Our original plan was to venture into the countryside of Jalisco after our back-to-back trio of cities, however the heat beat us – we needed to flee it, we decided to head to the beach.

Thanks to a new highway you can reach the coastline in 2.5hrs from Guadalajara. We headed to a quiet surfers town called San Francisco (or San Pancho). Within moments we had slipped into beach life and really took a shine to this area. It was the end of May which is low season, which meant it was very quiet – however the many empty restaurants and bars in the town centre indicated what this place is like in the high season (Nov to April). It was also before the wet season had begun, so humidity was not too high – May really was the perfect time to go. We spent four nights here but very easily could have slipped in many more – we preferred the vibe of this coastline to the Oaxacan coast, but we are aware this could be due to it being low season. However the sea was gentler, warmer and very clear, compared to the thrashing waves of the Oaxacan coast which is fun but often scary!

We drove around the coastline north of San Pancho and found the beaches there were even more deserted, , alongside some very fancy resorts. This coastline is very much favoured by Americans and there is clearly a lot of money here, but saying that there is still some remote pockets, untouched (for now), that definitely caught our eyes – we hope to try to come back at the tail end of the low season if we can, or if people are interested in a Tropical Christmas, please contact us!

We then drove 1.5hr south to Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco’s major coastal city. It is also the Gay Capital of Mexico! We had very negative preconceived ideas of this city, which were unjust. We thought it was going to be very built up, uber chic and teaming with Americans. We were pleasantly surprised, admittedly you can pay with dollars as well as pesos for most things, but it still very much had that laid back tropical Mexican vibe. The city hugs the coastline but in the area we were in, the old town, it was not full of high-rises but charming single or double story colonial buildings. We only had one night here and we loved it, the place was pumping with life; with music and dancing filling the streets until the early morning. Beyond the city both north and south, mountains roll into the sea, which makes for a spectacular view – the perfect combo.

We then enrolled ourselves in a yoga retreat for a week – a complete treat within our journey.

After said treat, we went to the other extremity and rented a shack (‘choza’) on a beach clifftop with no electricity, gas, reception; nothing. We cooked on fire each night and loved being totally disconnected, and lulled to sleep each night by the sound of the roaring waves. Our place was in Villa del Mar, near to the incredible Mayto beach, which topped all the beaches we had been to – it is a 2hr drive south of PV, so often locals in the know (a local told us) escape the city here for some chilled beach time at the weekends. Mayto has a 17km coastline with basically nothing on it, at one end are 3 small hotels/hostels (all run by an extended family) and that is it, plenty of people camp here as well. We arrived on a weekend to a splattering of visitors, by Tuesday the whole 17km beach was just for us, but once again we are sure it is a very different beast in high season.

May/June = excellent time to travel the Mexican coastline. (or anywhere, we’ve noted!)