We’re planning a trip to Mexico with our adult daughters. First stop Mexico City for a few days and then would like to head to the coast either Puerto Vallarta or Huatulco ( but open to other suggestions as well)
We don’t like all inclusive, and would prefer a smaller boutique hotel with a pool. Great restaurants and a swimmable beach are important.
We’ve been to and absolutely love San Pancho, but the surf is so rough that it is scary at times to get in the water. I think … See more

Zihuatanejo! Daily flights from Mexico City. Great food and music scene. La Ropa beach is gorgeous and very swimmable.
Tons to do.

Robin yes. We stayed at Casa Sandbar in Zihua. Beautiful view and Infinity Pool. Only 5 suites. Owners are Canadian.

Sue The owners made this a strata building and sold the units except the penthouse. The new owners of each condo do rent but it is no longer called Casa Sandbar

Mulberry ah. Ok. Good to know. We stayed in the two bedroom sub Penthouse. Loved it!

Our family with three adult children enjoyed staying in Bucerias during our most recent trip to Mexico. Landed in PV.
We rented an air bnb south of the Main town. Great house. 3 bedrooms with own small pool. Fabulous restaurants! Feel free to pm if you want any details.

Just spent a week at Sayulinda hotel in Sayulita and it was amazing. Rooftop pool, close to the beach and breakfast included. Great restaurants nearby also.

I highly recommend
Quinta Bella Huatulco. It is right on the beach, every room has a private plunge pool and the restaurants there are top notch
You cannot beat the food of Oaxaca state.

We are on our way in a few days to spend a month in Huatulco. Opted not to do the All Inclusive this time. We are staying at Villa Blanca which includes breakfast. Over the past few years, we’ve found many great restaurants in the area. It is a 4* but great location.

Sharron see you there on Dec 18th. At Villa Blanca for 11 days

Rhonda At Villa Blanca?

Sharron yes

Our friends have a bouquet hotel in San Poncho “Casa Belenos” unfortunately we haven’t got there yet. It is Adult only. 2024 for sure!

Sharron We love San Pancho! You’ll have a great time.

Sayulita or Puerto Escondido

La manzanita so pretty

Eddie you mean La Manzanilla? North of Manzanillo. Yes lovely village. Great beach

Eddie Jeannett Thanks for this suggestion. Are there good restaurants?

Sharmani lots of family run beach places. Best coco shrimp at El Gato. A nice handful of restaurants scattered through the village too. All types of cuisine. Nice Friday market day. Good tiendas with anything you could want food wise. A couple pharmacies and it’s just an20 minutes bus to Malaque with even more choice as it’s a bigger town.

Jeannett I have a friend in La Manz. right now. He says it is awesome.!
La manz is on my list. My google searches are not finding much for apartment accommodation unfortunately.

Jeannett it sounds idyllic!

Robin post asking on La Manzanilla Life. December through March are busy and accommodations fill up. Check airbnb. We’ve had the same place for the last few years. A month every February

Jeannett funny I am inadvertently a member of la manzanilla life. No idea how!!
Thanks for the heads up!

Jeannett thanks I will post on the page. I was reluctant because there are some fb travel pages that do not allow “ looking to rent” posts.
I have looked at airbnb. Dumbfounded by what folks are expecting. $6000 cdn per month? I think I need to change my search criteria!!

Robin yah try again. Our large studio with shared pool etc is $2 k a month. It may be too late in the season to find something reasonable but worth a try. Many book a year ahead to get the same place over and over. Lots of 3 month stays. What are your dates ? Anything beach front is mostly new and very pricey. We are 150m from the beach by the church. Very happy with the location as we have paddle boards. Fun being by the church. We have stayed up the hill in a house and don’t miss the walk

Robin try this. Some are flaky here and don’t get back to you but worth looking into. There are also property management companies in town that manage houses which are common rentals.
https://www.visitlamanzanilla.com/
Also Juani Rentals and a few more.
VISITLAMANZANILLA.COM
Home VisitLaManzanilla

Jeannett thank you so much!!

Bucerias will have what you're looking for.
The beach is very swimmable. There's lots of airbnbs that are like boutique style hotels with small pools.

Punta de mita has excellent food, shops, cute places to stay, best beaches in the bay and easy to get to sayulita, san poncho, PV for more exploring.
Huatulco is boring.

