2022 – Visited San Pancho – Don Lundgren

By Don Lundgren

Marylou and I first began visiting San Pancho in 2022. At the time, we were living in Puerto Vallarta and had absolutely no plans to move. San Pancho was simply a place we were curious about — a small town about an hour and a half north that friends occasionally mentioned.

Our first trips were short. We would drive up from Puerto Vallarta, stay one night, enjoy dinner and the beach, and then head back the next day. It was a perfect little getaway — close enough to be easy, but different enough to feel like we had gone somewhere special.

Over time, our visits became longer.

Instead of one night, we started staying for two so we could enjoy a full day in town. Then a few trips stretched to three nights. We began to build small traditions around those visits. Marylou’s birthday in February gradually became something we celebrated in San Pancho. Later we added my November birthday as well.

Without really planning it, San Pancho became a regular part of our lives.

What we enjoyed about the town was surprisingly simple.

The beach was one of the first things we noticed. Unlike much of Puerto Vallarta’s shoreline, it felt wide and usable — a place where you could easily walk, sit, or just spend time by the water.

The restaurants also stood out. There were not hundreds of choices, but a manageable number, all clustered in a compact downtown area. It was easy to walk from place to place and always run into familiar faces.

In the evenings there was often street entertainment — music in the plaza, people gathering, children playing. It gave the town an energy that felt natural and relaxed.

We also discovered places that didn’t exist in Puerto Vallarta.

One was Entreamigos, a remarkable community nonprofit that supports local children and environmental programs. It serves as a gathering place for education, art, recycling initiatives, and community events. For a town of this size, the scope of what Entreamigos does is impressive.

Another was El Circo de los Niños de San Pancho, founded by Gilles Ste-Croix, one of the co-founders of Cirque du Soleil. The program teaches circus arts to local children and teenagers, building confidence, teamwork, and creativity. Their performances are extraordinary and have become one of the cultural highlights of the town.

We also discovered the Beach Club and the Polo Club — two places that add an unexpected dimension to such a small community.

But perhaps the biggest pleasure was simply being here.

As we spent more time in San Pancho, one foundational difference became increasingly clear: scale.

Puerto Vallarta is a large and rapidly growing city. About 300,000 people live there year-round, and during the high season the population rises to roughly 500,000. Construction is constant. New condo towers appear everywhere, and the hotel zone continues to expand. Much of the growth is vertical — high-rise buildings, branded developments, and increasing density.

San Pancho felt entirely different.

The town has only about 2,500 year-round residents and perhaps 3,500 during the busy months. Instead of towering hotels and endless condo projects, there is only one large condominium complex. There are no brand-name hotels and no ten-story high-rises dominating the skyline.

The town simply felt smaller — intentionally so.

That difference in scale showed up everywhere. The streets were quieter. Traffic was lighter. The overall pace felt calmer and more personal.

Gradually, our perspective shifted.

At first we compared San Pancho to Puerto Vallarta as a place to visit. Over time, we began to prefer it.

San Pancho felt smaller, quieter, and more self-contained. It was easier to walk, easier to relax, and easier to feel connected to the town itself.

At the same time, our experience living in a condominium with an HOA in Puerto Vallarta reinforced something we were beginning to realize: if we ever moved again, we would prefer a house rather than another condo.

Then one evening during one of our visits, a simple thought occurred to us.

“Why don’t we live here?”

It wasn’t an immediate decision. It took time for the idea to become real.

But once it did, we began a year-long effort to make it happen — searching for the right house in San Pancho and eventually preparing to sell our condominium in Puerto Vallarta.

What began as a casual one-night getaway had quietly turned into something much bigger.

San Pancho had moved from being a place we visited… to a place we could imagine calling home.

Insights

Small visits can lead to big life changes.

What began as casual overnight trips slowly turned into a new vision of where we wanted to live. Sometimes major decisions develop gradually rather than through a single dramatic moment.

Scale shapes experience more than we expect.

The difference between a town of 300,000 and one of 2,500 affects everything — noise, traffic, relationships, and the pace of daily life.

Towns reveal themselves over time.

Our understanding of San Pancho deepened with each visit. What first appeared as a pleasant getaway gradually revealed itself as a place where we could imagine building a life.

Comparison can turn into preference.

At first we compared San Pancho to Puerto Vallarta as visitors. Over time the comparison shifted into a clear personal preference for the smaller, quieter, more personal environment.

Lifestyle often matters more than location.

Our experience with condo living in Puerto Vallarta helped clarify that what we really wanted was a house in a smaller town — a different way of living, not just a different place.