On Mexican Time in a Yucatan house rental

You can party like a rock star in Mexico if you’re loaded, renting a super-fabulous villa in the likes of Los Cabos, Punta Mita, or the Riviera Maya for $1,000 or more per night. If you’re not a celebrity or billionaire, however, you can still get some swanky digs of your own by just moving your finger over a little bit on the map. In much of Mexico, beach house rental prices are downright cheap, especially after a rough year for tourism clobbered occupancy rates. The key is finding a spot priced for locals and not for gringos.

Here are a few locations where your pesos will get you a lot of beachfront bliss for less.

Sayulita and northern Riviera Nayarit
From Punta Mita on south to Manzanillo on the Pacific coast you’ve got everything from the Four Seasons to all-inclusives, with some very expensive condos and homes wedged in between. It’s not uncommon to see rental homes in this area listed for $3,000 a week and up. Go a bit up the road north to laid-back Sayulita, however—a locale you’ve seen before if you watched Beverly Hills Chihuahua with your kid(s)—and your price drops by

A hilltop villa in Sayulita

half or more, even though the beach there is wider and cleaner. This house listed on the Vacation Rental People site is two blocks from the water and has three bedrooms sleeping six for as little as $350 per week (June through October). Splurge $1,750 over the same period for six people and you can rent the stunning hilltop mansion with pool pictured here, complete with panoramic views and designer furniture.

This region is known for great surfing, fresh seafood, and a tropical village vibe. The dining is not as sophisticated as in the tourist-packed places further south, and you won’t find frozen margaritas coming out of machine dispensers, but most people who come here like it that way.

The Gulf Coast of the Yucatan
I know this area well because I have a little beach house in Chuburna Puerto that rents for $275 a week. Yes, a week! It’s a simple place one house back from the beach, but you don’t have to pay all that much more to splash out. On the same vacation rentals site you can get this oceanfront house that sleeps 8 for $350-$500 a week most of the year or this 7,000 square-foot house with a pool and roof deck in upscale Uaymitun for $550. A few hours away you would pay that much per night.

This is a sleepy coast without much nightlife (and almost no resorts), but the seafood is fresh, the roads are good, and the great colonial city of Merida is nearby. Also the water here is shallow and calm, making it a good beachfront for small children. For snorkeling or diving, however, you’ll need to go to Isla Holbox. Fly into Merida or fly into Cancun and travel four hours west.

Other alternatives worth checking out:
Puerto Escondido
This is another laid-back surfer town that is also popular with families looking for sun and sand without the crowds. In Oaxaca state, southern Pacific.

Loreto and other smaller Baja towns
Los Cabos is, in many ways, more expensive than the U.S. Go up to coast and it gets more reasonable, especially in towns where food and supplies don’t have to be shipped so far.

Mazatlan
This is one of Mexico’s popular vacation factory hotel zones, but it’s also a real Mexican city rather than something created from scratch for tourists. There are not many full houses for rent here, but there is a glut of condos, so it’s not difficult to find a weekly rental under $1,000.

For the glitz and glamor locations where real estate prices are high, you’ll pay a premium, just as you would for a house in Martha’s Vineyard or Malibu in the U.S. By widening your geography, however, you can find your place to chill for a week on a budget that’s easier to swallow.

See more on vacations in Mexico and lodging in Mexico.

[Top photo by Tim Leffel, editor of Perceptive Travel. Second photo from the linked listing at HomeAway.com]