Riviera Nayarit Beach Towns: A Local Guide to the Coast

The Riviera Nayarit is the stretch of Pacific coast running north from Puerto Vallarta, and most visitors only ever see the first 40 minutes of it. Past Sayulita the crowds thin out, the prices drop, and the coast turns into a string of small towns where the beach is wide and the fish is grilled by the family that caught it. We live in the hills above this coast, in the village of Altavista, and we spend our beach days hopping between all of these towns. Here is the honest version of each one, north to south, including the things travelers usually only learn after they arrive.

One access note before the towns: the new autopista section from Compostela to Las Varas opened in 2024 and cut almost an hour off the drive from Guadalajara. This whole stretch of coast is easier to reach than the older guides suggest.

Table of Contents

• Chacala
• La Peñita de Jaltemba
• Rincón de Guayabitos
• Los Ayala
• Monteón
• Lo de Marcos
• San Pancho
• The best beaches on the Riviera Nayarit
• How to see it all: stay central
• Frequently asked questions
• What towns are in the Riviera Nayarit?
• Which Riviera Nayarit town is quietest?
• Do you need a car on the Riviera Nayarit?
• Where should you stay to see the whole coast?
• Keep reading

Chacala

Best for: total quiet, a calm swimmable cove, village time.

A one-road fishing village of a few hundred people on a protected cove, with palapa seafood restaurants right on the sand and no resorts anywhere. The water is unusually calm for the Pacific, which is why regulars on the travel forums half-jokingly shush anyone who mentions the town by name. Eat at Chico's on the beach if you want the classic pescado zarandeado and ceviche afternoon; it is the spot locals and repeat visitors keep coming back to. Know two things going in: the town winds down early, around 6pm most nights, and you should bring cash, because ATMs in Chacala are new, few, and not something to bet your trip on. If you are around at the end of January, ChacaFest fills the plaza with free music and art; the 2026 edition runs January 31 to February 1.

We wrote a full guide to Playa Chacala and an honest breakdown of where to stay in Chacala.

La Peñita de Jaltemba

Best for: the Thursday market, real everyday Mexico, and errands.

La Peñita is the working town of Jaltemba Bay: banks, hardware stores, taco stands, the regional bus station, and the neighborhoods where the people who run the bay's hotels actually live. Travelers who skip it as "just the service town" miss the single best activity in the region: the Thursday tianguis. It opens around 7am, winds down by 1pm, and stretches for blocks of produce, street food, Huichol art, silver, and clothing. Go early, eat as you shop, and practice your bargaining. The beach here is rougher and more bare-bones than Guayabitos next door, so most people swim elsewhere and come to La Peñita to live a little.

Our full La Peñita local guide covers the neighborhoods, the new malecón, taxis, and the colectivo.

Rincón de Guayabitos

Best for: families, calm swimming, and cheerful Mexican beach-town energy.

Guayabitos is Mexico's favorite family beach town, and it earns it. The bay is protected and shallow, so calm that people call it a natural swimming pool, and the south end is the gentlest stretch for little kids. Glass-bottom boats leave right from the beach for Isla del Coral, a protected island reserve with snorkeling, pelicans, and blue-footed boobies; go in the morning before the beach fills up. From December through March this is also one of the cheapest, most personal places on the coast to see humpback whales, with small local pangas instead of big tour boats. For dinner, Restaurante Pineda is the town's most reviewed classic, and pescado zarandeado on the sand is the signature meal. Fair warning from everyone who has been here at the wrong time: Christmas, Easter week, and July and August turn the town into a joyful zoo. If you want Guayabitos calm, come in shoulder season, or sleep somewhere quieter and visit for the day. Car people take note: Guayafest, the classic VW Beetle festival, brings hundreds of vochos to the beach April 18 and 19, 2026.

Full guide: Rincón de Guayabitos. Wintering here? Read our snowbird guide to Jaltemba Bay.

Los Ayala

Best for: Guayabitos calm with fewer people, plus a hidden cove.

Los Ayala is the small cove at the south end of Jaltemba Bay, a longtime favorite of Mexican families that many foreign travelers never hear about. Same calm swimmable water as Guayabitos, quieter sand, palm shade, and one signature adventure: from the concrete path at the south end of the beach, a ten-minute jungle trail climbs over the headland and drops you onto Playa del Beso, the kissing beach, a pocket cove you will often have to yourself on a weekday. Keep walking another 20 to 30 minutes and you reach Playa del Toro. Bring water, sunscreen, and real shoes. The honest trade-off: Los Ayala is more beach than town, with only a handful of places to eat, so most visitors ride the constant cheap colectivo to Guayabitos or La Peñita for dinner and shopping.

Monteón

Best for: having a long wild beach almost entirely to yourself.

