Yep, this is our 5th long visit to Bucerias and I am still trying to understand why we keep coming back. I am sometimes embarrassed that we keep returning to this Gringo tourist town in Mexico when we pride ourselves at being adventurous travelers. We avoid cruise ships and corporate hotels but somehow are OK with eating in restaurants filled with gringos. But after thinking about it a bit, I have found a lot of reasons why we are back here again for a three and a half week visit.
First let me try to explain the town again. Bucerias is a tourist town, but it isn’t like Cancun, Mazatlan or Cabo. Bucerias doesn’t really have the big hotels and all inclusive hotels. It is filled with Canadians and many of them are here for the whole season. There is a huge expat community that create a mini Canada here every Winter filled with their favorite activities of watching hockey, playing pickleball, art classes, beach sitting, and drinking margaritas and cerveza. It isn’t like a lot of resorts with people leaving every week so it feels more like a connected community A highway divides the town in two with the Gringos residing on the beach side with the Mexicans mostly living on the East Side. It is a disturbing divide so we try to visit both sides or town as much as we can.
This is the first time that we have visited here during November and December. The weather was perfect! It was a few degrees cooler than our time in November in Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca. That was much appreciated! We enjoyed the days in the low 80’s and the mornings and evenings in the high 70’s with almost no rain. In fact, in our 5 years in staying in Bucerias for about a month each time, it has only rained for a couple of hours! We are not going to experience that anywhere in Europe and definitely not in Seattle. This might be the best climate for the winter months.
Another reason we keep returning is because I miss the kids at the Refuge of Hope School. I have always envisioned an my early retirement being full of volunteer work. We are too busy seeing new places to make that happen as much as I anticipated. In Bucerias, I have a great volunteer location. It is really fun to return to see how much the kids have aged in a year and how much they have learned. I was surprised how excited I was to tutor these kids that have had a rough start in life. I could be coming back to Bucerias just to work and play with them.
I don’t think I have ever been in a town with so much live music. We are from Seattle and will typically see live music at least once a week. In Bucerias, it is almost every night. Most restaurants have at least a guitarist playing and many have full rock bands. I don’t really understand how there can be so many good musicians in this town, but it is really fantastic. Many are playing American songs, but we have seen some fantastic local music at times. Mexico is one of the most musical countries in the world and it is fun to see the locals and the Gringos supporting it in this town.
The biggest reason that we keep returning to Bucerias is because it is so comfortable. We return to our condo and are happy to be greeted by Felipe the General Manager. We return to our sports bars and favorite restaurants and are happy to see our favorite dishes and our favorite bartenders. We have been to most of the restaurants in town and we enjoy telling newbies about our favorite places. My most popular blogpost is about Eating in Bucerias. Our local grocery store – Chedraui, is our store. We know where everything is and get upset when they move things around when we haven’t been here in a year. We have our favorite beach spots just like we have our fav spots in Seward Park in Seattle.
The Holidays are coming soon and we are missing our friends and family. We are always pressuring people to come visit us for a few days but it is really difficult to ask people to come visit us in Europe or Southeast Asia. Coming to Mexico is much easier. There is a direct flight from Seattle to Puerto Vallarta so we always rent a 2 bedroom condo with hope to attract some friends. This year it didn’t work, but in the past we have hosted several groups of family and friends. We love to be tour guides to our adopted 2nd home of Bucerias.
Will we return to Bucerias for a 6th year? It hasn’t been scheduled yet but I am almost certain we will find a way to be back here in 2026. Traveling to new places is awesome but it can also be tiring. We need to have places where we can relax in our retired life. We are continually looking for more Bucerias towns in the rest of the world where we can take a time out for a few weeks and just be retired. The weather, community and location will keep this on our top tier of destinations, even if it is just a gringo tourist town that we are a bit embarrassed to admit that we really love it.
I may be back in PV next month. If so, I may have to check Bucerias out at least for a week or two!
Hi Bill!
We’re coming to Bucerias next week for the first time and your blog has been an invaluable resource. We’ve travelled quite a bit in Mexico, but not much to this area and so we’re looking forward to seeing the town. We too tend to favor smaller, off the path places but this seems like a nice spot to spend the holiday. Looking forward to Christmas Eve festivities!
Leaving aside we’re from Portland so natural enemies with Seattle, maybe you’d answer a couple questions:
1. On Christmas Day, will anything be open for lunch or dinner? We can go fancy or taco stall – anything works.
2. For beach time, we’re wondering if the beach in town is good for swimming time or we should head up to playa destiladeras (or other spots).
3. Anything else we should look out for that’s must see or do during the holiday week?
Thank you!
1. We have never been there for Xmas but I think that there will be places open. The nicer places all take reservations so I would try to contact Karen’s, or La Negra for a nice dinner We were there during Semana Santa which is a huge holiday in Mexico and most things were open.
2. The beach in town is just fine for swimming most of the year. There are always a few waves but it is still easy to get in if you time the wave sets. It is always calmer in the mornings and can get windy in the afternoon.
3. I don’t have much else besides what I have written in my blog posts. Search on Bucerias to see all the posts.
Thanks for reading and replying!