Mexico North America

The Perfect 10 Day Honeymoon in Mexico: Sayulita and Puerto Vallarta

February 17, 2022

Why Puerto Vallarta and Sayulita are the Perfect Honeymoon Combo

When planning our honeymoon I wanted to find a destination with the perfect balance of relaxation, adventure, and delicious cuisine all at an affordable price. In non-covid times I probably would have planned something in Greece or the Caribbean or possibly even Southeast Asia.

The stress of changing entry requirements on top of wedding planning was something I couldn’t deal with, so I settled on Mexico, a country that has had minimal entry requirements throughout the pandemic.

Although I would have preferred a place a little further away and more exotic than Mexico, I really loved my time on the Pacific Coast and don’t regret my choice at all. This was my third visit to Mexico, but my first to Jalisco and Nayarit. (Read about my visit to Mérida, Yucatán here.)  I fall in love with this country more and more after each visit, and I’m sure you’ll fall in love with this area of Mexico too!

Read my post below to find out why starting your honeymoon at an all inclusive resort in Puerto Vallarta, then heading to the small surfer town of Sayulita really is the best honeymoon!

Table of Contents

Phase 1 - Relaxing in Puerto Vallarta

The first half of our trip involved a lot of eating, drinking and hanging out by the pool.  Heading straight to an all inclusive resort after your wedding is the ultimate relaxation tool after all the decision making and planning stress of your wedding. I’m not normally an all inclusive, or even big hotel stay kinda traveler, but in this situation it was perfect. I thought 5 days was the perfect amount of time, but even 3 or 4 days would be great.

Where to Stay

Riu's pool between the hotel and the beach.

We stayed at the RIU Palace Pacifico which is actually a bit north of Puerto Vallarta in Nuevo Vallarta. This was my first stay in an all inclusive resort, so I have nothing to compare it to, but I did enjoy my stay and recommend the property. We paid about $300 USD per night for a large ocean view suite with a whirlpool tub on the balcony. 

While I did love our stay at the RIU, I don’t think you can go wrong with any highly rated all inclusive, either closer to Puerto Vallarta, or anywhere in Riviera Nayarit. There is something in everyone’s price range from $100 a night to $1,000 a night.

Sunset view from our balcony

This resort offers a breakfast buffet, two lunch buffets, a dinner buffet, and 4 specialty dinner restaurants. I thought the buffets were good and had so many options to choose from. One morning we ate breakfast on the later side and the buffet was packed, but all the other times we had no problems with buffet or restaurant crowds.

There are also unlimited drinks from many bars around the property. We enjoyed a few frozen cocktails around the pool, but generally found them to be too sweet for our taste, so we stuck to beer most of the time.

Enjoying a piña colada by the pool
We ate breakfast outside every day

Activities Off the Resort

Marietas Islands National Park & Other Local Tours

We did not pre book any tours/excursions before we got to the resort, and you generally don’t need to.  Every hotel should have someone you can book tours with. Most of the tours involve some combination of snorkeling, visiting other beaches, a trip to Marietas Islands National Park, or even swimming with dolphins and whale watching.

Our tour involved an hour long boat ride to Marietas Islands National Park where we snorkeled then had a lunch buffet and alcoholic beverages back on the boat. After we ate we went to Playa Majahuitas, which is a beautiful little beach you can only reach by boat. There they had paddle boards and kayaks available for us to use. We paid for the tour in cash so I don’t remember exactly how much it was but I think around $60-$80 per person.

Another popular tour destination is “Hidden Beach.”  It’s a gorgeous beach surrounded by rocky cliffs on all sides, but with a circular opening overhead. It’s a protected area on the Marietas Islands, so you have to pay an extra fee to visit.

Marietas Island
Paddle boarding at Playa Majahuitas

Book your tour to the stunning Marietas Islands below!

Get a Massage on the Beach

I was looking forward to a day in our hotel spa, but when I got there I was shocked at the prices! A massage cost $250+, which was almost the cost of our hotel room! Even the manicures and pedicures were more than I’d normally pay in the States. An alternative to hotel spas is to get a massage on the beach. There were massage tables set up right next to the hotel beach and they were only charging $20 for a 45 minute massage. 

Explore Puerto Vallarta

Have a fun night out in Puerto Vallarta! We only went into PV once but my cousin has been twice and has some great recommendations in his blog post about things to do and where to eat.

How to get around Puerto Vallarta

We used taxis the whole time and didn’t have a problem. Have the front desk or doorman of your hotel call one for you and ask them what the price should be. Confirm with your driver the destination and the price before you get in the car. The taxis accept both Pesos and USD.