El Monteón is a farming village most travelers drive past without noticing, and that is exactly why we love it. A narrow road through the palms leads out to Playa Punta Raza, almost three kilometers of undeveloped sand with a turtle protection camp and usually more birds than people. There are no beach clubs and no vendors, so bring water and shade. The home-style Nayarit food restaurants at the entrance to the village are the right way to end the afternoon. The luxury world has discovered the hills nearby, a Rosewood resort opened on the Canalán side in 2025, but the beach itself is still gloriously empty.

Lo de Marcos

Best for: calm swimming, a flat walkable town, quiet days with more going on than it looks.

Lo de Marcos is the town we tell friends about when they want quiet without feeling cut off. It is a real pueblo, flat and easy to walk end to end, with a golden beach more than two kilometers long that stays uncrowded even in season. The water hits a sweet spot between a pool and the open Pacific: gentle enough for swimming and boogie boards most days, calmest and shallowest at the south end, though the middle of the beach can pull a current some days, so swim where other people are swimming. The sleepy look hides a lot: a high-season Saturday tianguis, a morning walking group that leaves from the arch at the plaza, a surfable point at the south end, and a friendly winter community from the US and Canada. Our food stop in town is Jardín Serein, a leafy tucked-away spot that reviewers rate among the best in town, now home to Bacán, a kitchen that does one thing and does it right: burgers and fries. Worth planning your beach day around.

San Pancho

Best for: arts, culture, restaurants, and sunsets. Not for casual swimming.

San Pancho, officially San Francisco, is the cultural capital of this coast: murals, galleries, a genuinely good restaurant scene for a town its size, the EntreAmigos community center, and a children's circus school founded by one of the people behind Cirque du Soleil. In late February the free San Pancho Music Festival takes over the plaza; the 2026 edition runs February 20 to 22. People who loved Sayulita ten years ago tend to love San Pancho now, and it sits just 15 minutes north of Sayulita for an easy comparison day. The one thing every honest local and forum regular will tell you: the ocean here is beautiful and rough, with a steep shore break and strong rip currents, and there are no lifeguards. Walk it, watch the sunset from it, surf it if you are experienced, but do your swimming up in Jaltemba Bay. Our full guide: San Pancho, Nayarit.

The best beaches on the Riviera Nayarit

For swimming with kids: Guayabitos or Los Ayala, both protected, with the gentlest water toward the south ends. For gentle swimming with a walkable town behind it: the south end of Lo de Marcos. For seclusion: Playa Punta Raza at Monteón or Playa del Beso past Los Ayala. For a calm cove with a village attached: Chacala. For long walks and sunsets: San Pancho, feet wet, no further. That is the honest swimming ladder of this coast, and it is the thing first-time visitors most often get wrong.

How to see it all: stay central

Here is the thing nobody tells you: you do not have to pick one town. Cerrito Encantado, our place in the hill village of Altavista, sits in the middle of everything on this list. La Peñita and its Thursday market are 20 minutes away, Guayabitos about 25, Los Ayala about 30, Chacala 25 to 30, and the Altavista petroglyphs are practically in our backyard. You get a whole house with jungle views, a salt water pool, Starlink internet, and village quiet at night, then a different beach every day. Traveling with your whole crew? You can book the entire property for a group or retreat. Book direct on our site and skip the platform fees.

Frequently asked questions

What towns are in the Riviera Nayarit?

Heading north from Puerto Vallarta: Bucerías, Punta Mita, Sayulita, San Pancho, Lo de Marcos, Los Ayala, Rincón de Guayabitos, La Peñita, Monteón, and Chacala, among others. The stretch around Jaltemba Bay is the quieter, more Mexican half of the brand.

Which Riviera Nayarit town is quietest?

Chacala and Monteón are the quietest with a real beach, and Los Ayala is the quietest spot on Jaltemba Bay. Sayulita is the busiest by far, and even quiet towns fill up at Christmas and Easter week, when families from Guadalajara and Tepic arrive by the busload.

Do you need a car on the Riviera Nayarit?

A car makes beach-hopping easy since the towns string along Highway 200, and the new autopista from Compostela to Las Varas has made the drive from Guadalajara much faster. Without one, colectivos and regional buses connect the towns cheaply; La Peñita is the bay's bus hub.

Where should you stay to see the whole coast?

Somewhere central. Altavista, in the hills between Chacala and La Peñita, puts every town on this list within about 30 minutes and costs less than staying on the sand.

One house, every beach. Make Cerrito Encantado your Riviera Nayarit home base. Check dates and get a quote at cerritoencantado.com. Book direct, skip the fees.

Keep reading

• Playa Chacala, Nayarit Travel Guide
• Rincón de Guayabitos: Mexico's Favorite Family Beach Town
• A Snowbird Guide to Wintering in Jaltemba Bay