chose this lifestyle and love it so much!
On the road
From Santa Cruz we continued down the coast, stopped for lunch at a Taco Stand where they had handmade tortillas and freshly squeezed orange juice all prepared by a husband and wife team, right there on the street.
We drove through the small town of La Peñita then stopped along the road to buy some fruits and continued on to San Francisco aka San Pancho where we thought we would be camping. The town had a great artistic vibe but we did not really like the camping option so we decided to continue to Sayulita a few miles South.
Sayulita, beach life!
We had heard a lot about Sayulita and were afraid to find it overcrowded and touristy but the campground was located on the North Beach which is a bit more quiet and we ended up loving the vibe and stayed six nights.
- Free yoga classes every morning
- Enjoying beach life: walking, swimming, sunbathing, watching the surfers, getting food from the vendors or just day dreaming!
- Everything was walking distance:
- Many restaurants options,
- Arts and crafts,
- Farmers market…
Sayulita Trailer Park
Puerto Vallarta
Next was the big Resort town of Puerto Vallarta where we celebrated our birthdays touring the city.
We strolled down the Malecon (oceanfront promenade) then had an amazing lunch in an authentic, kind of upscale, Mexican Restaurant next to the Cathedral, then walked around exploring the different neighborhoods until we found a nice bar on the beach for happy hour, walked some more and had dinner in a little Italian restaurant, walked some more and finally jumped on the bus back to our campground completely exhausted but happy and full!
Ohhhhhhhhh Mexico!!!!!! Missing it!
Great pics and very informative travelogue. You folks should have Discovery or Travel channel onboard for your journey. All is well here in Downingtown. Life is good, health good, etc. We’re going to Ft. Myers, Fla in May, and then back in June, for Grandaughter Leah’s Wedding !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Love,
SLP, Alla, and Friends
Love the pix and narrative. Almost feel like I’m there.