Definitely Zihuatenejo! Mercedes hotel or other boutique hotels with great restos. Think it was called Madera beach. Don’t stay at la ropa.

Jamie villa Mercedes is awesome for sure. As is the La Madera neighbourhood. La Ropa beach is great for swimming but can be very expensive to stay.

Bacalar? I've yet to go, but it looks incredible and I think it might fit the bill of what you are looking for.

Ryan we were just there! It’s beautiful. Watch the mosquitos—they are NASTY!

Manzanillo.

If you liked San Pancho then try Troncones. Can also stay some nights in Zihua. Try staying in Manzanillo Bay in Troncones or if you want a really small, quiet surf town La Saladita (you can also do a really easy day trip there from Troncones or Zihua though too)

There are direct flights to come back from Zihua too. AC on Tuesdays and WJ on Fridays

Kelly This looks like a great spot; may not work due to very specific dates and we’d want a direct flight home but I’m going to keep this in mind. Thanks

Puerto Escondido
Great options of restaurants and boutique hotels. We have gone 2 times and stayed in airbnbs.

Karen Kellis here are some interesting ideas!

Recommending Zihuatanejo. Restaurants
Swimmable Beach
Many small hotels with pools
.

Sayulita

Sorry have to ask where are you staying in Mexico City? Your trip sounds to be ideal!!

Robin We don't know yet; haven't booked anytihng, but likely Condessa. We stayed in the Historic Centre last time, but want to try somewhere else.

Sharmani same with us Centro historico first time ! Awesome but want to go somewhere else.

Robin I loved staying in Roma! Great food!

Am currently in Sayulita and am finding it so overstimulating with music, people, noise. And I am someone who really genuinely generally enjoys loud music, late nights, and nightlife generally! Even on the outskirts (have stayed both on the north and south sides of town), it’s difficult to get some low key time here! Heading to San Pancho today to check it (and its swimmability) for future trips to the area. A Mexican friend who lives in the area told me where to safely swim there, I can report back - if you want me to update later, reply below.
Just piping in to say I don’t think Sayulita is a great choice for y’all given what you describe you’re looking for.

Jess Our friends resort in San Pancho is Casa Belenos.. check it out.

Jess We took a day trip to Sayulita from San Pancho--definitely not for us! I think you'll like the San Pancho vibe. There is a beautiful beach (Los de Marcos) just a short bus or taxi ride away but we really wanted something a bit closer. I know that the locals say it's safe to swim at one end... but in general it can be very rough.

Cathy Cowan
Jess we did not find Sayulita noisy at all. We were even there for Cinqo de Mailo (spelling??) and could barely hear celebrating. It was a beachfront Condo resort. Can't wait to go back!

Cathy Cowan May is low season here, so there were likely fewer people travelling here? (Low season is between May - October but also lots of locals tell me it’s busy here then too). Also, Cinco de Mayo is a much bigger thing in the US than it is in many parts of Mexico. I am here in the lead up to Dec 12, which is a major festival all over Mexico honouring La Virgen de Guadalupe (the virgin of Guadalupe) but almost all of the noise is from or for the tourists not the locals (save the firecrackers that start at 0530 - that’s def for La Virgen). I cannot imagine anyone here right now would say this is not a party town (Mexicans or travellers alike). There is literally an all night dance party on the beach every night (it’s 0730 and I just woke up to them playing I Will Always Love You by the one and only Whitney Houston, so how can I even be mad about that but still). I’m staying on the outer parts of town, not even in the main areas. For context, I don’t like or go to resort destinations in Mexico so maybe if you are accustomed to those this doesn’t seem all that busy or noisy?
As a follow up report on my time in San Pancho yesterday, it was beautiful and cute and I would love to stay there but indeed that surf def turfs you around! Even in the “safer to swim” end of the beach where my local friend instructed us to swim, we only went in to waist deep (and we are both pretty confident in the water)!

Jess yah cute town but killer ocean.

Jess we gave up on sayulita many years ago. It used to be such a nice village. Then it became too popular.

Bucerias? Not as far as Sayulita.

A nice beautiful hotel in PV is Hotel Mio. No direct beach access but the roof top pool and bar are the best. Adults only. They are just opening a big new Hotel Mio in Nuevo Vallarta this month and I believe that has access to the Playa Royal beach club which is fantastic