There are Ubers available in Puerto Vallarta proper, but they may not be available from your resort depending on how far out of the city it is. We were not able to call any Ubers from RIU Palace.

Phase 2 - Adventuring in Sayulita

Food & Drinks

Shout out to my friend Thomas, who spent some time in Sayulita the last few years, for a lot of the recommendations!

Tacos

Tacos Gaby – This women-owned spot is on Av. Revolución right in town close to the Subway. They specialize in fish tacos, but have other delicious options as well.

Fried fish tacos
Chicken sope

Tacos de Pastor Diaz – We ate here twice, and loved it. It’s right on a corner of the main square across from YamBak bar. They have several homemade salsas to choose from, and they’re all so good!

Tacos al Pastor Tal Ivan – This taco stand has multiple locations in Sayulita. Some locations have indoor seating and a bar, and others are small outdoor taco stands.

Bars & Cafés

Cava –  Facebook: Cava Sayulita

This small cocktail bar serves up delicious drinks made with fresh fruit and your choice of tequila, raicilla, or mezcal. All three liquors are made with the agave plant and you can see in the photo below just how many choices of liquor this bar has. If fruity drinks aren’t your thing, go for a raicilla tasting!

ORGANI-K – Facebook: Organi-K Sayulita FB

I know it’s so basic but Andrew and I went to this café 3 times in our 5 days in Sayulta! It actually would have been 4 times, but the last time I tried to go the power was out and they were temporarily closed:(

They have really yummy smoothies, espresso drinks, and light meals like avo toast, but I was really loving the açai bowls. My favorite was the Dragon bowl pictured below.

YAH-YAH Sayulita Café – Instagram: yah.yah.cafe

This coffee shop was the closest place to our Airbnb for breakfast, and luckily it was really good! They had a large selection of breakfast items that I really enjoyed, plus any kind of espresso drink you could want. Plus the staff were always very friendly and welcoming.

Sit Down Restaurants

Frente al Punto Beach Club – Instagram: FrentealPunto

If you’re looking for a nice dinner in a beautiful setting, this is it! The restaurant is located right on the beach, so you’ll get an amazing sunset view during dinner. The cocktails were amazing, and we loved all the fancy tacos we ordered!

Cheesey Shrimp Tacos
Steak and Octopus Tacos

La Rustica Sayulita – Instagram: La Rustica Sayulita

La Rustica is an Italian restaurant right on the main drag in Sayulita. I’m an Italian food snob, so I didn’t love it, but overall it wasn’t bad. If you are somehow over tacos, this is a good place to check out. Prices are more comparable to US restaurant prices, so don’t expect a cheap meal here.

Mary’s Traditional Mexican Cuisine – This restaurant is right on the main road and definitely caters to tourists, but I thought my mixed shrimp plate was delicious, albeit a little pricey for Sayulita.

Are you interested in honeymooning for more than a few weeks?

Click below to learn more about the “Year LongHoneymoon” my husband and I took after our first honeymoon to Mexico!

Activities

Hiking

We did a guided hike with Eco Hike that I found through Airbnb Experiences. The host, Alejo, is very nice and took us to some beaches and areas on the north end of town that we would not have known how to get to on our own.

Monkey Mountain is another popular hike near Sayulita. You can do group or guided hikes or try it on your own. We didn’t have time to explore it on this trip, but hopefully next time we’ll be able to!

Beautiful viewpoint on our Eco Hike Tour
Beaches with no one else around
Surfing

Sayulita is known for its great surfing! There are breaks all over the little peninsula, from Sayulita down to Punta de Mita. We signed up for surf lessons on Airbnb experiences through a company called WildMex Surf School.

They provided us with boards, transportation and an instructor. They chose the location for the day based on the weather and surf conditions. If you already know how to surf, you can just rent a board and book transportation through WildMex without the lessons.

For our first day they took us to a beach near Litibu. Andrew and I were both able to stand up on our boards and ride a few waves all the way to the beach. We both enjoyed it a lot, so we booked a second lesson with them, and this time they took us to a beach south of Punta de Mita. We even graduated from foam boards to real surf boards for our second lesson!

Playa La Lancha
Andrew got some amazing shots of me surfing!
Enjoy the Beaches

There are two main beaches in Sayulita, Playa Sayulita and Playa de Muertos. The first is the big main beach right in town. It’s always busy and full of people selling things to tourists, so we didn’t spend any time there. Instead we went to Playa de Muertos several times. Depending on where you’re staying it can be quite a hike back to the beach, and on a muddy dirt road at that! You can also take your golf cart if you rent one.

