Sayulita in February: Weather, Sea Temperature, Crowds and Things to Do

SAYULITA · FEBRUARY · NAYARIT

Sayulita in February runs dry and hot by day. Mexico’s national weather service puts the 1991-2020 average high at 91.2°F, with 0.50 inches of rain for the whole month. After dark the average low is 58.8°F, cool enough that a light layer is worth packing.

The month opens with a party: SECTUR, Mexico’s tourism secretary, lists Festival Sayulita for January 30 to February 3. The sea sits at 76.8°F, and a day at Islas Marietas National Park is possible from the same stretch of coast. The remaining question is whether January or March suits your dates better, and the numbers for both follow.

On this page

• Sayulita weather in FebruaryHighs of 91.2°F, lows of 58.8°F and 1.3 rain days
• Is the sea warm enough in February?Sea at 76.8°F, and the swell data we could not find
• How busy and how expensive is Sayulita in February?Festival dates, the 5% lodging tax and airports
• Things to do in Sayulita in FebruaryPlaya del Amor at 125 pesos and the sea-turtle camp
• Sayulita itinerary for two days in FebruaryTwo days built around a 7:30 a.m. sunrise
• Sayulita in February vs January and MarchHighs, rain and sea temperature for three months
• Is February a good time to visit Sayulita?Who should book February and who should move to March

Sayulita stayed a handful of palm-thatched, coconut-farming houses until the late 1960s, and Captain Francisco Cortés de San Buenaventura, a nephew of Hernán Cortés, reached the area in 1524. The town was formally named a Pueblo Mágico on December 3, 2015, and the designation was renewed in August 2021. For the town itself, start with our Sayulita guide, and for places to pair it with, browse Destinations.

Sayulita weather in February: average highs, lows and rain days

Every figure here comes from Mexico’s national weather service, the Servicio Meteorológico Nacional (SMN), using its 1991-2020 normals from station 18021 at Las Gaviotas. That thermometer sits about 19 miles east across Bahía de Banderas, the nearest official normals for this stretch of coast. Sayulita’s beach town is not measured separately, so read 91.2°F and 58.8°F as the regional picture.

SMN counts 1.3 days of measurable rain in an average February, a little over one day in the month. The station sheet does not publish the rain threshold, so treat the count as SMN’s own tally rather than a match for a U.S. forecast’s definition. Plan the beach days without a rain backup, and keep a spare idea for the one day that may turn wet.

The swing between the 91.2°F afternoons and the 58.8°F nights is 32.4 degrees. Pack for both ends: swimwear, sunscreen and a hat for the day, then long sleeves or a light jacket for late evenings and for any walk to the sand before sunrise.

On February 15 the day runs about 11 hours 30 minutes, according to sunrise-sunset.org. Sunrise is at 7:30 a.m. and sunset at 7:01 p.m. local time (the source gives 13:30 and 01:01 UTC, converted to the Bahía de Banderas time zone). Be on the sand a little before 7:01 p.m. if the sunset is your goal.

Can you swim in Sayulita in February? Sea temperature

Open-Meteo’s marine data puts the sea surface off Sayulita at 76.8°F in February, averaged over 2015-2024. That figure is a mean of daily maxima, so it runs a shade warmer than a 24-hour average. It comes from the marine model, not from the SMN station behind the air temperatures.

For a swimmer, 76.8°F is the water at its afternoon best, comfortable for a full dip. Early in the morning it will feel a little cooler than the number, and a long surf session or snorkel is where a thin layer could matter if you run cold.

Our sources carry no wind or swell figures for February, so we give none. For surf, the town beach is a well-known beginner-friendly break, while the point break and river-mouth beaches nearby draw more experienced surfers. A local surf school can tell you that morning’s conditions.

How busy is Sayulita in February? Crowds and prices

We found no occupancy series and no hotel-rate series for Sayulita, so we crown no month expensive or cheap. The one dated draw we can verify is Festival Sayulita, which SECTUR’s official calendar lists for January 30 to February 3. Some festival dates in that calendar can slide from one year to the next.

We could not verify a booking lead time, so we give no number of weeks. Where we can help is the order of work: if your arrival falls between January 30 and February 3, check beds for those nights first. SECTUR names Puerto Vallarta International Airport and Tepic International Airport (TPQ), about an hour east of the coast, as the air gateways. General planning guides sit in Travel 101.

Nayarit’s lodging tax, the Impuesto Sobre Hospedaje, is set at 5% under Article 62 of the state’s Ley de Hacienda, and the 2026 Ley de Ingresos confirms it. We could not verify whether a given hotel quotes its nightly rate with the tax inside or adds it at checkout, so ask before you compare prices.

The one line where spending changes the month is a morning on the water. Playa del Amor in Islas Marietas National Park charges a 125-peso CONANP entrance fee and opens Wednesday through Sunday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. We could not verify boat fares from this coast, so ask each operator whether its price includes the entrance fee.

