Punta-de-Mita, Mexico

Punte de Mita

What inspired our family to spend our vacation in this area of Mexcico? We wanted to get to know an area other than the Yucatane Peninsula. Vacation spot for Mexicans and Americans, that also attracts some American retirees.

inside the gates

People rent golf carts to get around between villas, to and from beach clubs, and different restaurants. Before we visited Punts de Mita I thought we would make an effort to go see what is going on inside the gated area but once we actually were in Punta de Mita it became clear that the town outside the gates actually had enough to offer for our young family. So I am not able to give you any information about hotels, beach clubs or restaurants in Punta Mita. But I also don't think that is necessary since this part of town is promoted in many ways all over the internet so if you are interested in that you just have to google, or use social media.

www.forbes.com/sites/stephanrabimov/2018/03/20/6-reasons-why-punta-mita-is-the-ultimate-luxury-travel-destination/#3df5e8664f17

some history

Emiliano Zapata and former village of Corral del Risco with the beach El Alocote, divided by a dry river bed. Emiliano Zapata side seems to have more local flavor, cheaper prices, and less influenced by tourism. Apparently used to be a sleepy beach town. This is what some residents and also a California snow bird has told me, the town of Corral del Risco was moved closer to Emiliano Zapata to make space for the gated community of Punta Mita. Now the towns of Emiliano Zapata and Corral del Risco are combined into Punta de Mita, but still have two different mayors. This history cannot really be traced on the english language world wide web, but one can find bits and pieces in older posts on the tripadvisor forum.

I would describe the Corral del Risco part as more touristy, with beach restaurants, vendors and the harbor where you can arrange fishing tours, snorkeling and whale watching. The beach is more narrow and rocky on this side. Still beautiful to look at, just not as nice for walking. The Emiliano Zapata side has the nicer, wider and more sandy beach. You can also find restaurants in this part of town but you have to walk to the streets.

In this article I am going to refer to this town as Punta de Mita.

Outside the gates

get your groceries

At some point during our visit I stopped counting how many little grocery stores the town had, there were just so many. You are not going to starve in Punta de Mita. Some stores had more choices than others, not that many fresh food choices, but some.

Mercado Olin caters to American tourists, especially if you have special dietary needs. As someone who eats glutenfree I was able to find many familiar brands on the shelves. The store is still not going to have everything that a Whole Foods shopper might be looking for but it is nice to know that it exists in the town. Mercado Ollin even offers a grocery delivery service. I also read on a tripadvisor forum that Mercado Ollin will also try to arrange to get specific foods that you ask for.

A mexican community in a touristy Spot

During our time in Punta de Mita we felt like we were in a real Mexican town, that just happened to be a location that is interesting to tourists. When we would step out of our somewhat gated and protected condo building we would find stray dogs and chicken on the streets, cobbled streets that unfortunately didn't always hold up well in the rain, a very lively street market, homes of people, some of them turned into different kinds of businesses throughout the day. It's not a busy town, maybe even quite sleepy but charming and friendly. When you spend time on the beach you will find locals and tourists alike. Especially on the weekend locals were enjoying themselves on the beach, inside and outside the water, young and old. And this is not just a location for American tourists, but Mexican tourists, also. A few of the families we met in Punta de Mita were tourists from Guadalajara. Whale watching was also a weekend activity for Mexican tourists, many people seemed to enjoy the boat tours on the Saturday morning our family went out into the bay.

whale watching and more water activities

the restaurant scene

cash or credit card

The pricier restaurants will all accept credit cards, everyone else will most likely only accept cash. You are probably going to be able to pay is US Dollar, but you will probably get a better deal if you pay in pesos. Maybe this was just our unlucky experience but ended up needing more cash in our last days in town, and we were not able to get any from the two ATMs that are in town. They were simply out of cash.