It would be a stretch to call the Mexican beach enclave of Sayulita overdeveloped, but there’s no question that it’s been discovered: The funky Pacific coast village north of Puerto Vallarta remains a respite from reality, but its cafes, surf shops, and public beach now crawl with faux-hippie tourists.
Our advice: When you get to Sayulita, keep driving. Just three miles farther north along the Riviera Nayarit you’ll find San Francisco — or as it’s known by locals, San Pancho — which is a pretty good approximation of what Sayulita was like when it was first discovered by surfers back in the 1960s. In other words, there’s not much there: Kick back in a hammock, eat really well, do battle with some rough waves (the surf is stronger here than down the coast), or simply wander on a gorgeous and virtually empty wide sandy beach where horses gather to drink from a freshwater lagoon. Pretty much the only gringos you’ll meet are the artist or musician types who came for a week and never got around to leaving.
You can find tiny boutique hotels like Casa San Pancho or Cielo Rojo, but there are no resorts here. Instead, the lush jungle serves as a backdrop for local homes for rent, some with pools, most with balconies. Buy fresh produce — cucumbers, tomatoes, giant white onions — off a farmer’s truck and prepare meals at your house, or head to the small beachside village for delicious carne asada, coconut shrimp, or chilaquiles at La Ola Rica and Maria’s. If you’re feeling adventurous, take a jungle hike to an even better beach, or get a local fisherman to take you out to watch whales breach. Of course, it may just be a matter of time before San Pancho begins to resemble its neighbor down the coast. So enjoy it now. And when you return, just drive a little farther north. –Ari Bendersky
Men’s Journal Magazine | Wanderlust Real Estate + Devlopment
A delightful coastal community, a short drive from the sky-scraping, timeshare hotels that line the Puerto Vallarta coastline, lies San Francisco (known locally as San Pancho) in the Riviera Nayarit, Mexico. A short ten-minute drive from lively Sayulita and a 45-minute drive from the Puerto Vallarta airport, san Pancho is the tranquil escape that we’ve all been looking for.
When you 
San Pancho has an old world charm and a community of artists, musicians, entrepreneurs and those who have chose to spend their winters here, soaking up the sun and the culture who make up this special place. They ride their bikes or walk everywhere they go. They stroll the beach at sunrise and watch baby turtles protected by the local turtle sanctuary make their way to their native ocean. They chat with friends at the local coffee shops over local coffee farmer’s lattes, homemade banana bread and savory empanadas.
On any given night, you can expect to hear live music coming from travelers from Argentina, Mexico city or Guadalajara softly strumming guitars and ringing acoustic to the enchanted visitors dining al fresco. The town hums with artists young and old, children running freely, young surfers running barefoot to catch the end of the day, and those with wanderlust strolling the promedade. One can hear multiple languages being spoken on the streets and the businesses are run by people from all over the world. This is not just your average Mexican village, this is melting pot of cultures who all seem to have one thing in common… a desire to savor life and to slow it down a bit.
Before the arrival of the Spanish, and still somewhat today, the coast of San Pancho and Sayulita and nearby mountainous region known as the 
Entreamigos offers more than 600 classes and workshops in the facility, most of them free of charge. The non-profit organization has a variety of programs that are intended to bridge cultural and economic differences with the intention of increasing educational opportunities, environmental stewardship and collective community responsibility. They offer scholarships to the local kids and some of the successful entrepreneurs in San Pancho are results of that very scholarship program.
Another spectacular feature in San Pancho is the formation of Circo de Niños (Kid’s circus) which was founded in 2011 by Cirque de Soleil’s founding directors, Gilles Ste. Croix and Monique Voyer. Initially conceived as a fundraising idea for Entreamigos, Gilles Ste. Croix offered to oversee a presentation involving about 40 children incorporating elements of his famous Montreal troupe. By autumn 2014, Cirque de Soleil had donated equipment and the Circo de los Niños began rehearsing in the Entreamigos space. An outdoor performance of ¡Órale! was given at the Plaza de San Francisco and the Mayan Palace in the Punta de Mita resort. In March 2015, Circo de los Niños was granted the use of one of the government warehouses on the same property as Entreamigos and performed a four night run of their first Cirque du Soleil like performance before audiences of about 250. The circus performance continues today with tickets selling out immediately and is an absolute marvel to witness. If one has ever seen a Cirque du Soleil show, this children’s circus has the music, the lights, the story, the acrobatics, and the magic of a typical show in Vegas, but with children of the San Pancho community who train all year to perform for their families and tourists alike.
The entire state of Nayarit is located south of the 
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