Visiting San Sebastian del Oeste, Mexico, Like a Local

When Gareth Price first started taking visitors up to San Sebastian del Oeste 25 years ago, every tour to the Mexican mountain village began on a 12-seat plane. 

"In the ’90s, there was no main road access, and the only way we could get up there was in a Cessna Caravan,” said Price, who is now the commercial director for The Adventures Group, a tour operator that also runs Puerto Vallarta-based Vallarta Adventures. “The grass airstrip up there was a feeding area for cows, so we had to make two passes on the airfield. The first was to scare all the cows away, and on the second, we would actually come in to land."

Fast-forward a quarter-century, and there's now a highway connecting San Sebastian to Puerto Vallarta, which allows tour operators to drive guests up in about an hour and 15 minutes. Price was quick to note that the Pueblo Magico-designated town hasn’t changed a great deal otherwise.

It's like a museum of how the old Mexico was.

“It’s like time stood still,” he said. “It's like a museum of how the old Mexico was.” 

Stepping Into History    

Nominated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, San Sebastian was first founded in 1605 shortly after silver and gold were discovered in nearby mines. Situated roughly 40 miles east of Puerto Vallarta in the Sierra Madre mountains, San Sebastian ultimately became an important mining center during Mexico’s Spanish Colonial period; at one point, it supported nearly 30 different mines. 

Officially designated a city in 1812, San Sebastian flourished in the 1800s, and at its peak was home to more than 20,000 people, Price told me, noting that with the exception of the city of Guadalajara, San Sebastian was likely the most affluent little town in the state of Jalisco. 

"If you wanted to see the latest fashions and you couldn't get to Milan, you'd go to San Sebastian; if you wanted to rub shoulders with the rich and famous, you'd go to San Sebastian,” Price said. 

Mining production fell off sharply after the Mexican revolution, however, and the last of San Sebastian’s active mines was abandoned in 1921. By the late 1990s, when Price first started taking visitors up to the village, the small community was home to just 600 people. 

Although many more visitors are exploring the village today, Price feels San Sebastian hasn’t lost its essence, unlike other places in Mexico where modernization has occurred. He believes the extraordinarily well-preserved pueblo retains a tremendous amount of its centuries-old charm — with its cobblestone streets, colorful town squares and a sea of red-tile rooftops, along with homes, businesses and churches constructed with plastered mud-brick walls.

Touring San Sebastian Like a Local

My first look at San Sebastian’s main square came while seated in the bed of a Ford pickup truck outfitted with a canopy for shade and padded benches. Driven by Ricardo Chavez — a San Sebastian native who runs local guiding operation Malibri Turismo — the pickup jostled over the square’s cobblestones at an unhurried pace as the striking bell tower of Parroquia San Sebastian Martir came into view. 

They still use that jail. Sometimes you can’t include that on a day tour if there is someone actually in the jail.

After taking us inside the beautiful church, Chavez spent the next few hours introducing our small group to his hometown, leading us through sleepy cobblestoned residential streets lined with fruit trees and fragrant flowers and offering us a taste of the coffee his father produces locally. He even let us stand inside the historic old jail.  

"They still use that jail,” said Price of The Adventures Group. “Sometimes you can’t include that on a day tour if there is someone actually in the jail.” 

Chavez also drove our group up to the 8,200-foot El Cerro de la Bufa, San Sebastian's highest point that offers stunning panoramas of the Sierra Madres. On the way up, we stopped in the tiny village of Real Alto, home to just 20 people, according to Chavez, who took us inside a 300-year-old church that houses a small, gilded statue of the Virgin Mary that’s some 400 years old.

For centuries, residents of San Sebastian have made the steep, three- to four-hour hike up to Real Alto to visit the statue with their newborn children, Chavez explained; it’s tradition to make the trek to present the baby to the virgin. One of five siblings, he told us with a bright smile that his mother made the pilgrimage up to Real Alto with each of her children.  

Where to Stay, Eat and Book a Day Tour

Clients interested in overnighting in San Sebastian should consider Hacienda Caudillos, located just a 10-minute walk outside town. The eight-room boutique features a design aesthetic inspired by the 1910 Mexican revolution, and I found the property’s sleepy vibe fit wonderfully with the city’s historic charm and easygoing pace.

Guestrooms offer familiar comforts such as fully furnished bathrooms and large flatscreen televisions alongside old-world decor and gas fireplaces; the latter provides welcome warmth during the chillier evenings that are common in San Sebastian, which is located at 4,800 feet of elevation. 

Guests can also dine on-property at a full-service restaurant, take advantage of the large public jacuzzi in the central common square and spend a quiet moment in the boutique’s little chapel, outfitted with revolution-era religious iconography. 

Travelers interested in sampling some terrific local cuisine should head to Jardin Nebulosa, a contemporary eatery on the town’s eastern edge. Home to a menu loaded with gastronomic twists on long-loved Mexican dishes, the restaurant features an open-air garden that’s a particularly tranquil spot to relax after a busy day of exploring. Artisanal alcohol fans should set aside time here to sample raicilla, a traditional agave spirit produced only in Jalisco.

Meanwhile, visitors vacationing in Puerto Vallarta who are interested in a San Sebastian day trip can join one of Vallarta Adventures’ eight-hour tours to the historic pueblo, a product that’s commissionable to travel advisors at 30% and maxes out at 16 people. 

It’s an immersive storytelling experience that brings locals into the tour as much as possible, Price says — clients won't feel like they’re at a museum, where they can look but can’t touch. 

“Guests leave San Sebastian feeling they were part of something special; they actually get involved,” Price said. “That's what we always try to achieve.”