Things to do in Sayulita in February

With 0.50 inches of rain for the month, February lets you book the surf lesson, the boat trip and a long beach afternoon without a wet-day fallback. Cool nights make early starts easy, and the 1.3 rain days on average are the only real gap in the schedule.

Playa del Amor, in Islas Marietas National Park, charges 125 pesos at the CONANP entrance and opens Wednesday through Sunday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Boats for the park leave from the same stretch of coast as Sayulita. In town, SECTUR lists the Campamento Tortuguero Sayulita, a sea-turtle camp, among the official attractions. We could not verify its February hours or whether turtles are nesting then, so ask locally.

Air and water pull apart at these places. With highs at 91.2°F and the sea at 76.8°F, the afternoon air runs 14.4 degrees above the water, and in March the gap is 15.7 degrees (92.8°F against 77.1°F). Air comes from the station and the sea from the marine data, so treat the gap as a rough guide.

We found no verified list of free activities for Sayulita in February, so we name none. The only visitor price we can source for this coast is the 125-peso Playa del Amor entrance. Festival Sayulita’s program and any admission were not something we could read, so check with the organizers.

Sayulita itinerary for February

Day one, in town. Be on the beach for the 7:30 a.m. sunrise (February 15 timing), while the air is still far from the 91.2°F average high. Take a beginner surf lesson on the town beach in the morning, then use the hottest hours for shade and a long lunch. Walk the beach again in the late-afternoon light, and stay for sunset at 7:01 p.m. Bring a layer for the evening.

Day two, on the water. Choose a Wednesday to Sunday for Playa del Amor, which opens at 8:00 a.m. and closes at 5:00 p.m., with the 125-peso entrance fee on top of your boat. If the day turns wet or falls on a Monday or Tuesday, spend it in town and the turtle camp, and move the boat to the next open day.

Sayulita in February vs January and March

The air figures for all three months come from the same SMN station and the same 1991-2020 period, and the sea figures from the Open-Meteo marine data. Highs step up from 90.0°F in January to 91.2°F in February and 92.8°F in March, while lows barely move at 58.5°F, 58.8°F and 58.8°F. Rain drops from 0.70 inches to 0.50 to 0.19, and the sea reads 77.9°F, 76.8°F and 77.1°F.

Moving to March adds 1.6 degrees to the average high, trims 0.31 inches of rain and 0.8 rain days, and puts the sea 0.3 degrees warmer, at the cost of the festival’s closing days. We did not verify March events. Moving to January gives the warmest sea of the three at 77.9°F (1.1 degrees above February) and keeps the festival’s opening days. It costs 1.2 degrees of afternoon heat and adds 0.2 inches of rain and 0.6 rain days.

Is February a good time to visit Sayulita?

Yes for anyone after dry, hot beach days: 0.50 inches of rain, 1.3 rain days, highs of 91.2°F and a 76.8°F sea. The answer is no for anyone who wants the hottest, driest of the three months, which is March at 92.8°F and 0.19 inches. A note on advisories: the U.S. State Department’s Mexico advisory rates Nayarit at Level 2, ‘Exercise increased caution,’ so read the current version before you book.

Choose March for the least rain and the most heat. Choose January for the warmest sea, 77.9°F, and accept a wetter month at 0.70 inches. If you’re still deciding between destinations as well, Where to Go by month compares other places on the same calendar.

One thing only February holds among the three is the festival’s final day, February 3. It also sits between its neighbors on both air (91.2°F) and rain (0.50 inches), so it is the compromise month with a party at the front end.

The last word

SECTUR gives Sayulita an average annual temperature of about 77°F (25°C), and February’s sea at 76.8°F sits almost exactly on it. Book February if dry days and the festival’s closing on February 3 suit your dates, choose March if you’d rather have 0.19 inches of rain, and pack one layer for the 58.8°F nights either way.

Sources & data for this guide

• Air normals and rain days · Servicio Meteorológico Nacional (CONAGUA), 1991-2020, station 18021 Las Gaviotas · checked Sep 30, 2026
• Sea temperature · Open-Meteo Marine API, 2015-2024, mean of daily maxima · checked Sep 30, 2026
• Daylight, sunrise and sunset · sunrise-sunset.org · checked Sep 30, 2026
• Festival dates, Pueblo Mágico status, history, turtle camp, airports and annual average temperature · SECTUR (gob.mx) · checked Sep 30, 2026
• Islas Marietas entrance fee and hours · CONANP (descubreanp.conanp.gob.mx) · checked Sep 30, 2026
• Lodging tax · Ley de Hacienda del Estado de Nayarit, Article 62, confirmed by the 2026 Ley de Ingresos · checked Sep 30, 2026
• Travel advisory · U.S. Department of State · checked Sep 30, 2026
• We found no occupancy, hotel-rate, wind or swell series, and we did not read boat fares or the festival program, so none is quoted. Station 18021 is about 19 miles from Sayulita. Hours, fees and dates change · check operators when you book.