ASC Adventures: Mexico Off the Beaten Path

I have found throughout the years, that you are either a resort/hotel traveler or you like to get off the beaten path. When posed with this question, “Would you rather stay at a resort or rent a house off the grid?” What would you choose?

The majority of my friends would choose the well traveled, touristy, resort. Which, is where my travel style veers completely in a different directions. Don’t get me wrong, my husband and I have tried to resort it in several places. To us, we feel that you don’t get the true essence of the area if you never leave the compound of the resort. So, this leads me to tell you about our Mexico jungle trip.

I recently found this amazing rental on Airbnb that was in Las Lomas, Mexico, which is approximately, 1 1/2 hours or so north of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

Las Lomas you say? Where is that?

Well, it is a small beach community, with opportunities to see the most peaceful, beautiful beaches. On our most recent trip, we maybe saw at most 10 people at the mile long stretch of beach. But, to see beauty in the middle of the jungle, you will not just hop in a car and drive there.

We did drive our rental car down the road from our rental to a gravel lot. From there, we found a path through the jungle. This jungle walk took us about 20 minutes, before arriving at the top of a big concrete stairway overlooking a gorgeous beach! Breathtaking!

How do we find the safe places to travel and book vacation homes in far away places?

Here’s an example of how we found the perfect jungle rental in Mexico.

It all started with an amazing stay at a resort in Puerto Vallarta, and a rental car. We are not the type of people to stay put in the resort. Don’t get me wrong, this resort was posh! During the trip, we drove 30-45 minutes north of Puerto Vallarta and found a quaint town called Sayulita, Mexico. It is an artsy, surfer community with a very laid back vibe. After falling in love with this beach community, I made a note that the next trip we would rent a house in that town.

Two years later, we decided to head back to Mexico. So, I found a vacation rental in the beach town of Sayulita. That year, we took our rental car even further north to discover San Pancho (San Francisco), Mexico.

Oh my gosh! We had been missing out on the best Mexican cuisine in the area. We quickly discovered that you really can’t go wrong choosing places to eat in San Pancho! To say the food brought us back to that area is no joke!

The best street tacos, among many other types of food! Yum! Definitely a town of culinary masters!

Flash forward a few more years, my husband and I had been seriously missing the Mexican cuisine of the San Pancho area. So, of course I looked for a vacation rental in San Pancho this time! Our stay there was wonderful we had a studio apartment in walking distance to the San Pancho beach.

However, you know us by now. We hopped in our rental car to explore a little further north. While in San Pancho, we were stopping to get an ice cream cone, when we met a Texan who lives in San Pancho several months at a time. He informed us that we should visit Monterrey Beach in Las Lomas! Monterrey beach is known for the best sunsets views in the area. (Sure wish we could find him to thank him for this prized information!)

Only drawback to Monterrey beach, was that you had to walk through a very small yoga retreat resort to get to that beach. Other than that, we could tell that this little jungle area of Mexico would be perfect for our next trip. We had even considered staying at the jungle resort at Monterrey beach, however, it didn’t offer the freedom that we like. One big problem for us, was that the meal package was a part of the resort fee. After several trips in the area, we knew that this wouldn’t do! We must eat dinner in San Pancho at all of our favorite places!

So, here we are planning a trip for Mexico again, only this time staying near or around Las Lomas. After searching satellite maps and reading info from locals, we discovered there was yet another beach that you can access near Monterrey Beach. It is called Barro Beach.

But, how do you find Barro beach?

First, we were thrilled this time to find some vacation rental options right on the jungle road we had hoped for! Upon arriving, the first day, we set out to find that hidden beach. It only took us about 2 hours of hiking in flip flops, but we located the jungle path to the beach! So exciting! We used that beach daily after that!

Next time....

Even though our trend has been to venture further and further north away from Puerto Vallarta, I believe we found our perfect jungle getaway with the private beach and quiet jungle rental on airbnb.

This trip will be on repeat for years to come! So relaxing! Away from the touristy area.

Lots of great cuisine! A beach almost to ourselves! Love it!

Cue the vacation pictures from our recent trip!

Jungle Rental in Las Lomas!

(Message me if you want Airbnb details)