Although it’s more secluded, we did get bothered pretty frequently by people selling hats, jewelry and other things, but it was still nice and relaxing. Playa de Muertos also has concessions selling alcohol and light meals, so you don’t have to pack your own in.

Playa de Muertos
Playa de Muertos
Playa Sayulita

Where to Stay

There are many many Airbnbs and boutique hotels to choose from in Sayulita. You wont find any large chain hotels around. I recommend an Airbnb close to where we stayed on the map below for two reasons. First, we were just a 5-10 minute walk to the center of town, but far enough away for it to be quiet. Second, being on the south end of town we were closer to Playa de Muertos and didn’t have to bother with the crowded main beach.

Most places you will find to stay in Sayulita are close enough to walk to everything. However some are up steep hills and people choose to rent golf carts. If you think you’ll have a problem walking up hills, contact your Airbnb/hotel and they will happily arrange a golf cart rental for you.

The cute, but steep jungle street our Airbnb was on

How to Get to Sayulita

Getting to Sayulita is relatively simple. In this itinerary you will be coming from your resort. Simply have your hotel concierge call a taxi for you. They will gladly take you to Sayulita, but please tip them well as it’s doubtful they’ll have passengers back to PV.

If you’re heading directly to Sayulita from the Puerto Vallarta airport, I would recommend arranging transportation before hand. There are a number of transportation companies in Sayulita that will give you a better rate if you book round trip transportation to and from the airport. 

Returning to the airport from Sayulita, we found a transportation company online. We message them the night before to set up a time. They picked us up right from our Airbnb in a large and nice SUV. It was $60USD plus tip. I’m sure there are cheaper options, such as shared vans or buses, but we waited until the night before to figure it out, so it is what it is. Or I guess it was what it was!

General Tips for Puerto Vallarta & Sayulita

  1. Do not stop to talk to the people trying to get your attention right after exiting customs! At first they seem like they’re just trying to help you book tours and give you a map of the area, but all they’re trying to do is convince you to come to their new hotel property for “free breakfast and a tour.” We accidentally stopped to talk to them and got trapped talking for 10 minutes. When we finally told them we weren’t interested in visiting their hotel they acted mad! Bottom line, it’s not worth the headache, just continue through that area to the main airport entry way.
  2. Leaving the airport is a great time to take out some cash at the ATMs. The exchange rate at the resorts is not as good as the airport ATMs. Sayulita also occasionally has power and internet outages which can affect the ATMs there.
  3. Bring a lot of $1 bills with you to tips your bartenders and servers at the all inclusive resorts. They don’t care if they’re tipped in Pesos or USD, but having small bills is really helpful.
  4. Sayulita is a small town surrounded by jungle and the ocean. Expect the power, internet, and water to go out at your Airbnb or hotel a few times a week for a few hours at a time.
  5. My final tip is more of an FYI that there are so many dogs that roam around Sayulita. Most of them are people’s pets and not strays, but no one keeps their dog on a leash. We did not have any problems with the dogs besides them begging for food every time we ate outside.
The cutest little Sayulita dog
Don't forget the cats too!

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4 Comments

  • Reply Josy A February 24, 2022 at 1:06 pm

    Congratulations! What a great start to your marriage.

    Such a good way to spend your honeymoon. Half relaxing, half out on adventures!! I love the look of the Marietas Islands National Park, the hikes and all that incredible looking food!

  • Reply Polly February 22, 2022 at 11:55 am

    That sounds like a fantastic honeymoon! We did not have a full honeymoon as we had to move from out state to another and along the way we just found some pit stops like Yosemite National Park and that is how we made the most of ours. But this sounds like so much fun – we would love to go to Mexico as well, so I found quite a lot of inspiration in your post. Maybe we can plan a later one to Mexico as well!

  • Reply Linda (LD Holland) February 22, 2022 at 11:23 am

    It looks like you found the perfect mix of relaxation and adventure for your honeymoon in Mexico. We do love all that all inclusive resorts like the Riu have to offer. But it is always great when there are local tours to get you off the resort for some fun. I love the views you got when hiking around Sayulita.

  • Reply Jamie Italiane-DeCubellis February 21, 2022 at 12:37 pm

    Congratulations on your marriage. I can imagine how stressful it was to plan a wedding in these times and it sounds like Mexico was the perfect compromise between ease, adventure, and relaxation. It is a beautiful country with gracious people and an inspiring culture.

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