Sayulita is a city in Nayarit, on the Pacific Coast of Mexico.
Sayulita is located north of Puerto Vallarta on a two-lane highway (Fed Hwy 200). You can take a bus or a taxi from the Puerto Vallarta airport.
If you are staying in the main part of town, nearly everything is walkable. You may want a rental car if you are staying more than a mile or two from the center of town.
Sayulita is a natural beauty. It still has plenty of virgin jungle for hiking. You will also find several different hidden beaches as you travel the dirt roads deeper into the jungle. You can rent ATVs and/or horses for jungle tours and the jungle roads are great for mountain biking.
Rent kayaks to explore the ocean or hire a panga boat to take you whale watching (November through January).
Experience the economic diversity of the Bahia de Banderas while giving back to its Mexican communities. A local nonprofit called Investours offers socially responsible microfinance tours in Sayulita and its surrounding communities.
Surfing: Sayulita is an excellent, tranquil place for new surfers to learn the sport. The beach is shallow and you can reach the bottom even fifty meters away from the shore. The bottom of the beginner section is sandy and mostly safe. This makes it easy to get back to the place the waves break and allows more efficient learning. The beach also has a more demanding, rockier section, but it is quite hard to get there by accident. The waves are rather small and easy for beginners (at least in January through March).
Plenty of small sport fishing trips available if you look around. If you can find Nacho's boat trips, he will give you a fun trip and can take you whale watching if you don't want to fish (be forewarned he'll stop to fish anyhow if he sees something interesting).
There are a couple of other beaches that are more 'local', if you're up for minor adventure scout out the other beaches around town.
You can go hiking to the north-east, west and south. OsmAnd or Mapy.cz covers the walking paths.
There are ATMs throughout the village, for example from Multiva. As they are standing on the streets, take care that they aren't manipulated.
Plenty of shops with tourist things and local art.
Huichol Indians sell their handcrafted wares in the plaza daily. The true find: some of the best Huichol art in Mexico in the museum store Galeria Tanana on Avenida Palmar.
For breakfast try Rollie's Place just a couple of blocks off of the main square (they also serve dinner now too). There are 40 or more restaurants in town even though it is a small town. Try the street side taco stand vendors for some great fare and cheap eats.
Try the Mangiafuoco for dinner, an Italian restaurant with an Italian chef with a menu changing daily, and frequent live music later on. Excellent homemade pasta and wood oven fired pizza.
Go to one of the grocery stores off of the main square to get cervezas, then return your bottles for deposit returns. There are margaritas the size of your head available at Costeno's, which is located right on the beach, straight down from the plaza.
If you are looking for a more upscale establishment, try Don Pedro's (also on the beach) or head to the plaza and check out Miro Vino or Calypso. If you want to learn about and sample Mexico's finest Tequilas, then try Sayulita Fish Taco.
There are several affordable options for accommodation. The town center is just a couple blocks in size and you should have no trouble finding a place to stay. The campgrounds in Sayulita are considered to be among the best in Mexico and are famous word of mouth lore passed among seasoned travelers.
As the beaches in Sayulita have shallow temperate ocean water: Do the Stingray Shuffle and you will be fine. It means when going in the water, shuffle or slide your feet forward without lifting them. There are YouTube videos about how to do it.
You find hostels and private rooms in:
2nd-order administrative division
Primary administrative division