Playa San Pancho Adventure

Marie in her research heard about this place, so we decided to go to San Pancho for the music festival. San Francisco, referred to as San Pancho by locals, is a sleepy little beach town about an hour north of our place here in Nuevo Vallarta.

We took an Uber to the Bucerias highway bus stop and then caught the Compostella bus to Sayulita Beach, the so called surf capital of Nayarit. We were dropped off downtown at the bus station and then walked down the busy street a few blocks to the beach. Wow, lot’s of surf, young surfers, not so young surfers, hotels, bars, restaurants, etc. Very nice but a bit on the busy side. After visiting the yummy outdoor food market, we took an Uber from there to San Pancho for $75MX ($6CDN).

San Pancho bills itself as the cultural capital of Nayarit. We were immediately impressed with its sleepiness and quiet streets. The beach has even bigger waves than Sayulita which can be somewhat dangerous with rip tides. White surf was everywhere and absolutely gorgeous sand with very few buildings around. We had time for some Pacifico before checking into the Pal.Mar boutique hotel. Our small room right beside the lobby was perfect. We relaxed in the pool a bit, sipping some more Pacificos – after all we are on the Pacific Ocean.

About 5PM, we wandered a block over to the Plaza do Sul where the (free) music festival took place. There were hundreds of smiling faces of all ages ready for a good time. We saw half a dozen talented bands from rock, to flamengo, to classical, jazz and finally traditional Mexican.

We sampled the delicious food – paella and tamales – yum. A few glasses of wine later we were ‎most satisfied. After carrot cake and coffee we called it a night – a great one for sure.

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Even the dogs here are happy and calm! They wander freely with their master everywhere and never act territorily. Kids are everywhere playing as their parents operate small shops. The hotel was absolutely superb – German owned – everything worked well and was in mint condition.

Only complaint – roosters calling out all night long in the street. We figure they were happy too.‎ We are coming back next year for sure but it’s a secret, don’t spread the word.