Sayulita is the de facto capital of the sparkling, tawny Riviera Nayarit. Sayulita strikes a balance between the manicured expat haven of Punta de Mita and the funky bohemian San Pancho. Sayulita is one of those places that seems to crop up frequently in discussions regarding whether or not a place can be (or is, or was, or has been, or will be, or should be, or can’t be,…etc) ruined by travellers.

Assuming all forms of recreational travel are tourism in some form, it seems counter productive to debate the relative morality of travel practices based on thin definitions. It is no secret that many of us, the Backpackers, aspire to put as much physical and philosophical distance between ourselves and our bete noir: the Tourist. It is therefore fascinating that in spite of (or possibly because of) this desire to eschew the uglier trappings of traditional tourism, the younger, hipper traveler circuit often spawns it’s own hubs that are analogous to many of the most popular mainstream tourist destinations. Mexico is a fascinating example of this phenomenon. Tulum is an eerily Ptomekin Cancun, La Paz is transforming into the thinking person’s Cabo. Holbox is being brilliantly billed as hippy Isla Mujeres. Sayulita is to backpacking what nearby Puerto Vallarta is to mainstream tourism: golden beaches, screaming nightlife, and expensive water based activities. That is, if you believe every pessimistic travel blogger for whom travel is measured by likes and upvotes.

As with most things, reality on the ground lies somewhere in between the doom and gloom “authentic travel blogger” posts and the ersatz sunny “instant-gram travel selfietologist”. Sayulita may not be the “sleepy fishing village” it was in 1993 but a lot of places have changed since then. Nobody in the travel industry seems to be decrying the fact that by “creating content” they are perpetrating the exact behaviors they supposedly detest.

Go to Sayulita, you will love it.