Yelapa, Boca de Tomatlán or somewhere else?
Replies: 13 - Last Post: Aug 7, 2012 11:41 AM Last Post By: lostsol9
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Yelapa, Boca de Tomatlán or somewhere else?
My girlfriend and I (both 30+) are planning to pull the plug for 7 days in mid October in Mexico (after a family visit in NYC).During a longer trip earlier this year we stayed 10 days in a bungalow on the beach in Tulum and was totally in love with the place (although a bit expensive...). This time we were thinking of going to the Pacific side, and we've been looking at the Puerto Vallarta-area, especially the small towns in the bay area south of Puerto Vallarta. We want to stay at the beach (within short walking distance).
We are not fans of the all-inclusive solution, but like to keep things simple. One the other hand, we have both lived out our hard core backpacking/hostel days and today we don't mind paying a reasonable price to stay at a nice place. I think we can be described as something like "B&B backpackers".
We have been looking at Yelapan and Boca de Tomatlán, which both seems nice, but hard to distinguish on the internet.
Do any of You have an opinion on which is the best place to use 7 days doing nothing but lying on the beach, reading, eating and maybe taking an occasional kayaking trip or junglewalk? As mentioned, we have been looking at Yelapan and Boca de Tomatlán, but are open for suggestions.
Best regards,
Peter
1
I was in Puerto Vallarta last August and did a day trip to Yelapa. Now, granted I was only there for a day, but I feel like 7 days there would be too long. I just feel like I would get squirrely staying there an entire week. A weekend would definitely be awesome in my opinion, but a week would be too long for me. BUT, if you are really looking to do absolutely nothing, it would work for you. It's definitely beautiful and the people were friendly. I'm just the kind of person who needs more things to do- not a lot, but some. Like you I have enjoyed many awesome stays in Tulum cabañas as well. I feel like Yelapa has a lot less going on than Tulum in terms of stuff to do.Also, I found the Puerto Vallarta area at least as expensive, if not more so, than the Tulum area. And there are no ATMs on Yelapa so you'd have to bring a fair amount of cash for a week. Remember you can only access Yelapa by boat so they have to bring everything in that way (when I went I shared a water taxi with a guy who was bringing an enormous bag of dog food from Puerto Vallarta to Yelapa to feed his dog).
I also personally don't find the Pacific beaches as beautiful as the Caribbean beaches. The next beach vacation I take I'll go back to the Caribbean side (even though I've been there half a dozen times already), I just prefer it much more. But your mileage may vary. I guess the only way to find out is to go see for yourself :-)
I can't comment on Boca de Tomatlan, sorry.
2
Something else occurred to me...if you are looking to do a chilled out beach vacation on the Pacific, you might want to consider the beaches of Oaxaca. They are beautiful, and I think not as expensive as the Puerto Vallarta area. If you go to Yelapa you are more or less trapped there for a week (I don't mean that in a bad way, just that really the only way in or out is by water taxi, which is like $25 a person one way). If you go to Oaxaca there are all kinds of little beach towns (look up places like Mazunte, San Augustinillo, Zipolite, Pueto Angel, Ventanilla) where you can settle and chill out, and if you don't like where you are it's easy to move up the coast to another town.3
You might also consider North of Puerto Vallarta, towns like Sayulita, San Pancho, Lo de Marco, Guayabitos and Chacala are all small beach towns with there own personality.They are also a lot cheaper than PV.........4
Water taxi fares to Yelapa are not that high, from Los Muertos beach 120 pesos one way, from Boca 60 pesos. A lot of accommodation choices in Yelapa, not a lot in Boca, which also has a smaller beach. Yelapa is pretty quiet at night except for the 'disco' night at the "Yacht Club" on Saturdays. Accommodation and water taxi schedules can be found here http://yelapa.info6
I second the Oaxacan coast suggestion, consider Puerto Escondido as a base, and add day trips to the villages, beaches, and lagunas nearby if needed, although it´s easy to spend seven days in Puerto Escondido without going anywhere else. see http://www.tomzap.com for more.7
Thanks for all Your suggestions.The reason we have chosen the pacific side (and not the caribien side) is mainly because of the chance of hurricanes. But also beacuse we want to try and experience a part of the country we haven't seen before.
It sounds like, if we were to choose between Yelapa or Boca, than Yelapa is the place to go. However, I've noted hexstatic1's remarks about maybe getting to closed in, and according to google, the small town suggestions (both the ones north of PV and the ones in Oaxaca) looks really nice and just what we are looking for. We'll definately consider these also.
Only problem now is, that we need 7 weeks instead of days:o) What a luxury problem:o) I'm confident, however, that no matter where we end up going, it will be good.
Again, thanks for all the good advice!
8
That's a great problem to have.Some of those locations north of PV can be pretty busy. Beach locations anywhere these days are likely to be pretty busy, if you get away from the coast things are far mellower, even 6-7 blocks can accomplish this. I have friends with a B&B up the Rio Cuale, behind Puerto Vallarta, you might want to look at. http://www.vallartabedandbreakfast.com/ they are a couple from Scandinavia - Sweden & Norway. Colonia Buenos Aires is practically devoid of tourists and an easy walk or bus to the beach.
9
There are some really nice beaches just south of Boca de Tomatlan. For great Mexican towns without the PV vibe, try Chamela, Punta Perula, Playa Negrita, Tenacatita, La Manzanilla, Bocas de Iguana or Malaque/ Barra De Navidad. You will find a very laidback small town experience at any of these places. Excellent tourist services in La Manzanilla, Melaque, and Barra de Navidad. About 200 klicks south of Puerto Vallarta.10
Check out www.tomzap.com for a wealth of info.If you're looking for a week of doing nothing but lying on the beach, having a good choice of restaurants and bars, all pretty inexpensive, I highly recommend the Oaxaca coast.
Puerto Vallarta is far too commercialized for me, unless of course you miss Wallmart, McDonalds and Hooters!!!!
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Bit out of date, Hooters closed down about 8 years ago. Many parts of PV are not commercialized at all, the colonia where my friends B&B is located, only has mom & pop stores, See colonia Buenos Aires on this map:http://vallartainfo.com/newsouth.html
12
Yelapa has one big advantage to me, no traffic, just horses and mules and the occasional motorcycle and quad. It is also beautiful with parrots and many other birds. The beach is big and broad with surf on one side and a lagoon on the other. There used to be quite an expat community, don't know if it is still there. Several places to eat and nice walks up the river or up into the hills or up to the waterfall. Pretty quiet, (bring earplugs just in case) look around for a place that suits you to stay, there are many. There are two small markets with all the basics. You can rent kayaks or get a boat ride to private beaches and snorkeling down the coast. As anywhere pay attention to your valuables, don't leave them laying around.13
Cross Tenacatita off your list. It's under armed guards, its infastructure mostly demolished. Drive another 20 km and check out La Manzanilla. It's a small town with a very nice beach. Don't let the crocdiles scare you. Melaque is a more Mexican town, has it all. Going south of PV has its rewards.
