Mexico’s Riviera Nayarit

Punta de Mita, Nayarit, Mexico

As incomprehensible as it seems today, it was considered wildly adventurous as recently as 15 years ago to travel to Cabo San Lucas on the tip of the Baja Peninsula.  

I was reminded of this a few weeks ago when planning a winter escape to Puerto Vallarta. We had been to crowded Cancun and were not inclined to return. Cozumel is nice (we stopped during a 2007 cruise) but getting there requires flying to Cancun, and seats were dwindling fast. We’d just been to Cabo in 2005.

The one destination with ample mid-January flights still available was Puerto Vallarta. Never been there, so why not, we agreed. But a well traveled friend quickly steered us away. The place to go, he said, is Punta Mita, just northwest of traffic snarled, pollution choked PVR. Punta Mita?

It sounded vaguely familiar. My friend offered a simple game plan. You go to Punta Mita, check-in at the peaceful Four Seasons resort, play a little golf on the Jack Nicklaus oceanside course (below, an ill-fated shot), do the spa, hang out. Life will be good.

The plan worked for me until I contacted the Four Seasons and learned that their only remaining rooms were priced off the charts. High season, of course. But persistence always pays. Trolling the Internet, we found a gorgeous four-bedroom beach house on a secluded beach called Playa Careyeros, less than one mile from the gates to the  Four Seasons resort. The owner of the house even arranged through a contact to reserve golf tee times for me at the Four Seasons.

So we found ourselves with the best of all worlds. We discovered the fast emerging “now” destination some 20 miles from Puerto Vallarta called Riviera Nayarit, the wider region in which Punta Mita is located. We found a house we’d go back to without hesitating at one-third the price of a Four Seasons room . We dined every night at the resort, alternating among three Four Seasons restaurants. Played golf on a world-class course. Twice. Walked on a beach along which the largest number of people we witnessed at any one moment was about six. Observed whales in “mating mode” from the coastline.

So, 15 years from now when, hopefully, we are all congratulating  ourselves for buying a little condo or beach villa in Riviera Nayarit, perhaps we will look back and marvel at our adventurous spirit. 

– Steve Woodward