Driving to Sayulita and San Pancho From Puerto Vallarta: The Route, the Speed Bumps and When the Tour Is Easier
6 min read
If you want both towns in a day and a lunch with a drink, take the tour; if you want your own timetable and the coast beyond, drive. The San Pancho and Sayulita trip is €49 per person for 6 hours with hotel pickup, 3.8 stars from 211 reviews; the bus is the cheapest; the car is the only one that lets you carry on to Punta de Mita without a connection to catch.
See dates and prices for the San Pancho and Sayulita trip
Everything below describes one route, so it is written as a route.
The road
It is Mexican Highway 200 heading north, towards Compostela and Tepic. Sayulita Life’s directions put Sayulita at 24 miles, 40 kilometres, from the airport. The booking page of the guided trip says the drive to San Pancho takes one hour; plan on that from town, and on more if you stop in either village.
Leaving the airport you start on a six-lane highway that narrows to four lanes and then two. The first stretch crosses the state line from Jalisco into Nayarit and passes Mezcales and then Bucerías. The Sayulita Life directions say that at the state line one or both lanes may be diverted to a military or police checkpoint.
After Bucerías Highway 200 stays four-lane for a few more miles, then becomes two lanes climbing over a series of hills “in a winding and twisting manner with many curves”, with animals grazing at the roadside and slow vehicles. This is the stretch that decides your average speed. Do not plan to overtake on it.
The speed bumps and the turn-off
The village of San Ignacio comes about 37 kilometres from the airport, at kilometre marker 125. The highway through it is lined with speed bumps, and you slow right down. There is one more hill after it. On the way down, get into the central left-turn lane for the turn-off to Sayulita at kilometre marker 123, where a large Pemex station and an OXXO stand on the corner. From the turn-off it is about 1.6 kilometres to the brick archway at the entrance to the town, and the directions tell you to keep right at the fork after it. Speed bumps, topes, continue as you approach the centre.
San Pancho lies further up the coast, off the highway. Our Sayulita and San Pancho guide explains why the bus stops on the highway above it, which is one reason a car suits that town.
Parking
Sayulita’s centre is narrow, cobbled and not designed for visitor traffic. The paid lots are at the edge of town and the rates are posted at the entrance. Arrive late on a weekend and the first half hour of your day goes on finding a space. Park on arrival, then walk.
What a car adds, and what it costs
With your own car you are not tied to a pickup time or the bus timetable. You can stop at San Pancho for an hour and go on to Sayulita, or the other way round, and if you carry on to the coast beyond you are not restricted to a tour’s meeting point.
Several tours up here start in Nayarit rather than in Puerto Vallarta, which a car makes simple:
| Tour | Duration | From | Rating | Listed at |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Punta de Mita/Sayulita: Horseback Riding Tour | 1.5 hours | €91.35 | 4.8 from 63 reviews | Nuevo Vallarta |
| Sayulita/Punta Mita: Zip Lines with Ocean View | 2 hours | €91.35 | 4.8 from 38 reviews | Bucerías |
| San Pancho and Sayulita | 6 hours | €49 | 3.8 from 211 reviews | Puerto Vallarta, hotel pickup |
Read each meeting point on the booking page before you plan a morning around it. If you decide the car is worth it, you can compare car hire in Puerto Vallarta; what appears at the desk is in our guide, and whether you need a car at all comes before either.
When the tour is the better choice
You want a lunch with a drink. The guided trip includes a one-hour buggy board session and offers lunch as an option at checkout, and nobody has to drive back on a two-lane road afterwards. One note from the page: bring a change of clothes and swimwear, because you cannot get on the van wet.
Hills and curves bother you. The stretch after Bucerías is the whole drive; on the tour, someone else does it.
It is a single afternoon. The bus beats the car on price and on parking.
The 3.8 stars of the guided trip are the number to weigh; they are the lowest of the three in this article, while both of the others are 4.8.
Check availability for the San Pancho and Sayulita trip
Our recommendation
Two of you, one day, a lunch: book the guided trip at €49, or take the bus.
Several days up the coast, or a long lunch you want to choose: drive, park at the edge of Sayulita, and walk. Check the current advice for your own country before you drive after dark, and for a ride or a zip line along the way, the horseback ride at €91.35 is the better-reviewed of the northern activities, 4.8 stars from 63 reviews.
