Traveler’s Guide To Guayabitos, Mexico

Rincón de Guayabitos is a small bay-town on the Pacific coast of Mexico, known for its gentle waves, family-friendly resorts and the fact that it’s calmer and less expensive than nearby Puerto de Vallarta. So if you’re cheap, accidentally pregnant or afraid of the ocean, this is the place for you! No, kidding, we hear from a trusted source that the little beach resort is a haven of calm for the kind of traveler who wants something beautiful but unpretentious. Onwards, to a land of horchata and honey, of family bonding and cheap colorful inner tubes! We have the scoop:

STAY There’s a wide variety of hotel-types, from house rentals to resorts. A few options include the Villas Buena Vida, offering “villa style” housing clustered on the edge of the beach (around 900 pesos a night). Rooms at the Hotel Decameron Los Cocos run roughly 75 USD and come with breakfast and lunch buffets, and the Mar y Sol Las Palmas hotel is a smaller, slightly more intimate hotel but a double room with a king sized bed will set you back 400 USD a night. If you’re looking for something cheaper, your best bet is to check out the hotels that aren’t right on the beach.

EAT The food is said to be good but simple, so if you need haute cuisine to make you happy, this is not the place for you. That being said, you can eat pretty much anything, even the unidentifiable meat-on-a-stick type products they hawk on the beach, since Guayabitos prides itself on being a favorite of locals, first and foremost, not just a sketchy tourist-trap. Beachside restaurants are popular, La Tropicana being one of the better and happily, cheaper. El Campanario is known for its seafood but slightly higher priced. Restaurante Alex is supremely un-fancy, but also supremely cheap and tasty.

DRINK Definitely try fresh watermelon juice (mixed with tequila or rum).

DETOURS Guayabitos itself is a great place to hang out with your fam, since there is easy access to the beaches and the water is calm enough for kids to play without giving their parents a heart attack. If you’re feeling antsy from sunning or idly splashing in a pool all day, check out the beautiful, mountainous surroundings. They provide slightly more active pursuits like horse riding, hiking, and waterfall-swimming, and you can also visit ancient petroglyphs in many places. Closer to Guayabitos itself is a tiny off-shore island that’s mostly pretty to look at, but if you’re super curious you can take one of the tour-boats to run you across. On island you’ll find a small, mediocre beach and a decent restaurant. If nothing else, it’s safe in a zombie attack.

Guayabitos is sometimes dissed as “the poor man’s Vallarta,” but one parent explains their affection for it:

“I must admit that it doesn’t exactly hum and buzz with nightlife, but then that’s not why we keep coming back. As distant thunder heralds a change of weather from the mid afternoon sun, a brief shower forces us to dodge the bigger puddles as we walk through town to find supper. Some casual browsing in stores and the distant sound and light show of the thunderstorm seem to be entertainment enough.”

And the moment we imagined eating shrimp-kebabs while thunder rumbled ominously in the background, we were sold.

Rincón de Guayabitos [Tony Burton]

Guayabitos Tourist Site

Rincón de Guayabitos [Virtual Tourist]